By SHARON LURYE and JOCELYN GECKER, Associated Press Education Writers

After decades of partnership with the U.S. government, colleges are facing new doubts about the future of their federal funding.

President Donald Trump’s administration has been using the funding spigot to seek compliance with his agenda, cutting off money to schools including Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. All the while, universities across the country are navigating cuts to grants for research institutions.

The squeeze on higher education underscores how much American colleges depend on the federal government — a provider of grants and contracts that have amounted to close to half the total revenue of some research universities, according to an Associated Press analysis.

It adds up to a crisis for universities, and a problem for the country as a whole, say school administrators and advocates for academic freedom. America’s scientific and medical research capabilities are tightly entwined with its universities as part of a compact that started after World War II to develop national expertise and knowledge.

“It feels like any day, any university could step out of line in some way and then have all of their funding pulled,” said Jonathan Friedman, managing director of free expression programs at PEN America.

Tens of billions of dollars are at stake

The AP analysis looked at federal funding for nearly 100 colleges currently under investigation for programs the administration has deemed as illegally pushing diversity, equity and inclusion, or for not doing enough to combat antisemitism. Those schools took in over $33 billion in federal revenue in the 2022-2023 academic year. That’s before taking into account federal student aid, which represents billions more in tuition and room-and-board payments.

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For most of the schools, around 10% to 13% of their revenue came from federal contracts or research funding, according to the analysis. For some prestigious research universities, however, federal money represented up to half of their revenue.

The AP analyzed data from the National Center for Education Statistics and federal audit reports, with help from researchers Jason Cohn and James Carter at the Urban Institute.

Perhaps no school is more vulnerable than Johns Hopkins University, which received $4 billion in federal funds, close to 40% of its revenue, according to the analysis. Much of that went to defense research, paying for projects like missile design, submarine technology and precision tracking systems in outer space. Billions of dollars also went to medical research for topics such as immunology and transplants, aging, neuroscience and mental health.

Johns Hopkins is facing an antisemitism investigation, which threatens its federal money, but already it has been feeling the effects of cuts to research grants from the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies. Earlier this month, it announced 2,200 layoffs.

“We face challenging times for the patients and families that rely on us for cures and treatments, and for the researchers dedicated to the pursuit of improving the health of all Americans,” the university said in a statement.

Trump extracted concessions from Columbia

Trump has singled out Columbia University, making an example of the Ivy League school by withholding $400 million in federal money. The administration repeatedly accused Columbia of letting antisemitism go unchecked at protests against Israel that began at the New York City university last spring and quickly spread to other campuses — a characterization disputed by those involved in the demonstrations.

As a precondition for restoring that money — along with billions more in future grants — the Republican administration demanded unprecedented changes in university policy. Columbia’s decision last week to bow to those demands, in part to salvage ongoing research projects at its labs and medical center, has been criticized by some faculty and free speech groups as capitulating to an intrusion on academic freedom.

At the White House on Wednesday, Trump expressed satisfaction with the pressure campaign on colleges.

“You see what we’re doing with the colleges, and they’re all bending and saying, ‘Sir, thank you very much, we appreciate it,’” Trump said during an event for Women’s History Month.

In the 2022-2023 academic year, Columbia got close to a fifth of its revenue from federal sources, around $1.2 billion. An audit shows that much of Columbia’s federal money went to research and development, including $166 million for global AIDS programs, $99 million to study aging, $28 million for cancer biology and $24 million for drug abuse and addiction research.

A new approach on enforcement of civil rights laws

Federal law allows the Education Department to terminate funding to colleges that violate civil rights laws, but only after taking certain steps. Title VI of the law says the department must first make a formal finding of noncompliance, offer a hearing, notify Congress and then wait 30 days before pulling aid.

But the Trump administration has a new strategy, moving quickly from demands to penalties with little room for negotiating, and little indication of due process, legal experts say.

At Penn, the administration suspended $175 million in federal funding from the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services over a transgender swimmer who last competed for the school in 2022. The White House said the action came out of a review of discretionary money going to universities.

“It looks like much of the playbook is intimidation, more so than actual substantiated legal findings,” said Michael Pillera, director of educational equity issues at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “I think all of this is designed as an attempt to intimidate all universities, not just the institutions under investigation.”

The cuts and the uncertainty have led some universities to accept fewer graduate students, cutting off pathways to careers. Many graduate students in science programs receive scholarships and stipends that come from federal research grants.

Purdue University senior Alyssa Johnson had been planning to pursue graduate research on amphibian diseases, and she was accepted into one of three schools she applied to. She said one of the schools appeared to have limited their acceptances to preemptively avoid funding concerns. But given her application experience, the changing landscape of research and her shifting interests, she decided to change her course of study to something she felt would help build trust between scientists and the public.

