The statement focuses on concerns that the government’s “political interference” and “overreach” is endangering academic freedom and more than 500 presidents and other officials have signed it, as of Tuesday afternoon.

“We must oppose undue government intrusion into the lives of those who learn, live and work on our campuses,” said the statement, released by the American Association of Colleges and Universities. 

The statement is signed by officials or presidents, including institutions which have seen federal funding freeze and peer liberal arts colleges such as Williams and Amherst. 

The statement comes a day after Harvard University sued the Trump administration over its threats to rescind billions in federal funding and contracts. 

Wellesley has yet to have any large-scale funding cuts or federal-level reviews conducted on campus. 

However, Wellesley is among the 60 colleges to receive a letter from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR), warning of potential enforcement actions, including funding cuts, if it fails to protect Jewish students on campus.

As the News previously reported, Wellesley received $12.8 million in federal grants in FY23, including nine million in student financial assistance and nearly three million in research grants from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Health and Human Services. 

Wellesley has already announced a six-month hiring freeze, citing budget deficit and ongoing uncertainty around economic risks. 

In a statement to the News, President Johnson stated American colleges and universities have long partnered with the government and organizations to promote American leadership. 

“At this moment, it is important for leaders in higher education to speak together against undue government intrusion into the lives of those who learn, live and work on our campuses, and in support of open inquiry and the ongoing free exchange of ideas and opinions,” said President Johnson.

Contact the editor responsible for this story: Sazma Sarwar

The College has yet to implement the cap in units. 

“I just want to assure everyone we’re not making any changes right now, all classes are staying on the books exactly as they are,” said Coile. 

However, the College’s back-up plan for students begins on Saturday. The College said they are focused on a plan providing additional half-credit unit opportunities so students can register on Saturday to start classes on Monday to avoid falling below full-time status. They are also communicating with instructors on how they should award the half-unit of credit.

“Our hope is that the strike would end very quickly and we can unwind this backup plan that we’ve been putting in place and everyone can just go continue attending the courses they’re enrolled in and earn full credit,” said Coile. 

Federal regulations

Federal regulations regarding college accreditation hinge on what are known as “contact hours” — the time students spend receiving direct classroom instruction from faculty members. 

The College generally measures credit in quarter unit intervals, which can either be a half credit or one credit. The College does not award 0.75 unit. 

Coile said the courses that continue without a faculty member present do not qualify as contact hours and cannot be counted toward the total meeting time required for academic credit, according to federal guidelines. 

About five years ago, the College revised its class schedule to comply with updated accreditation standards, according to Coile. Classes, which previously met for 140 minutes per week, were extended to 150 minutes to meet the new requirements.

Coile emphasized the importance of the College following these federal requirements. 

“It is something that gets reviewed — whether the College is in compliance with these minimum meeting times — and explicitly examined when we go through this regular review process to maintain our accreditation,” said Coile. 

Academic life in question

Under the said “back-up plan”, students will receive grades based on past assignments and the decision of department chairs in the suspended classes taught by striking faculty. This may mean students cannot improve their grades through later assignments and their finals. 

Coile reiterates hopes for a short strike so the College can unwind this plan they have.

“People can get back in their classes and have the opportunity to follow the original syllabus and with the assignments and exams that are still to come,” said Coile.

The current situation also raised a complicated question on whether the College can still award full credit based on the contact hour if the strike ends earlier and the College reverts to normal academic instruction methods after the strike ends.

Coile said the College doesn’t have a precise answer for now on measuring hours if the strike ends by a specified date, given many courses are idiosyncratic and met for different amounts of time.

“It will depend on exactly how many minutes the class has already met,” said Coile. “We’ll need to look at all that carefully at a later date and make sure that the amounts of credit that we’re awarding are really the right level, given the amount of work.”

However, since students enroll in a class mid-way and receive no prior instruction on the course they are joining for five weeks, it is unclear how agencies and education commissions may view the quality of contact hours received in those five weeks. 

