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The Quad·Maryland
OverviewThe askWho answeredAbout

Maryland higher education, in the open

Washington asked every university to publish a reform plan. A Maryland president helped write the ask.

On August 3, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education sent a national call to action to university presidents and governing boards, asking each institution to post a public statement answering seven questions about admissions, speech, faculty hiring, cost, rigor, foreign influence, and national service. Nothing is attached to it: no funding, no penalty, no template. Johns Hopkins president Ron Daniels was one of four presidents consulted while it was drafted. The Quad collects the document, the record of who shaped it, and how Maryland's colleges respond.

7

questions asked of every institution

December 31, 2026

deadline to publish a response

Non-binding

no funding or penalty attached

26

Maryland institutions tracked here

Why this is a Maryland story

The framework is national, but Maryland sits unusually close to it. Of the 26 degree-granting institutions tracked here, 1 was in the room while the document was written.

Johns Hopkins is also among the institutions hardest hit by the same administration's research policy: it laid off more than 2,000 employees in the spring of 2026, about 110 more that summer, and entered a hiring freeze after cancelled grants and cuts to NIH and USAID.

That is the tension worth watching. The same university that lost hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research funding helped shape the reform agenda of the government that cut it.

Faculty leaders at Hopkins say they learned about their president's involvement from news coverage rather than from the university, and the AAUP chapter there has objected to the process as much as the substance.

The rest of Maryland's colleges face the same December deadline with far less attention on them. Whether a regional public university or a small private college publishes anything at all, and what it says, is the part of this story nobody is tracking. So we are.

Every institution being asked

All 26 degree-granting colleges and universities in Maryland. Sector is shown by colour and by shape, so the map reads without colour.

  • Public, University System of Maryland
  • Public, independent of USM
  • Private nonprofit
  • Federal service academy
Johns Hopkins UniversityUniversity of Maryland, College ParkUniversity of Maryland, BaltimoreUniversity of Maryland, Baltimore CountyUniversity of Maryland Eastern ShoreUniversity of Maryland Global CampusTowson UniversitySalisbury UniversityFrostburg State UniversityBowie State UniversityCoppin State UniversityUniversity of BaltimoreMorgan State UniversitySt. Mary's College of MarylandUnited States Naval AcademyLoyola University MarylandGoucher CollegeMcDaniel CollegeMount St. Mary's UniversityNotre Dame of Maryland UniversityStevenson UniversityWashington CollegeHood CollegeMaryland Institute College of ArtSt. John's CollegeCapitol Technology UniversityUMESSalisburyFrostburgSt. Mary'sMcDanielMount St. Mary'sStevensonWashingtonHood

Scroll to zoom, drag to pan. Campus names in the Baltimore cluster appear as you zoom in. Hover or tab to any marker for its detail.

How it got here

The arrow marks today.

  1. 2025

    Federal

    Compact for Excellence in Higher Education

    The administration offers preferential federal funding to universities that adopt specified policies, including tuition freezes and limits on international enrollment.

  2. March 2026

    Maryland

    Hopkins lays off more than 2,000 employees

    The largest separation in the university's history, following cancelled federal research grants and cuts to NIH and USAID.

  3. June 25, 2026

    Maryland

    Hopkins lays off about 110 more employees

    Attributed to federal research cuts. The university is in a hiring freeze.

  4. July 31, 2026

    Maryland

    ICE detains a Hopkins public health researcher

    Reported as part of an expansion of airport arrests by the agency.

  5. August 3, 2026

    Federal

    The call to action is sent

    Secretary Linda McMahon sends the National Call to Action to university presidents and governing boards, asking for published reform statements before the end of 2026.

  6. August 6, 2026

    Maryland

    Daniels' role is reported

    The Baltimore Banner reports that Johns Hopkins president Ron Daniels was one of four college presidents consulted while the framework was drafted.

  7. You are here

    Today, October 8, 2026

    84 days left. Of 26 Maryland institutions, none has published a response we have verified.

  8. December 31, 2026

    Deadline

    Response deadline

    The date by which the department asks every institution to have published its statement.

Read the ask →

All 7 questions the Department of Education put to every postsecondary institution, with the reasoning it gave for each, plus the original letter as issued.

See who answered →

The people who shaped the framework and where they stand, plus a response tracker for every Maryland institution on the list.