Ongoing Research
How Universities Respond to Federal Policy Shifts
Federal mandates, uneven enforcement, and three universities deciding what to do.
TL;DR
As part of a UW Directed Research Group, I am contributing to a qualitative case study of how three public research universities responded to federal mandates on indirect cost rates and DEI initiatives in 2025 and 2026. My work so far includes analyzing federal policy documents and building the Ohio State evidence corpus from public university sources.
Challenge
A mandate is not the same as its enforcement
In early 2025, federal mandates on indirect cost rates and DEI initiatives reached universities quickly, but enforcement did not follow a straight line. Court orders paused some measures, agencies revised others, and state law overlapped with federal requirements. Universities had to act under legal uncertainty, in public, with real budgets and programs at stake. This study compares the mandate, the enforcement, and the response across three public research universities, using public documents from January 20, 2025 to March 31, 2026.
The study frames the problem as a three-way gap: what was mandated, what was actually enforced, and what universities did. That framing produced two research questions.
Research questions
- How do public research universities handle federal mandates that require organizational investment?
- What do university responses reveal about how universities articulate their value to society?
Work so far
Evidence first, claims later
Federal policy analysis
As analyst A3, I analyzed two federal documents: the executive order on reforming accreditation to strengthen higher education (EO 14279), and the NIH notice capping indirect costs at 15% (NOT-OD-25-068). The NIH notice was issued February 7, 2025, took effect February 10, and drew a temporary restraining order the same day. That sequence, mandate followed immediately by a court pause, is the pattern this study tracks.
Building the Ohio State corpus
I ran the test run for the Ohio State corpus: searching the university's official pages and archiving qualifying documents in perma.cc against a five-gate checklist (official domain, in-period, DEI or IDC topic, the right university, and substantive mandate, enforcement, response, or values content). Six documents were confirmed in the first pass, including the February 2025 announcements restructuring the university's diversity office.
WhyAmbiguous documents are flagged, not excluded, so borderline cases stay visible for team discussion instead of disappearing on one person's judgment.
Coding and case templates, in progress
Under the team's Week 3 split, I am also contributing to Texas A&M coding in Taguette and case templates for UC San Diego, while Ohio State corpus selection continues.
Status
In progress
The Ohio State corpus test run is complete; coding and case templates are underway. This page will be updated with findings when the analysis is complete. This project is part of a Directed Research Group supporting a dissertation study on science in crisis; my role is as a participating graduate researcher.