Some classes offered for registration include 300-level classes on real analysis and neurobiology and seminars that require prerequisites and significant knowledge. Even with a mandatory credit-non grading basis, it is unclear how students will perform in these classes. 

Mark Nicholas, Vice President at the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), which awards Wellesley’s accreditation, told the News in a phone interview that the Commission is aware of the situation. The Commission will go through with its formal process on complaints filed against the College based on its policy. 

The Commission will review complaints and determine if they meet its nine criteria to proceed. If they do, it will ask the College to provide a response in 30 working days. 

Dr. Larry Schall, the President of NECHE, wrote that interested parties can file a complaint or a public comment. It would issue decisions after it convenes and makes decisions, which it does four times a year.  

The College has two bargaining sessions with WOAW slated for next Tuesday and Thursday.

Contact the editors responsible for this story: Galeta Sandercok, Sazma Sarwar

Wellesley students will only receive a half-unit in courses taught by non-tenure-track faculty members in Wellesley Organized Academic Workers (WOAW) and can register for classes on Saturday, the College announced Thursday morning. 

In an email sent to all students from Provost Courtney Coile and Registrar Carol Shanmugaratnam this morning, all classes taught by Union members are suspended unless in departments where the class is substituted by an instructor or the NTT faculty continues to teach.

For classes with a laboratory component or a high number of minutes like language or studio classes, students will receive full credit for those classes. 

Students will still be considered to satisfy their major, distribution requirements and prerequisites for the classes they have already taken. 

The College will reopen registration for classes on Saturday. Classes will only be at 0.5 units and are mandatory credit/non-credit. Students are expected to attend their new classes starting next Monday, March 31. 

This comes as WOAW began a strike this morning after failing to make significant progress on compensation and workload with the College on their first contract. The News previously reported on the details of disagreements in bargaining. 

This latest policy poses an array of questions for students, especially seniors working to finish their degrees and students whose financial aid or visa status hinges upon their full-time enrollment status. 

The Dean’s Office will host a drop-in Zoom session with the Provost and the Registrar on Friday. The details of the session are not yet available and will be sent out when they are finalized, according to an email sent by the Office of the Class Deans this morning. 

It is not immediately clear how many classes will be opened for registration on Saturday and how many tenure-track faculty will choose to reopen their classes. 

It is also unclear how students and faculty should adapt to enrolling in a class consisting of existing and new students, in terms of class materials, instruction methods and grading with less than one and a half months left in the semester. 

“Students only need to focus on replacing the missing units. Students can select any new course that fits their schedule, including classes in the same block as a class that is no longer meeting during the strike,” said the email. 

The College has yet to provide information for the next steps for students when a tenure-track faculty member may choose not to reopen a class, or the available number of seats do not match the number of students in need of those seats for their enrollment status or academic plans.

The fall 2025 registration that was set to start April 8 will be delayed until further notice. 

In a poll conducted by The Wellesley News on its Instagram page, 44% of those who voted have at least a class taught by NTT faculty and 15% have 3 classes or more.

In a statement to the News, WOAW told the News that they are disappointed in the College’s policy.

“We are disappointed to see that the College has decided to set a precedent in this way— credit for courses has never been revoked from students during an academic strike before, and it is hugely disappointing that Wellesley would use this as a scare tactic to coerce students away from supporting the union. Shifting the blame for this punitive policy to federal requirements on meeting times is disingenuous at best, as the College has the full power to end this strike at any moment, and yet has declined all union offers to bargain at additional times, with no additional sessions scheduled before April 3rd,” said Leah Okumura, Senior Instructor of Science Laboratory of Biological Sciences.

Shortly after this statement was made, the College and the Union will meet for an additional session next Tuesday.

The Wellesley News has reached out to the College, academic departments for comments.

