On February 4, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a “Dear Colleague” letter to institutions of higher education regarding enforcement of Title IX regulations. Specifically, the letter reaffirms that OCR will enforce the first Trump administration’s Title IX rule instead of the Biden administration’s Title IX rule.
On January 29, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism.” The order directs certain federal agencies to use appropriate legal tools to “prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence.” 
In the wake of the recent Executive Orders on DEI, gender identity and immigration, higher ed institutions, like so many other organizations, are assessing the impacts and formulating next steps. Amid the inevitable changes that lie ahead, it’s important to remember that the role of HR in creating and sustaining a higher ed workplace that provides access and opportunity for all employees hasn’t changed. The programs, policies, processes and language we use to support this work may need to evolve, but the work and the institutional values it supports remain the same.
Along with several immigration-related executive orders and actions issued on Inauguration Day, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.” The order sets several directives for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to enforce immigration law against immigrants without permanent legal status in the U.S. and could implicate employers the government deems as “facilitating” the presence of such individuals.
On January 20, the Trump administration issued an executive order (EO) titled, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” The EO was one of several executive orders and actions published by the Trump administration on its first day in office.
On January 22, President Trump signed an executive order (EO) titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” The EO directs all federal agencies to “terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements,” to enforce “longstanding civil rights laws,” and to “combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.”
Two efforts to extend collective bargaining rights to college athletes have been withdrawn over the recent weeks in anticipation of the Trump administration taking control of the National Labor Relations Board. On December 31, 2024, the Dartmouth men’s basketball team withdrew their petition to unionize. Additionally, on January 10, 2025, the National College Players Association (NCPA) withdrew its case against the University of Southern California, the Pac-12 Conference, and the NCAA.
General Counsel Ira Shepard’s overview this month covers the end to the unionization push by Dartmouth College men’s basketball players. It also highlights recent discrimination cases, including a Muslim professor denied a tenure-track position who can proceed with a claim of religious discrimination and a university’s first woman athletic director entitled to have claims of age and sex discrimination heard in federal court. In other employment law news, a national sports retailer is alleged to have mismanaged pension funds, and an appeals court rules that an employee has no private right to sue under a New Jersey cannabis law.
On January 9, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Kentucky Court vacated the Biden administration’s Title IX regulations. The order strikes down the regulations nationwide, reverting enforcement back to the 2019 Title IX regulations set by the Trump administration. 
In a year marked by rapid technological advancement and evolving demands on higher ed, CUPA-HR members prioritized the human in HR. Our most-read articles of 2024 reflect this, with a focus on employee retention, the responsible use of artificial intelligence, and data-informed approaches to fostering an equitable and effective talent pipeline. Here we’ve listed the CUPA-HR articles, resources and research that resonated most with our readers in 2024.