News & Publications

Executive Summary: The long-awaited decision from a federal judge in Massachusetts was released on September 30, 2019 finding Harvard College’s admissions policy, where in race is considered a limited factor when admitting applicants, is constitutional. On September 30, 2019, Federal District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs held that Harvard’s admission policy passed constitutional muster because it serves a compelling, permissible and substantial interest in increasing and maintaining student diversity, and the admissions program is narrowly tailored [...]

On September 23, 2019, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) published final regulations concerning, among other things, "borrower defense to repayment" claims for federal student loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2020, certain "triggering events" under ED's financial responsibility rules, disclosures related to predispute arbitration agreements and class action waivers, and closed-school discharges (the 2019 Final Rules). With very limited exceptions (related to optional early implementation of modifications to ED's composite score methodology), the 2019 [...]

For the fifth time since 2014, Framingham State University (FSU) has been recognized with the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award for 2019, given by INSIGHT into Diversity magazine. This award comes as FSU hired Dr. Constanza Cabello to serve as the university's first Vice President for Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement earlier this year. FSU also has hired Patricia Birch to serve as the Director of Inclusive Excellence Initiatives on campus. FSU will be recognized in the [...]