Updated on March 27th to reflect that registration re-opens on Saturday, not Friday.
Updated on March 27, 13:42 pm ET to add WOAW’s statement. 

Wellesley Organized Academic Workers (WOAW-UAW), the non-tenure track faculty union, will begin a strike this Thursday, the College announced today in an email sent to all students, faculty, and staff.

The Wellesley News reported yesterday that WOAW would likely begin a strike after both parties failed to agree on key issues, including compensation and workload in the Tuesday bargaining session. 

The College said the Union rejected the College’s offer to move to mediation facilitated by federal mediators under the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). 

FMCS is an independent federal agency that provides mediation and other conflict resolution services to help resolve labor-management disputes.

However, President Trump announced a presidential action on March 14, directing FCMS and other targeted federal agencies to eliminate “non-statutory components” and to “reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.”

The agency reiterated their efforts to remain operational and continue to provide their statutorily mandated services, in a press release on March 19.

“To be clear, FMCS is still operational and performing our statutory functions of collective bargaining mediation work in the private and federal Sectors, USPS dispute cases, labor-management committee work, and providing arbitration panels,” the agency said.

Members of WOAW plan to picket at the Route 135 entrance to campus, but the entrance and College Road will remain open, according to the College. 

The Union currently has plans for strikes on April 5-6 on a shift sign-up form on their website. That weekend, the College will host the Hillary Rodham Center Summit which includes speakers like former state of secretary Hillary Rodham ’69 and Arkansas State Senator Breanne Davis (R).

In an emailed statement to the News, WOAW believed the College’s mediation request was “disingenuous” and “would not have averted a strike,” on top of the fact the College announcement came after it was made aware that the FMCS is no longer able to provide such services.

“The college requested that future sessions be mediation, but still did not offer any dates before April 3. In our bargaining session yesterday, we offered to bargain with the college today to avert a strike and they declined.

“We believe mediation at this time is premature, and we have said many times we are willing to negotiate on many areas in our proposal,” said Jacquelin Woodford, lecturer in Chemistry.

The College told the News that they were unaware of the suspension of federal mediation services when the community email was sent, and their labor lawyer reached out to the mediator yesterday, before the administrative leave announcement had been made.

“The College stands by its offer to move to mediation with WOAW. Private mediation is still an option with a neutral mediator. The College is eager to take that step and calls on WOAW-UAW to join us,” said the College.

Talks falling apart

This announcement follows the 24th bargaining session between the Union and the College held earlier this afternoon. The session included WOAW’s presentation of a comprehensive package of all current proposals and discussions with the College on these high-priority issues. 

WOAW proposed to meet for an additional bargaining session tomorrow to avert a strike, but the College declined to meet before Thursday. While a strike has not been officially announced, WOAW members expressed in statements to the News that one is likely to follow. 

The College’s latest proposal for starting salary stands at $68,000 for Visiting Lecturers and $72K for lecturers, while WOAW’s latest proposal stands at $88,000 for Visiting and “Tier 1” lecturers. 

 The College’s offer also includes an “additional $10,000 increase over two years” for the new five-course workload standard, an across-the-board wage increase of 2.75% and an additional 1.5% increase for each year at the College for newly hired employees.

In an email statement to The News, the College described this offer as “a bold new package proposal” that included “unprecedented increases in compensation for union agreement on a five course annual teaching load for all unit members.”

 The College also stated that it made “serious movement” toward the Union’s proposal on discrimination and harassment, such as by adding stand-alone protections from bullying for the first time. 

According to an email statement from Erin Battat, Senior Lecturer in the Writing Program and a member of the bargaining committee, the College proposed a five-course workload with a $10,000 increase to the base salary during today’s bargaining session. This is equivalent to what non-tenure track professors currently receive when electing to teach a fifth course.

“The College’s proposal makes working overtime the new, required norm,” Battat wrote. “We had hoped that Wellesley was serious about their claims to care about averting a strike, but their actions at the bargaining prove otherwise.”

