The student body president at the University of Florida has something in common with U.S. President Donald Trump: His senators are calling for his impeachment after he spent $50,000 of student fees to pay Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend to speak on campus last month.

The student senate says student body president, Michael Murphy of Fairfax, Va., spent $50,000 of student fees independently and arbitrarily to pay Trump Jr. and girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle to speak on campus Oct. 10.

"In his position of trust as president of the student body … he not only endangered students marginalized by the speakers' white nationalist supporters, but also abused his power to advance a particular political party at the expense of the students he should represent," stated the impeachment resolution.

Hundreds of students protested the event outside the campus auditorium.

"As a former ACCENT vice chair, I am extremely disappointed in the decision to invite Donald Trump Jr. to speak. What value does his presence bring to the student body?" said Abby Solomon on Facebook where she received 228 positive reactions. "This man does not need our money or our microphone."

Student money and politics

Student body statutes forbid student money from being spent in support of or against a political party, according to the impeachment resolution. The action comes at the same time as impeachment hearings began against Trump on Capitol Hill.

The student government accuses Murphy of "malfeasance," "abuse of power," and "collusion."

An email exchange obtained by the student newspaper, the Independent Florida Alligator, shows messages linking Murphy to a Trump campaign official.

Murphy's supporters say they do not find the expenditure to be sufficient evidence to impeach.

"As someone who has attended actual Trump campaign rallies and the speech in question, I can assure you that the speech did not fit the bill as a Trump campaign rally," Jarrod Rodriguez, treasurer of the university's CollegeRepublicans tasked with responding to media requests, texted to VOA.

"Obviously, the president was brought up at times during the speech, but only when the speakers praised the positive changes that have been made to benefit Americans and the country as a whole. At no point did Don Jr. ever explicitly advocate for the audience to vote for the president," he wrote.

Murphy maintains that the speakers were not campaigning, and, thus, did not violate any rules, according to the Alligator. Murphy did not return interview requests from VOA.

Student Henry Fair, who oversees the ACCENT's Speakers Bureau, an arm of UF student government, said last month that "this event is a campus speaking engagement, not a campaign event," as reported to The Washington Post.

Email signature

However, email correspondence obtained by the Alligator between Murphy and Caroline Wren, a national finance consultant for Trump Victory, was signed with a Trump Victory signature. The student senators point to that connection as proof of misconduct in their impeachment resolution, according to their resolution.

Wren said she followed up with Murphy "via my private email in my personal capacity and mistakenly forgot to remove my Trump Victory signature," the Alligator reported.

"We met at my house on the 4th of July. I wanted to follow up with you regarding a speaking engagement at the University of Florida for Donald Trump Jr," Wren wrote Sept. 10. Murphy replied the following day that he would "love to hop on a phone call."

Trump Jr. and Guilfoyle spoke Oct. 10 at the university's auditorium for a $50,000 joint payment to an audience of more than 800.

"As a young conservative, I view the efforts to impeach Michael Murphy for simply responding to an email from Caroline Wren as disingenuous attempt on the part of vindictive political partisans to remove a duly elected president from office," Rodriguez texted VOA. "It is almost identical to the charade the Democrats in Congress are putting on scene for the entire nation. The email response to Caroline Wren is wholly insufficient in meeting the legitimate grounds for impeachment."

The Alligator reported that Murphy wanted to invite both Senator Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump Jr., but Sanders' campaign declined the invitation citing scheduling issues.

"The only difference was Senator Sanders' non-campaign staff declined our invitation to speak in his official capacity. Any attempt to try and separate one from the other with allegations of impropriety is deceptive and inflammatory," Murphy told The Alligator in an email.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

It’s tough to gain admission to Yale University, and it’s getting even tougher for international students as standout students from around the world set their sights on Yale.

The Yale Dale News, the campus newspaper, takes a look at the situation here.

Read the full story here.

Ruth Chane, a computer science major from Ethiopia, writes about her experiences settling into student life at Whitman College in the U.S. state of Washington.

"The community at Whitman College made sure I felt welcomed even before I stepped foot on campus," she says.

Read her essay here.

In The Student Life, the student newspaper for the Claremont Colleges, a consortium of five liberal art colleges and two graduate schools in Claremont, California, student Rochelle Lu writes about readjusting to her Shanghai home after spending a semester in the United States.

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Cedarville University in the U.S. state of Ohio says it’s got more than 140 international students representing 44 countries.

Here, the school interviews Jonathan Sutton, director of international student services. He talks about his job and the opportunities for international students on campus.

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Morehouse College, a private, historically Black liberal arts college in the U.S. state of Georgia, offers a guide for international students interested in attending the school.

Among the tips to apply and thrive at Morehouse:

• Take advantage of the school’s orientation program
• Turn to the school’s Center for Academic Success for tutoring, support and more
• Immerse yourself in campus life via clubs and societies

Read the full article here.

The administration of President Donald Trump said on Monday it will review Columbia University's federal contracts and grants over allegations of antisemitism, which it says the educational institution has shown inaction in tackling.

Rights advocates note rising antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias since U.S. ally Israel's devastating military assault on Gaza began after Palestinian Hamas militants' deadly October 2023 attack.

The Justice Department said a month ago it formed a task force to fight antisemitism. The U.S. Departments of Health and Education and the General Services Administration jointly made the review announcement on Monday.

"The Federal Government's Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is considering Stop Work Orders for $51.4 million in contracts between Columbia University and the Federal Government," the joint statement said.

