Reading Project 2025, part 5: changing energy, health, human services, and HUD

How might a likely second Trump administration impact higher education? How can academics plan for and anticipate that major event, should it occur?

This week we continue our reading of Project 2025, a key document in understanding the near- and medium-term future of American politics. This is an online, open, and distributed reading and anyone can participate. Here’s a post explaining how it works. You can find all of our Project 2025 posts here.

In today’s post I’ll summarize this week’s reading, which continues under the header we’ve been working through for two weeks, “The General Welfare,” found on pages 417–516. I’ll draw out the bits which bear directly on higher education. Next I’ll add some reflections and then several discussion questions. At the end I’ll add some more resources. Please join in with comments below — for examples of that, you can see good comments at the end of our first post.

Last week’s post, focused on Department of Education policy recommendations, elicited good conversation. On Medium, Rob Vanwey argued that Project 2025’s education plan would reduce American research and teaching.

Summary overview

With this section the book turns to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).