A spokesperson for the College told The News that a campus-wide announcement will also be sent out on Wednesday morning regarding the state of bargaining and the possible strike. Members of the bargaining units may choose whether to strike. 

“We would rather be teaching, but the College’s conduct has left us with no choice. We are prepared to join the picket lines on Thursday morning,” said Battat.

During the strike, Union members will receive $500 a week in strike assistance from the UAW if they picket for at least 20 hours.

During today’s bargaining session, the Union took a two-hour break and compiled a 95-page comprehensive package, which the College described as reiterating positions from months ago. 

 The College said it was “very disappointed” at the Union’s “outright” rejection of the offers without presenting alternatives “that could narrow, rather than expand, our differences.” 

Timeline of strike announcements

The News previously reported that the WOAW union’s strike authorization vote passed by 93% on February 24. However, in subsequent bargaining sessions, WOAW and Wellesley were not able to reach agreements on compensation, workload, and discrimination and harassment procedures. On March 10, WOAW held a rally to advocate for progress in the negotiations. 

Last Tuesday, March 18, WOAW announced March 27 as the strike date.

  The College responded to the strike announcement in a campus-wide email sent on March 24 by Provost Courtney Coile and Carolyn Slaboden, Chief Human Resources Officer. The email stated that the College did not feel that parties were at an “impasse” and “sincerely [hoped] that WOAW-UAW does not decide to strike,” as well as that bargaining sessions have been scheduled for the next several weeks. More information on negotiation status is available on the College’s dedicated website. 

According to the WOAW Instagram, WOAW has offered to participate in additional bargaining sessions every day since March 18, but the College declined. 

What students should know

Wellesley College’s unionization FAQ page states that affected class department chairs will notify students directly. In some departments, these notifications have already been sent out to students. 

According to a post on WOAW’s Instagram on March 24, “Over 70% of tenure-track faculty have pledged not to teach struck classes taught by WOAW members.”

In departments including Biology, Chemistry, Women’s and Gender Studies and Anthropology, classes taught by non-tenure track faculty who choose to strike will not be filled by tenure-track faculty. The Economics department has informed students that classes with striking faculty will be filled by tenure-track faculty. 

On the FAQ page for students, WOAW has asked students to demonstrate solidarity with the union by refraining from attending courses taught by those on strike, showing support at picket locations and emailing campus administration in support of the union.

Financial future

The College currently projects over $8 million in budget deficit for the fiscal year 2026, in a statement sent to faculty and staff by Provost Courtney Coile and Piper Orton, Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer, seen by The News.  

In a separate statement reviewed by The News, this included a projected 30% increase in total compensation over the four-year contract for WOAW.

While the College often comes to a balanced budget, this year’s $8 million would require “significant action,” according to Coile. The email also stated that the College is considering a hiring freeze and a food and travel cut for faculty and staff. 

This comes amid uncertainties around “ongoing conversations about the possible cost to the College to the WOAW-UAW contract” and federal policy changes targeting higher education institutions. 

Wellesley, among other higher education institutions, is facing increasing pressure from the Trump administration, including a potential endowment tax hike and threats of cutting federal funding and grants. 

“With the Union having apparently decided to strike on Thursday and disrupt campus life for our students, the College will now consider what is the best pathway to reach an agreement,” the College wrote.

Still, union members remain confident in their bargaining demands.

“We are fighting the good fights. We are willing to fight for the contract we deserve,” said Jacqueline Woodford, lecturer in chemistry.

Contact the editors responsible for this story: Sazma Sarwar and India Lacey

Updated on March 26th to reflect corrections to department announcements.

759 students, or 31% of the student body voted in the election. Out of those who voted for the separate ballot measure, 96.71% voted in favor of the proposal, while 2.77% voted against it. The College Government does not disclose the actual vote count. 

The ballot alone does not have any direct bearing on the College’s policy and the Board of Trustees can reject the proposal. 

