Visa appointments resume after three-week suspension

Media outlets have reported that the U.S. Department of State has instructed U.S. consulates and embassies to resume visa appointments using new guidelines to screen the online and social media presence of all applicants for student and scholar visas. The new vetting requirements and procedures should be implemented within five business days (by 25 June). UW–Madison has not received official notice regarding the new visa applicant screening guidelines.

Legal challenge to the administration’s cut to critical defense research

The Association of American Universities (AAU), the American Council on Education (ACE) and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) jointly filed a new lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, along with a number of impacted research university co-plaintiffs, seeking to halt the proposed Facilities and Administrative (F&A) rate cut to 15% for all Department of Defense research grants to colleges and universities. UW–Madison is a member university of AAU, ACE and APLU.

Wisconsin higher education leaders say reductions in federal financial aid will limit educational opportunities

In a news conference on May 22, Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman, Wisconsin Technical College System President Layla Merrifield, and Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities President and CEO Eric W. Fulcomer shared that proposed cuts and programmatic changes to federal aid programs put education attainment at risk.