This round of funding is a glimpse at how the Trump administration wants to use grants to support its agenda. More than 70 colleges, universities, nonprofits and other organizations are sharing $169 million to advance a number of the Trump administration’s priorities.

Ray Jayawardhana, the incoming president, is an astrophysicist, but leaders at the California Institute of Technology also praised his credentials as a communicator at a time when science is under attack.

Claudio Neves Valente said he had planned the attack for a long time but gave no motive, according to transcripts.

The University of Virginia hired a familiar face to lead the university, but he’s starting the job with a trust deficit due to board politics and the circumstances surrounding his hire. On paper, freshly hired University of Virginia president Scott C. Beardsley appears to have all the bona fides of a qualified higher ed leader: multiple advanced degrees and more than a decade of experience leading a top business school. But that has not stymied outrage about his selection.

All of higher ed now suffers the attacks of politics and technology.