In a statement to the News, the College said the Tuesday student vote was a “non-binding student vote and requires no action by the College.” 

“The next step for the ballot-initiative sponsors is to draft a formal request that makes the case for why Wellesley should take the actions they propose,” said the College in a statement to the News. 

It is unclear when the chapter will submit a proposal to the College and the Board of Trustees. The College currently has a formal procedure requiring individuals or groups first to submit their requests for review by the Subcommittee on Investment Responsibility, a board committee that includes students, faculty, staff and trustees. The subcommittee would then decide whether it may recommend any action to the Investment Committee, and subsequently the Board of Trustees. 

“The trustees recognize that community members may have perspectives that they would like to see reflected in the endowment, and they have a process for considering those perspectives. A ballot initiative is not part of the process,” said Chief Investment Officer Debby Kuenster ’80.

This marks the latest call for divestment on Wellesley campuses after Wellesley partially divested from South African apartheid in 1985 and fossil fuels in 2021. 

Wellesley students’ call for divestment follows a broader movement across the United States which peaked last year, marked by encampments, large-scale protests and student arrests on college campuses. In the spring of 2024, multiple universities agreed to weigh the divestment demands, in exchange for students dismantling encampments, but few have moved to disclose or divest.

 While the College Government ballot initiative at Wellesley has come a year after much of the calls for divestment across campuses, students have held various protests throughout spring 2024 against the College’s financial involvement in armed conflicts.

Wellesley students did not start any process to formally ask the Board to divest until this year. Students at other liberal arts colleges have protested since last year, only to have their proposals rejected. The boards of Williams, Amherst and Occidental College all rejected students’ demands by voting against divestment from weapons manufacturers or companies with ties to Israel, arguing that divestment was a divisive force complicated with financial risk.  

The College currently does not disclose the proportion of its investment portfolio and it remains unclear how much of its investment is linked to arm manufacturers of companies “complicit in human rights violations.”

According to Kuenster, the portfolio is invested in “a variety of strategies managed by many investment firms across hundreds of partnerships and investment vehicles.” The College does not disclose the firms or partnerships in which it is invested, like most of its peer institutions, she said.

The endowment tax hike proposal extends a streak of hostility against American higher education by Republican lawmakers. Rep. Mike V. Lawler (R-N.Y.) became the latest member of Congress to introduce an endowment tax bill on Friday, proposing an 8.6% point tax increase for wealthy colleges and universities, including Wellesley.

The current 1.4% tax on endowments of higher education institutions whose endowments exceed $1 billion came into effect under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, enacted by a Republican-controlled House and Senate during Trump’s first term. Prior to 2017, endowments of private colleges and universities were exempt from federal tax as nonprofits. 

Now, when Republicans have regained a government trifecta in Washington, the reality of an increase in endowment tax could pass quickly. 

“Tens of millions in tax”

How much would the College need to pay under a tax of this scale?

Under the 2017 law, Wellesley would be expected to pay $587,999 in federal taxes. 

If Wellesley gets hit with a 10% endowment tax rate for the last fiscal year, during which it generated $93 million in endowment returns, the College would have to pay approximately $9.3 million in total in taxes.

To put the number into context, Wellesley would have to pay nearly 33% of its 2024 annual operating revenue of $283 million in taxes if a 10% endowment tax rate is enacted. 

Assuming the endowment maintains an 8.6% average annual return since 2014, Wellesley would pay approximately $43 million in taxes by 2034 by the News’ estimate. 

Financial Aid in Peril

Before the 1.4% tax was passed in 2017, President Paula Johnson said it would take a  “damaging toll” on Wellesley’s financial aid policy to enroll a socioeconomically diverse student body and maintain one of the lowest net prices among liberal arts colleges. 

“[It] would impede our ability to fulfill Wellesley’s mission to provide an outstanding education for our students, regardless of their financial background,” she wrote on Nov. 10, 2017.

