Global: Biden Proposes Rule to Preserve DACA

The proposed regulation essentially recreates DACA via the formal regulatory process. ADVERTISEMENT [Academe Today Logo]( Did someone forward you this newsletter? [Sign up free]( to receive your own copy. First Thought Insights drawn weekly from Karin Fischer’s global-education newsletter, latitude(s). [Subscribe here](. The Biden administration has released a 200-plus-page [proposed rule]( to try to preserve Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, a program that protects undocumented young people brought to the United States as children from deportation and allows them to work and study here. DACA has been subject to legal challenges for nearly the entirety of its decade-long existence, most recently from a Texas judge who [ruled]( it unlawful and ordered officials to stop accepting new applicants. The proposed regulation includes some changes to the original Obama-era program. Most notably, it creates a new category that would allow people to apply just for DACA’s legal protections without also seeking employment authorization. That provision seems to be a hedge against the possibility that the work-permit portion of DACA could be struck down, preventing recipients from being arrested and deported under that scenario. But in substance, the Biden administration is essentially recreating DACA, which was initially enacted by administrative action, via the formal regulatory process. [Read more from Karin Fischer in this week’s latitude(s).]( ADVERTISEMENT The Reading List - The National Science Foundation’s Office of Inspector General wants to beef up its staff [to investigate]( inappropriate foreign contacts or undeclared financial support. - Israeli diplomats [tried to pressure]( the University of North Carolina to remove a graduate student who criticized Israel from teaching a course on the Israeli-Palestine conflict. - Scholars of South Asia worry that pressure from Hindu nationalist groups could [undermine academic freedom]( after a conference led to threats of violence. [This isn’t the first incident.]( Featured on Chronicle.com “The paper shifts back and forth between the two topics, informing the reader about rare-earth elements before urging dancers to ‘tighten buttocks’ during warm-ups. There are tables and graphs, citations and hyperlinks. It’s all very sober and scientific-seeming and yet, at the same time, completely bonkers.” —Tom Bartlett, writing on the curious case of a mind-bending paper and the hundreds of equally bizarre and suspicious papers that have popped up in a peer-reviewed journal in recent months. One clue is that the overwhelming majority of the papers were ostensibly written by authors who claim to be affiliated with Chinese institutions. Universities in China often reward researchers for publishing in notable journals, in some cases paying them cash bonuses. “Such mandates create a strong — some might say perverse — incentive to get a paper, any paper, into a journal,” [Tom writes in]( Chronicle](. SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHRONICLE Enjoying the newsletter? [Subscribe today]( for unlimited access to essential news, analysis, and advice. EMERGING FROM THE PANDEMIC [Higher Ed’s Rocky Reboot]( By Lindsay Ellis [STORY IMAGE]( Stretched supply chains and short-staffed campuses have left students hungry and parents angry. SPONSOR CONTENT | SALESFORCE.ORG [Learn how a free tuition plan is soaring degree completion rates and enrollment numbers.]( FINANCIAL TROUBLES [The Board, the President, and the Whistle-Blower]( By Eric Kelderman [STORY IMAGE]( How a financial crisis at a small university became one of the state’s biggest scandals. ADVERTISEMENT SPONSOR CONTENT | uNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA [What Actually Happens When Your Mind Wanders?]( Learn how a combination of philosophy and cognitive science can help us better understand both ordinary thought processes and disordered thinking that can contribute to depression, anxiety or ADHD. JOB OPPORTUNITIES Apply for the top jobs in higher education and [search all our open positions](. NEWSLETTER FEEDBACK What did you think of today’s newsletter? [Strongly disliked]( | [It was ok]( | [Loved it]( This newsletter was sent to {EMAIL}. [Read this newsletter on the web](. [Manage]( your newsletter preferences, [stop receiving]( this email, or [view]( our privacy policy. © 2021 [The Chronicle of Higher Education]( 1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037