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A federal judge late Thursday temporarily blocked a proclamation by President Donald Trump that banned foreign students from entering the U.S. to attend Harvard University.Trump’s proclamation, issued Wednesday, was the latest attempt by his administration to prevent the nation’s oldest and wealthiest college from enrolling a quarter of its students, who accounts for much of Harvard’s research and scholarship.Harvard filed a legal challenge the next day, asking for a judge to block Trump’s order and calling it illegal retaliation for Harvard’s rejection of White House demands. Harvard said the president was attempting an end-run around a previous court order.A few hours later, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston issued a temporary restraining order against Trump’s Wednesday proclamation. Harvard, she said, had demonstrated it would sustain “immediate and irreparable injury” before she would have an opportunity to hear from the parties in the lawsuit.Burroughs also extended the temporary hold she placed on the administration’s previous attempt to end Harvard’s enrollment of international students. Last month, the Department of Homeland Security revoked Harvard’s certification to host foreign students and issue paperwork to them for their visas, only to have Burroughs block the action temporarily. Trump’s order this week invoked a different legal authority.If Trump’s measure were to survive this court challenge, it would block thousands of students who are scheduled to come to Harvard’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for the summer and fall terms.“Harvard’s more than 7,000 F-1 and J-1 visa holdersand their dependentshave become pawns in the government’s escalating campaign of retaliation,” Harvard wrote Thursday in a court filing.While the court case proceeds, Harvard is making contingency plans so students and visiting scholars can continue their work at the university, President Alan Garber said in a message to the campus and alumni.“Each of us is part of a truly global university community,” Garber said Thursday. “We know that the benefits of bringing talented people together from around the world are unique and irreplaceable.”Harvard has attracted a growing number of the brightest minds from around the world, with international enrollment growing from 11% of the student body three decades ago to 26% today.As those students wait to find out if they’ll be able to attend the university, some are pursuing other options.Rising international enrollment has made Harvard and other elite colleges uniquely vulnerable to Trump’s crackdown on foreign students. Republicans have been seeking to force overhauls of the nation’s top colleges, which they see as hotbeds of “woke” and antisemitic viewpoints.Garber says the university has made changes to combat antisemitism. But Harvard, he said, will not stray from its “core, legally-protected principles,” even after receiving federal ultimatums.Trump’s administration has also taken steps to withhold federal funding from Harvard and other elite colleges that have rejected White House demands related to campus protests, admissions, hiring and more. Harvard’s $53 billion endowment allows it to weather the loss of funding for a time, although Garber has warned of “difficult decisions and sacrifices” to come.But cutting off students and visiting scholars could hamstring the university’s research and global standing. 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. Chrissie Thompson and Collin Binkley, AP Education Writers
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E-Commerce
Craft retail chain The Michaels Companies said on Thursday that it has acquired the beloved fabrics retailer Joann, which recently winded down operations and closed all of its stores after a second bankruptcy. The sale included Joanns intellectual property, as well as its private label brands, like Big Twist yarn. The announcement noted that searches for “fabric” on Michaels.com have skyrocketed by 77% since Joann stores began closing their doors in early 2025. As a result, Michaels has already been adjusting its merchandise accordingly to set the stage for absorbing Joann customers. The chain said it has increased merchandise in the fabric category in over 680 stores. ‘Rising demand across categories’ Post-acquisition, Michaels said it will expand on the kinds of merchandise once available at Joanns, such as fabric, yarn, sewing machines, and other sewing materials even further. The craft store will add more than 600 products once available at Joann’s to its inventory, including increasing its yarn merchandise by 25%. “This acquisition allows us to better serve both new and existing customers, respond to rising demand across categories, and build on our momentum as the destination for creating and celebrating in North America,” CEO David Boone said in a statement. Texas-based Michaels has been privately held since a 2021 deal with private equity firm Apollo Global Management, valued at $3.3 billion at the time. The brand has long competed with Joann in many merchandise categories and services such as custom framing. In January 2025, Joann filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which was its second in less than one year. Initially, Joann said it would keep stores open during the proceedings. Weeks later, it announced that 500 of its 800 stores would close. The chain closed its last remaining stores in recent weeks. Will Michaels take over former Joann locations? Per Joann bankruptcy filings, Michaels has already taken over at least three leases for what appear to be former Joann stores, but its plans for those leases are unclear. Fast Company reached out to Michaels to confirm whether the chain would be taking over those locations or had plans to acquire additional leases. We will update this post if we hear back.