Wellesley’s cost of attendance for the academic year 2024-25 is $92,060 including tuition, room and board, meal plan, insurance and student activity fee. 

To fund financial aid for students, the College has a budget of over $84 million, with the average aid package exceeding $65,000 per year. Wellesley relies heavily on its endowment to fund financial aid and other expenses. More than 60% of financial aid sources come from endowment income and distributions, according to data compiled from the 2023-24 annual report.

According to Professor of Economics Phillip Levine, such a tax would have a “very dramatic effect” on Wellesley’s financial circumstances.

“We would have to find ways to come up with a lot of money to pay that tax,” said Levine. “Realistically. there would be substantial cuts in a lot of areas, but certainly financial aid would be one of them.”

A College spokesperson said any increase in the endowment tax would have a significant impact on all aspects of Wellesley’s operating budget, particularly financial aid. 

“The College is examining various scenarios, depending on the size of the endowment tax that’s implemented. We’ll be able to share more details with the community as details of any endowment tax increase become clearer,” said a College spokesperson.

Lobbying 

The Wellesley News has previously reported that Wellesley, Amherst, Williams and Smith College hired a Washington, DC-based government relations firm Lewis-Burke Associates. 

Lewis-Burke Associates has previously lobbied for Wellesley on bills including the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2025 and the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act. 

The College also collaborates with the American Council on Education and other small colleges to advocate tax policies. 

The purpose of working with a lobbyist is to “educate our congressional delegation about what small liberal arts colleges do, who we educate, the power of our education, the financial aid we provide, and the outcomes for our students,” said a College spokesperson.

Levine believed that the political backlash institutions like Wellesley face stems from a populist argument that portrays them as being extremely expensive and generating significant financial returns. This criticism persists despite their generous financial aid policies. 

Lawler’s bill argued that a 10% excise tax rate can increase the financial incentive for universities to spend their endowment on students and academic programs.

However, colleges already spent significantly on the two areas Lawler mentioned. According to a report by the National Association of College and University Business Officers, nearly half of all spending in 2024 went toward funding student financial aid programs and 17.7% went to academic programs and research. 

“American higher educational institutions are under attack and in much broader dimensions. This is just one example of it. It’s a tough time to be operating in the world in which we live,” said Levine.

Contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruby Barenberg, Galeta Sandercock, and Sazma Sarwar

While it is not yet clear how the executive orders will be implemented by agencies and institutions, such as Wellesley, they will need to understand how to comply with federal laws while supporting students across diversity initiatives, federal research funding, student financial aid and more. 

Wellesley College has yet to make any official statement, as of Feb 4. 

“Two Sexes”

On his first day in office, Trump signed an order declaring that the federal government would only recognize two sexes, a move that has significant implications for the LGBTQ+ community across the country, including members of the Wellesley community who identify as transgender.

The order directs federal agencies to use this definition to enforce laws, such as Title IX, the statute prohibiting sex-based discrimination at federally funded colleges and K-12 schools. It directed the US Attorney General to issue guidance that Title IX does not require “gender identity-based access to single-sex spaces.” 

It also banned federal funds from being used “to promote gender ideology.”

The Education Department already sent a notice to schools that it would not enforce the revised interpretation made under the Biden administration which broadened the scope of Title IX protections to sexual orientation and gender identity. 

Currently, the College allows admission to anyone who lives and consistently identifies as a woman – including trans and nonbinary people. 

In a statement to The Wellesley News, the College wrote that its policies reflect Massachusetts’ state law protections against discrimination and harassment of individuals based on gender identity and expression. 

Diversity and Inclusion

New White House orders ban any race or gender-based DEI initiatives in institutions that receive federal funding. Across higher education, institutions like Wellesley College, rely on federal funding for research grants, projects and contract work.

“Institutions of higher education have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,’” Trump wrote in the order.