“I kind of went through a little bit of career crisis, which was definitely catalyzed by what’s going on with the current administration and their attitudes toward science and science communication,” Johnson said.

AP writers Kasturi Pananjady, Cheyanne Mumphrey and Chris Megerian contributed to this report.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By DAVID RISING and JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI, Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand on Friday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed.

The 7.7 magnitude quake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong 6.4 magnitude aftershock.

The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times — was not yet clear.

Myanmar’s government said blood was in high demand in the hardest-hit areas. Images of buckled and cracked roads and damaged highways as well as the collapse of a bridge and dam raised further concerns about how rescuers would even reach some areas in a country already enduring a widespread humanitarian crisis.

Near Bangkok’s popular Chatuchak market, a 33-story building under construction, with a crane on top, crumpled into a cloud of dust, and onlookers could be seen screaming and running in a video posted on social media.

The sound of sirens echoed throughout central Bangkok and vehicles filled the streets, leaving some of the city’s already congested streets gridlocked. The elevated rapid transit system and subway shut down.

While the area where the quake struck is prone to earthquakes, they are usually not so big and it is rare for them to felt in the Thai capital, which sits on a river delta and is at moderate risk for quakes.

April Kanichawanakul, who works in an office building in Bangkok, initially didn’t even realize it was an earthquake, the first she’d ever experienced. “I just thought I was dizzy,” she said.

She and her colleagues ran downstairs from the 10th floor of their building and waited outside for a signal that it was safe to go back in.

Crane-topped building collapsed in a cloud of dust

In Bangkok, at least three people were killed in the building collapse and 90 were missing, according to Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai. He offered no more details about the ongoing rescue efforts but first responders said that seven people had been rescued so far from the area.

At least two of the dead were construction workers who were killed by falling rubble or debris, rescue worker Songwut Wangpon told reporters. The building was being built by the China Railway Construction Corporation for Thailand’s government auditor general.

Elsewhere, people in Bangkok evacuated from their buildings were cautioned to stay outside in case there were more aftershocks.

The U.S. Geological Survey and Germany’s GFZ center for geosciences said the earthquake was a shallow 6.2 miles, according to preliminary reports. Shallower earthquakes tend to cause more damage.

Screaming and panic as buildings swayed

Bangkok’s city hall declared the city a disaster area to facilitate the response. The greater Bangkok area is home to more than 17 million people, many of whom live in high-rise apartments.

“All of a sudden the whole building began to move. Immediately there was screaming and a lot of panic,” said Fraser Morton, a tourist from Scotland, who was in one of Bangkok’s many malls.

“I just started walking calmly at first but then the building started really moving, yeah, a lot of screaming, a lot of panic, people running the wrong way down the escalators.”

Like Morton, thousands of people poured into Benjasiri Park from nearby shopping malls, high rises and apartment buildings along Bangkok’s busy Sukhumvit Road.

Many were on phones trying to reach loved ones as others sought shade from the hot early afternoon sun.

“I got outside and then looked up at the building and the whole building was moving, dust and debris, it was pretty intense,” Morton said. “Lots of chaos.”

Voranoot Thirawat, a lawyer working in central Bangkok, said her first indication that something was wrong came when she saw a light swinging back and forth. Then she heard the building creaking as it moved back and forth.

She and her colleagues ran down 12 flights of stairs. “In my lifetime, there was no earthquake like this in Bangkok,” she said.

Paul Vincent, a tourist visiting from England, was at a streetside bar when the quake struck.

“The next thing, everybody came on the street, so there was a lot of screaming and panicking, which obviously made it a lot worse,” he said.

As he came onto the street himself, he said he saw a high-rise building swaying and water falling from a rooftop pool.

“There was people crying in the streets and, you know, the panic was horrendous really,” he said.

Bridge and monastery collapse and dam bursts in Myanmar

In Mandalay, the earthquake reportedly brought down multiple buildings, including the Ma Soe Yane monastery, one of the largest in the city, and damaged the former royal palace. Meanwhile, Christian Aid said its partners and colleagues on the ground reported that a dam burst in the city, causing water levels to rise in the lowland areas in the area.

A video posted online showed robed monks in the street shooting video of the multistory monastery before it suddenly fell into the ground. It was not immediately clear whether anyone was harmed.

In the Sagaing region just southwest of the city, a 90-year-old bridge collapsed, and some sections of the highway connecting Mandalay and Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon, were also damaged.

The military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, and is now involved in a bloody civil war with long-established militias and newly formed pro-democracy ones.

Government forces have lost control of much of Myanmar, and many places are incredibly dangerous to access or simply out of reach for aid groups. More than 3 million people have been displaced by the fighting and nearly 20 million are in need, according to the United Nations.

