EVENTS

Penn Hill Group plans on providing clients with a summary of the following events next week:

April 30: Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Markup of, “S. 588, the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2025, and S. 163, the Protecting Students on Campus Act of 2025.”

CONGRESS

Committee Chair Tim Walberg (R-MI) and Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee Chair Burgess Owens (R-UT) sent letters to the three college leaders who will be witnesses at the upcoming hearing titled “Beyond the Ivy League: Stopping the Spread of Antisemitism on American Campuses.”

A group of 42 Democrat Senators wrote a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy expressing their opposition to the actions the Trump Administration has taken with regards to Head Start.

ADMINISTRATION

President Donald Trump released an Executive Order titled “Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth.”

President Trump released an Executive Order titled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy.”

President Trump released an Executive Order titled “Reinstating Common Sense School Discipline Policies.”

President Trump released an Executive Order titled “Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future.”

President Trump released an Executive Order titled “White House Initiative to Promote Excellence and Innovation at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.”

President Trump released an Executive Order titled “Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education.”

President Trump released an Executive Order titled “Transparency Regarding Foreign Influence at American Universities.”

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced that its Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) will resume collections of defaulted Federal student loans on May 5 and that a more streamlined income-driven repayment (IDR) enrollment and recertification process will be coming soon.

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon directed the Office of General Counsel (OGC) to re-assume the Department’s enforcement functions relating to the disclosures of foreign gifts and contracts under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. § 1011f). Under the Biden Administration, enforcement responsibilities were shifted from OGC to FSA.

Media outlets report that the Trump Administration has restored the legal status of international students studying in the U.S. who had their records terminated in recent weeks.

COURTS

Federal District Court Judges in New Hampshire, Maryland and the District of Columbia halted the implementation of several aspects of the Administration’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion guidance and certification requirements.