Trump has called for federal agencies to compile lists of “nine potential civil compliance investigations” of organizations, including schools with endowments over $1 billion. Wellesley, with a nearly $3 billion endowment, could be a target for investigation.

Some schools have already revised their language shortly after the executive order came into effect. Northeastern University recently renamed programs and websites to replace language referring to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with “belonging” for all. 

It is unclear how the College will approach its commitment to diversity under this executive order. 

The College spotlights “inclusive excellence” as a core tenet of its 2021 strategic plan. In the 51-page plan, President Paula Johnson and former Provost Andrew Shennan, with the help of other members of faculty and administration, wrote that the College was inspired to commit to the concept because of the “disparate impacts of the pandemic and the growing recognition of systemic racism.”

“Without inclusivity and the bringing together of different perspectives, there is no Excellence,” they wrote. 

On the previous website, before the new site was launched on March 11, Wellesley had a page “Diversity and Inclusion” that showcased messages from President Paula Johnson, Dean Peach Valdes and their diversity recruitment team. The web link https://www.wellesley.edu/admission/diversity is no longer available, and now redirects to “Where You Belong.” 

The College also told The News that the new language was added in March 2024 to “better reflect what we want all students to know about Wellesley — that this is a community where they will be welcomed and where they belong.”

On the front of admission, the College said the current process is already compliant with the SFFA decision, and they do not anticipate any changes.

Financial Future

Trump’s administration announced orders for a pause on the disbursement of federal funding to nonprofit organizations, states, colleges and universities before a federal US district judge blocked it, pending further arguments. 

For Wellesley College, federal funding plays a relatively small role in financial aid. 77% of financial aid sources come from endowment income and distributions, annual gifts and college revenue, according to data compiled from the 2023-24 annual report.

In 2024, the College received a total of $4 million in Federal Government grants including around $3 million in Pell Grants, $530,000 in Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants and $367,000 for the Federal Work-Study Program. 

The Department of Education reiterated that Pell Grants and federal student loans are exempt from the rescinded Wednesday freeze. However, if the freeze is reinstated, Federal Work-Study Program funds will not be exempted.  

Moreover, federal funding supports research at Wellesley, with at least 29 STEM faculty receiving federally funded grants, according to the website. 

Republicans are also expected to move with hiking the existing 1.4% federal excise tax on the investment income of the endowments. The College paid around $2 million and $447,000 in fiscal years 2024 and 2023 respectively. 

While the College confirmed to The News that Federal financial aid funding has not been impacted by the US Office of Personnel Management memo, it remains unpredictable how the White House’s measures may hurt Wellesley’s financial future and ability to support its students, faculty, and staff in the future. 

Anticipated Moves and potential troubles

Trump is expected to sign an executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” this Wednesday to ban transgender girls and women from participating in female sports events.

The news is set to come on Feb. 5, National Girls and Women in Sports Day, which celebrates and recognizes female athletes and the importance of sports for girls and women.

According to the Transgender Participation Student-Athlete Policy for Varsity and Club Sports, Wellesley currently incorporates the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s requirements that apply to transgender student-athlete participation on women’s sports teams. However, the NCAA has indicated that it will move rapidly to change its rules. 

In the months coming, Wellesley College and its senior officials have to confront an administration whose leaders have posed challenges for institutions of higher education. 

The News learned that Wellesley and Amherst College hired Lewis-Burke Associates, a Washington, D.C. government relations firm specializing in advocating for the public policy interests of higher education institutions, according to data from the Senate Office of Public Records. Williams and Smith College have recently joined the consortium as well. 

The College said they work with the firm to receive updates on new federal legislation and executive orders such that they can understand, prepare and respond to changes. 

As an institution that champions inclusivity, Wellesley will undoubtedly face the challenge of maintaining its prior commitments to diversity and its support for students while abiding by the new administration’s policies.

Contact the editors responsible for this story: Sazma Sarwar