The Red Cross said downed power lines added to challenges for their teams trying to reach several hard-hit areas.

“This disaster will have left people devastated and in need of drinking water, food and shelter,” said Julie Mehigan, head of Asia, Middle East & Europe for Christian Aid. “Myanmar is one of the least developed countries in the world. Even before this heartbreaking earthquake, we know conflict and displacement has left countless people in real need.”

Myanmar’s government declared a state of emergency in six regions and states including the capital Naypyitaw and Mandalay. It was not clear what the declaration meant since the entire country has been under a state of emergency since 2021.

Residents in Yangon rushed out of their homes when the quake struck. In the capital Naypyitaw, the quake damaged religious shrines, sending parts toppling to the ground, and some homes.

Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, the military government’s spokesperson, told state television MRTV that blood was in high demand in the hospitals in earthquakes-hit areas, especially Mandalay, Sagaing, and Naypyitaw. He urged blood donors to contact the hospitals as soon as possible.

Injuries reported in China

To the northeast, the earthquake was felt in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces in China and caused damage to houses and injuries in the city of Ruili on the border with Myanmar, according to Chinese media reports.

Videos that one outlet said it had received from a person in Ruili showed building debris littering a street and a person being wheeled in a stretcher toward an ambulance.

The shaking in Mangshi, a Chinese city about 60 miles northeast of Ruili, was so strong that people couldn’t stand, one resident told The Paper, an online media outlet.

Adam Schreck, Haruka Naga, Jerry Harmer, Grant Peck and Penny Wang in Bangkok, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Ken Moritsugu in Beijing contributed to this report.

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, Associated Press Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — An inflation gauge closely watched by the Federal Reserve remained high last month even before the impact of most tariffs has been felt. Americans’ spending rebounded in February after a steep fall last month and incomes increased.

Friday’s report from the Commerce Department showed that consumer prices increased 2.5% in February from a year earlier, matching January’s annual pace. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.8% compared with a year ago, higher than January’s figure of 2.7%.

Economists watch core prices because they are typically a better guide of where inflation is headed. The core index has barely changed in the past year.

Inflation remains a top economic concern for most Americans, even as it has fallen sharply from its 2022 peak. Donald Trump rode dissatisfaction with higher prices to the presidency and promised to quickly bring down inflation, but the yearly rate is higher now than in September, when it briefly touched 2.1%.

Trump has slapped 20% tariffs on all Chinese imports, 25% import taxes on steel and aluminum, and on Wednesday said he would hit imported cars with another 25% duty. Most economists, and the Federal Reserve, now expect inflation to tick higher this year as a result of the tariffs. Fed Chair Jerome Powell last week said elevated inflation from the tariffs could be temporary. But he also added the outlook was unusually uncertain given the swift changes in policy from the White House.

On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.3% in February from the previous month, the same as in January, while core prices increased 0.4%, the largest increase in more than a year.

Americans stepped up their spending in February, which rose 0.4% from January. However, January spending suffered the largest drop in four years.

Consumer and business confidence in the economy has fallen sharply since Trump began rolling out tariffs, and a measure of Americans’ outlook for the future of the economy dropped to a 12-year low on Tuesday. Many polls find that most of the public sees the economy as fair or poor. A survey last month by the Pew Research Center found that 63% of Americans still see inflation as a “very big problem.”

Rose DeChaine arrived at the Minnesota School for the Feeble-Minded in Faribault in August 1924.

State officials had received testimony that the 22-year-old Brainerd woman was working as a prostitute. They explained the reason she was being institutionalized with a single phrase on her commitment form: “Is immoral.”

Separated from her children, DeChaine would spend the better part of two unhappy years confined to the school before finally being released.

But her freedom came at a cost. DeChaine’s mother had agreed to allow the state to sterilize her daughter under a new law passed by the Minnesota Legislature.

Spurred on by proponents of the pseudoscientific eugenics movement, Minnesota was one of 32 states to enact such a law during the first half of the 20th century, permitting its Board of Control to sterilize “feeble-minded and insane persons” committed to a public institution.

“It was a horribly cruel policy,” said DeChaine’s grandson, John Erickson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist whose book “When Mortals Play God” follows the disastrous ripple effects DeChaine’s commitment and sterilization had on their family.

“There was a lot of bad science happening at that time, and it was used to justify some pretty horrible behavior.”

Unlike eugenics laws in many other states, Minnesota’s required the consent of the patient or their next of kin before a sterilization could be performed. But calling the procedures voluntary is much too generous, said historian Molly Ladd-Taylor, whose book “Fixing the Poor” chronicles the rise and fall of Minnesota’s eugenics law.

“A critic in the 1930s called it the price of freedom,” Ladd-Taylor said. “You would consent to sterilization as a condition of what they called parole — so hardly informed consent as we know it today.”

