I agree, this feels like the administration forcing universities to move back to in-person classes through economic incentives.

It's one thing to not grant any new student visas because international travel and relocation is iffy right now. And it's one thing to yank visas for international students that have gone home because of the pandemic. That's understandable. But this impacts students that are already in the US, have already paid tuition for the fall semester, and are essentially shoveling free money into the country.

It makes no sense whatsoever, unless as some kind of political bullshit play around "re-opening".

As I commented elsewhere, this is really a move aimed at destabilizing the higher educational system. Trump and his base see do not care about Universities, which are seen as "liberal."

Universities cannot just resume fully as long as the virus keeps raging, no matter what. Caught between the Trump order and the virus, things will start going downhill.

Uh... they are liberal strongholds, overwhelmingly. There is a mountain of evidence for it.

https://heterodoxacademy.org/professors-moved-left-but-count...