Navigating Higher Education and Government Relations

Since the beginning of the second Trump administration, the American Council on Education has been early out of the gate in responding to the federal government’s onslaught of funding freezes, executive orders and threats to institutions. In February, ACE along with the Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and other institutions sued the government over its decision to cap indirect costs at 15 percent for National Institutes of Health grant recipients, which resulted in a permanent nationwide injunction on the plans in April.   Ted Mitchell, president of ACE, joins Sara Custer, editor in chief at Inside Higher Ed, to discuss the nature of the federal government’s attacks on higher education and what responsibility the sector has in the public losing trust in our institutions. They talk about how the sector is responding to the situation, including the many open-form letters, and as the former under secretary for the Department of Education in the second Obama administration, Ted shares why he thinks higher ed knows how to play the game of politics and which policy issues he thinks can get bipartisan support—as long as there is a receptive partner on the other side of the table.