In practice, Ladd-Taylor found that public officials used the law to curb the birthrate of impoverished Minnesotans who relied on expensive public assistance programs, especially during the lean years of the Great Depression.

During the half-century that the eugenics law remained on the books, Minnesota sterilized at least 2,350 people, according to Ladd-Taylor. Like DeChaine, roughly 80% of them were women. And nearly all of them poor.

‘Human thoroughbreds’

The eugenics movement enjoyed broad public support in the United States at the turn of the last century, including that of many prominent American intellectuals and politicians, such as Theodore Roosevelt, Helen Keller and Alexander Graham Bell.

In Minnesota, the movement’s most outspoken proponent was physician-turned-politician Charles Fremont Dight, who served a term on the Minneapolis City Council before making eugenics his life’s work, according to a 1984 article in Minnesota History magazine.

Obsessed with the idea of perfecting the human race by means of selective breeding, Dight founded the Minnesota Eugenics Society in 1923.

“Just as we have thoroughbred sheep, cattle and hogs, we may have human thoroughbreds if we make use of nature’s laws for securing them,” Dight wrote in a 1922 pamphlet excerpted by the Minneapolis Tribune.

Another leading local voice in favor of eugenics at that time was Frederick Kuhlmann, director of the School for the Feeble-Minded, where the state would perform most of its sterilization surgeries in coming years.

Dight and Kuhlmann were instrumental in shepherding the eugenic sterilization bill through the 1925 legislative session, Ladd-Taylor writes.

“My impression is that there was, if not broad support, not broad opposition either,” she said. “It was seen as a child welfare measure.”

Although the bill was given three public hearings, it appears to have passed with very little fanfare. The House approved it by a vote of 86 to 34 with no debate on the floor.

The Senate did the same a month later by a margin of 40 votes to 4. In an article about the Senate’s work that day, the Pioneer Press reported: “Sixteen bills were passed at the evening session, most of them of minor importance.”

Signed into law by Gov. Theodore Christianson on April 8, 1925, the final bill’s consent requirement was a disappointment to Dight, who believed sterilization should be mandatory for everyone he judged to be inferior. He spent his remaining years campaigning in vain for stricter eugenics legislation.

Saving taxpayer dollars

DeChaine was among the first Minnesotans sterilized under the new law after it took effect on Jan. 1, 1926.

Rose DeChaine, pictured here on her wedding day in May 1930, was one of the first Minnesotans to be sterilized under the state’s 1925 eugenics law. (Courtesy of John Erickson)

She was typical of many women sent to the School for the Feeble-Minded at that time.

“She was uneducated, she was raised in a pretty poor household, and she got in a lot of trouble,” said Erickson, who researched his grandmother’s case off-and-on for nearly two decades before writing his book.

Already the mother of two children she was struggling to support, DeChaine was pregnant with a third and living with her mother when she was sent to Faribault.

Rural Minnesota was suffering from a slumping agricultural economy in the 1920s, and the Great Depression would soon spread the pain to the rest of the state. Public assistance was administered by county officials who were often eager to offload anyone they viewed as a burden to local taxpayers.

“Judges — particularly in these small communities — would commit them because that would get the problem out of the community,” Erickson said.

After being committed, they were the responsibility of Mildred Thomson, director of the state Board of Control’s Bureau for the Feebleminded and Epileptic, who would consult with their families and the staff at the school in Faribault to determine whether they were an appropriate candidate for release — and sterilization.

Thomson, like many of her colleagues, viewed herself as an advocate for the people under her care.

Ladd-Taylor writes that “the officials who administered Minnesota’s sterilization law saw it as a child welfare measure that would ‘protect’ the dependent, delinquent, and disabled poor from the burdens of childrearing — and facilitate their transition from welfare to work.”

The need for low-wage domestic labor was one of the primary reasons more women were sterilized and paroled than men, Ladd-Taylor said. Furthermore, families were more likely to consent to the sterilization of women, and “the community didn’t want so-called ‘feeble-minded’ men being released.”

Although the state did not record the ethnicity of those who were sterilized under the law, it’s likely Native Americans were disproportionately affected, Ladd-Taylor said.

Sterilizations under Minnesota’s eugenics law peaked in 1937, as the Depression pushed more of the state’s residents onto public assistance rolls. They began to ebb as World War II caused a shortage of surgical nurses, who were necessary to perform the operations.

Only after the war did “the combined effects of social welfare entitlements, a prosperous economy, and public revulsion over Nazi crimes end routine sterilizations in Minnesota’s public institutions,” Ladd-Taylor writes.

The Minnesota Legislature officially put a stop to the practice in 1975, when it passed a law creating new protections for people with intellectual disabilities.

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