A message from the Leadership Team on Federal Actions.

Feb. 20, 2025

To Our URI Community,

Two weeks ago, President Parlange and Provost Wolfe announced the formation of a working group to carefully monitor emerging federal actions and their potential impacts to our community and our University, and to make recommendations on measures to address those impacts.

The Leadership Team on Federal Actions, with representation from many URI departments, has convened several times since that announcement, and we will continue to meet each week. At the center of our efforts are our people and URI’s mission, work, and inclusive culture.

This is a period of high uncertainty, not just for URI but for colleges and universities across the country. The rapid pace at which new federal actions have been introduced, and the subsequent legal challenges to some of those actions, have created fast-changing conditions. Many members of our community feel particularly vulnerable. We are committed to all members of our community, and to advancing our foundational values and advocating for our teaching and research missions. And we encourage each of you to continue offering community and support to one another, and to access the resources available through URI’s many centers, offices, and peer groups.

We’ve taken several steps recently aimed at coordinating efforts across the University and sharing information and resources, including the development of a dedicated website, uri.edu/federal-actions. In addition, offices across URI are addressing changes in their areas and communicating directly with affected communities as information becomes available.

We did want to take this moment to address some of the most recent federal actions.

Department of Education Office for Civil Rights Letter

On Friday night, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights published a letter, outlining changes that could have implications for our community and institutions nationwide.

The letter applies a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision, which significantly limited the use of race status in college admissions, to more broadly prohibit the use of race “in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.”

The OCR letter states that more guidance will be forthcoming. We are monitoring this closely and will provide updates as information becomes available.

USAID and NIH Research Funding

We are proceeding cautiously as we evaluate the newest temporary restraining order, issued Feb. 13, 2025, blocking USAID stop-work orders. URI received stop-work orders on its entire portfolio of USAID-funded awards. The portfolio includes six programs, with funded awards totaling more than $66 million. These programs focus on food insecurity, a national security threat tracked by the CIA, across several countries, most of which are listed as having concerning levels of food insecurity. We continue to communicate with USAID contacts for each award.

Additionally, last week a federal judge temporarily blocked the National Institutes of Health (NIH) plan to cap indirect cost payments. Another court hearing is scheduled for Feb. 21 to consider the issue. URI maintains a portfolio of $45.5 million in active awards for NIH and its sub-agencies. The University’s NIH-funded work contributes to important improvements in human health and bolsters critical areas of the state and national economy.

The University, along with many of our national industry organizations, is actively involved in legal challenges and advocacy efforts to address these proposed changes, while carefully evaluating and planning for any potential impacts to our community, including our federal research portfolio.

Foundational Values

As one URI community, we are dedicated to fostering an inclusive, people-centered culture, and to consistently demonstrating our foundational values, which are:

• Freedom to learn, teach, create, and conduct research with integrity in the pursuit and dissemination of new knowledge aimed at contributing to the public good.
• An inclusive, accessible, equitable and diverse community whereby we respect the rights and dignity of all.
• Intellectual curiosity, lifelong learning, leadership, and scholarship in creating a thriving URI community in service to Rhode Island and the world.
• Sustainability and care of our environment conducive to the physical and mental health of our community.
• Self- and institutional reflection of our values in our work, scholarship and interactions, holding ourselves, each other, and the institution accountable to uphold them to a high standard.

We appreciate your continued resolve and your dedication to URI and our land-grant mission—and to each other. We will communicate frequently and transparently as we work together to address these important issues. Please visit the Federal Actions Updates page for ongoing updates. 

Thank you.

Leadership Team on Federal Actions