The agencies said no contracting actions had been taken yet.

"The task force will also conduct a comprehensive review of the more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments to Columbia University."

The agencies did not respond to requests for comment on whether there were similar reviews over allegations of Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias.

Columbia had no immediate comment. It previously said it made efforts to tackle antisemitism.

College protests

Trump has signed an executive order to combat antisemitism and pledged to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests.

Columbia was at the center of college protests in which demonstrators demanded an end to U.S. support for Israel due to the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's assault on Gaza. There were allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia in protests and counter-protests.

During last summer's demonstrations around the country, classes were canceled, some university administrators resigned and student protesters were suspended and arrested.

While the intensity of protests has decreased in recent months, there were some demonstrations last week in New York after the expulsion of two students at Columbia University-affiliated Barnard College and after New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the removal of a Palestinian studies job listing at Hunter College.

A third student at Barnard College has since been expelled, this one related to the occupation of the Hamilton Hall building at Columbia last year.

The Trump administration is opening new investigations into allegations of antisemitism at five U.S. universities including Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley, the Education Department announced Monday.

It's part of President Donald Trump's promise to take a tougher stance against campus antisemitism and deal out harsher penalties than the Biden administration, which settled a flurry of cases with universities in its final weeks. It comes the same day the Justice Department announced a new task force to root out antisemitism on college campuses.

In an order signed last week, Trump called for aggressive action to fight anti-Jewish bias on campuses, including the deportation of foreign students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests.

Along with Columbia and Berkeley, the department is now investigating the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and Portland State University. The cases were opened using the department's power to launch its own civil rights reviews, unlike the majority of investigations, which stem from complaints.

Messages seeking comment were left with all five universities.
A statement from the Education Department criticized colleges for tolerating antisemitism after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and a wave of pro-Palestinian protests that followed. It also criticized the Biden administration for negotiating "toothless" resolutions that failed to hold schools accountable.

"Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses," said Craig Trainor, the agency's acting assistant secretary for civil rights.

The department didn't provide details about the inquiries or how it decided which schools are being targeted. Presidents of Columbia and Northwestern were among those called to testify on Capitol Hill last year as Republicans sought accountability for allegations of antisemitism. The hearings contributed to the resignation of multiple university presidents, including Columbia's Minouche Shafik.

An October report from House Republicans accused Columbia of failing to punish pro-Palestinian students who took over a campus building, and it called Northwestern's negotiations with student protesters a "stunning capitulation."

House Republicans applauded the new investigations. Representative Tim Walberg, chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, said he was "glad that we finally have an administration who is taking action to protect Jewish students."

Trump's order also calls for a full review of antisemitism complaints filed with the Education Department since Oct. 7, 2023, including pending and resolved cases from the Biden administration. It encourages the Justice Department to take action to enforce civil rights laws.

Last week's order drew backlash from civil rights groups who said it violated First Amendment rights that protect political speech.

The new task force announced Monday includes the Justice and Education departments along with Health and Human Services.

"The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found," said Leo Terrell, assistant attorney general for civil rights. "The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump's renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools."

The Times of India breaks down the most popular subjects for international students to study in the U.S.

STEM and business lead the pack. Read the full story here. (January 2025)

U.S. News & World report addresses some of the misconceptions about U.S. colleges and universities, including the difficulty of getting a visa.

Read the full story here. (January 2025)

US News & World Report details the three top factors in foreign students' decision to study in the U.S. They include research opportunities and the reputation of U.S. degrees. Read the full story here. (December 2024)

A British student who did a year abroad at Bowling Green State University in Ohio talks about adjusting to life in America in a TikTok video, Newsweek magazine reports.

Among the biggest surprises? Portion sizes, jaywalking laws and dorm room beds.

Read the full story here. (December 2024)

Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health reaches out to international students by detailing the international student experience at the school.

Learn more about housing, life in Boston and more here.

China issued its first national action plan to build a "strong education nation" by 2035, which it said would help coordinate its education development, improve efficiencies in innovation and build a "strong country."

The plan, issued Sunday by the Communist Party's central committee and the State Council, aims to establish a "high quality education system" with accessibility and quality "among the best in the world."

The announcement was made after data on Friday showed China's population fell for a third consecutive year in 2024, with the number of deaths outpacing a slight increase in births, and experts cautioning that the downturn will worsen in the coming years.

High childcare and education costs have been a key factor for many young Chinese opting out of having children, at a time when many face uncertainty over their job prospects amid sluggish economic growth.

"By 2035, an education power will be built," the official Xinhua news agency said, adding that China would explore gradually expanding the scope of free education, increase "high-quality" undergraduate enrolment, expand postgraduate education, and raise the proportion of doctoral students.

The plan aims to promote "healthy growth and all-round development of students," making sure primary and secondary school students have at least two hours of physical activity daily, to effectively control the myopia, or nearsightedness, and obesity rates.

"Popularizing" mental health education and establishing a national student mental health monitoring and early warning system would also be implemented, it said.

It also aims to narrow the gap between urban and rural areas to improve the operating conditions of small-scale rural schools and improve the care system for children with disabilities and those belonging to agricultural migrant populations.

The plan also aims to steadily increase the supply of kindergarten places and the accessibility of preschool education.

The Open Notebook, a site focusing on educating journalists who cover science, has complied a list of U.S. graduate program financial aid information for international students.

Read it here.