PSJD News Digest – March 14, 2025

March 14, 2025 at 3:32 pm · Filed under Public Interest Law News Bulletin

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress

Hi Interested Public,

Here we are again, riding out another turbulent week. Until last night, I would have highlighted for you the Trump administration’s efforts to halve the Department of Education and its Executive Order aiming to restrict access to Public Service Loan Forgiveness. (Both discussed below.) Instead, though, I’m leading by calling your attention to events that unfolded just last night as the Trump administration continues its efforts to condition federal funding for education on universities’ willingness to adopt increasingly intrusive policy directives.

Solidarity,

Sam

Editor’s Choice(s)

  • Trump administration issues list of demands Columbia must meet to maintain federal funding (Columbia Spectator; 14 Mar 2025)

    “The letter stated that the University must comply with required policy shifts, listing nine bullet points…The letter demands that the University abolish the University Judicial Board and “centralize all disciplinary processes under the Office of the President,” empowering the Office of the President to suspend or expel students. The letter introduces a precondition that Columbia Public Safety officers have “full law enforcement authority, including arrest and removal of agitators.” …Compliance would also require that the University begin the process of placing the Middle East, South Asian, and African studies department under academic receivership—a process that requires an outside chair to run the department—for a minimum of five years. …It further demands the implementation of “time, place, and manner rules,” including a “plan to hold all student groups accountable,” and “a plan for comprehensive admissions reform.” It additionally adds a demand for the adoption and promotion of a formal definition of antisemitism.”

Conflicts Over Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility

  • Nonprofits gripped by fear, uncertainty amid interruptions to federal funding, stifling of DEI (Frederick News-Post; 14 Mar 2025)

  • Trump Officials Are ‘Pretending’ a Judge Didn’t Bar His Anti-Diversity Orders (Rolling Stone; 12 Mar 2025)

    “Last month, a federal judge issued an injunction blocking President Donald Trump’s administration from implementing multiple executive orders designed to purge the government of anything related to diversity — including an order to prohibit contractors and grant recipients from doing literally anything to promote the concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within their organizations. …After the judge clarified on Monday that his injunction does, indeed, bar the whole federal government from enforcing Trump’s anti-diversity orders, the administration hasn’t bothered to inform various nonprofits and grant recipients they do not currently have to comply with the president’s orders, according to two of the sources. The new contract terms the Trump administration attempted to foist on these organizations and recipients remain on their desks, with the threats about failure to sign still dangling over them.” [emphasis added]

Student Loans & the Dept of Ed

  • Education Department Fires 1,300 Workers, Gutting Its Staff (New York Times; 11 Mar 2025)

  • Restoring Public Service Loan Forgiveness (Presidential Executive Order; 7 Mar 2025)

    “By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: …The Secretary of Education shall propose revisions to 34 C.F.R. 685.219, Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, in coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury as appropriate, that ensure the definition of “public service” excludes organizations that engage in activities that have a substantial illegal purpose, including: (a) aiding or abetting violations of 8 U.S.C. 1325 or other Federal immigration laws;

    (b) supporting terrorism, including by facilitating funding to, or the operations of, cartels designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations consistent with 8 U.S.C. 1189, or by engaging in violence for the purpose of obstructing or influencing Federal Government policy;

    (c) child abuse, including the chemical and surgical castration or mutilation of children or the trafficking of children to so-called transgender sanctuary States for purposes of emancipation from their lawful parents, in violation of applicable law;

    (d) engaging in a pattern of aiding and abetting illegal discrimination; or

    (e) engaging in a pattern of violating State tort laws, including laws against trespassing, disorderly conduct, public nuisance, vandalism, and obstruction of highways.”

  • 5 Things Student Loan Borrowers Should Know About Trump’s PSLF Executive Order (Student Loan Planner; 12 Mar 2025)

    “President Trump’s executive order limiting the PSLF program cannot be implemented immediately. Under the program's governing statute, a president does not have the authority to unilaterally change its operation. Instead, the order directs the Department of Education to revise the PSLF program regulations to enact the set of restrictions. As a practical matter, even if this happens, it will take a while…But such wholesale changes to PSLF regulations may be illegal, even if the Department of Education follows each required procedural step perfectly. That’s because the statute governing PSLF does not give the president or the Department of Education discretion to limit PSLF eligibility, particularly for 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations or government entities, based on an organization’s activities. …In addition, the wording of President Trump’s executive order is so broad that, if incorporated fully into new PSLF regulations, could easily be read to allow for sweeping restrictions on PSLF eligibility that may amount to constitutional violations, such as freedom of speech and association.”

  • Trump’s student loan changes leave borrowers facing soaring repayments (The Guardian; 14 Mar 2025)

    “with the application websites down, he said he is “unable to progress towards forgiveness and with the application site down. I can’t restart them on a different repayment plan. I’m not even sure if my current employment is going to count towards repayment at this point.”

    As the potential shuttering of the department of education looms, Pierce noted that “the worst things that could happen are already happening right now, and we don’t need to wait for the education department to shuffle the deck chairs around on the Titanic”.”

2025 Federal Reductions in Force

  • Democratic State AGs Sue Trump Over Probationary Federal Worker Firings (Law.com; 7 Mar 2025)

  • Judge orders reinstatement for most fired probationary federal workers (Government Executive; 13 Mar 2025)

    “The judge made clear the Trump administration, like any other, can engage in mass reductions of the federal workforce, but it must do so by following federal statutes and the Constitution. The Office of Personnel Management directed agencies to carry out the firings, Alsup concluded, which he said circumvented those established procedures. …“The reason that OPM had wanted to put this based on performance was at least in my view a gimmick to avoid the [RIF laws],” the judge said.

    He added: "It’s a sad, sad day when our government would fire a good employee and say it’s based on performance when they know good and well that is based on a lie."”

Other News