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E-Commerce
Branded is a weekly column devoted to the intersection of marketing, business, design, and culture. Pride Month is looking a little different this yearat least when it comes to corporate brands. For years, big brands and retailers have broadcast their (at least symbolic) support for the LGBTQ+ community through everything from social media accounts tweaked with rainbow-flag colors to special Pride merch collections and sponsorship of established parades and other events. But in the first year of a second Trump presidency, the administration has expressed noisy hostility toward diversity in general, and as a corporate value specifically. It has been particularly hostile toward the trans community, for example, banning transgender service members from the military and introducing legislation that would curtail gender-affirming healthcare. All this has evidently quieted some businesses Pride participation: A Gravity Research poll found that 39% of hundreds of surveyed companies plan to reduce Pride-related engagement this yearand none planned to increase Pride engagement. A startling 65% reported they were preparing for potential backlash to whatever support they showed. Anecdotal evidence backs up the idea of a more cautious corporate Pride approach. The Wall Street Journal reported that Mastercard, Nissan, and other brands did not continue their sponsorship of the famous New York City Pride March. NYC Pride, which organizes the parade and related events, has said it is facing a budget shortfall this year. As Newsweek recently noted, brands from BMW to NFL teams that have added rainbow visuals to their logos in the past arent doing so this year. Target, which has been known to treat Pride as a major marketing eventa practice that attracted conservative criticism and boycott callsremains an NYC Pride corporate partner. But many on social media have roasted its 2025 Pride collection as bland and defensive. In fairness, Targets collection usually gets some roasting, but this year the theme was its noticeable non-noticeable aestheticprimarily inspired by the color beige, as one review put it. View this post on Instagram A post shared by connor clary (@connor.clary) In a notably blunt example of a brand rethinking its Pride strategy, a leaked Slack message from the pet-toy subscription service BarkBox sought to explain why the company was pausing promotion of its Pride Collection, featuring items such as the Proud Pup Rainbow Tug and Daddy Dolphin toy: Right now, it stated, pushing this promo risks unintentionally sending the message that were not for you to a large portion of our audience, referring to the Pride products as politically charged. This was heavily criticized, and BarkBox CEO Matt Meeker apologized, saying the message doesnt reflect our values, and noting its Pride-themed merch was still very much available. (Earlier, a former Trump attorney complained on social media about receiving Pride-themed BarkBox products; after Meekers apology, she announced that she would cancel her subscription.) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Spencer Meade (@spennyislennie) While a politically polarized atmosphere is clearly playing a role in the apparent tamping down of many brands embrace of Pride, its worth acknowledging that this embrace has always been met with a certain skepticism. The argument that corporate alignment with Pride always had more to do with courting customers than supporting gay or transgender rights is sometimes summarized as rainbow capitalisma largely superficial practice that may have aided LGBTQ+ social acceptance, but did so as essentially a side effect of the profit motive. In fact, recent Pew Research Center polling found that 68% of LGBTQ+ adults (and 54% of non-LGBTQ+ adults) believe that companies promoting Pride Month do so primarily because it helps business. Only 16% and 13%, respectively, believe a genuine desire to celebrate LGBTQ+ people as the prime motivation. (The remainder believe such promotion is the result of pressure to support LGBTQ+ people. About 61% of non-LGBTQ+ Republicans agreed with that, compared to around 30% of Democrats, according to Pew.) In addition to noting companies stated plans to scale back public engagement with Pride this year, the Gravity Research survey noted that most internal initiatives connected to LGBTQ+ rights are continuing. As polarization deepens, brands are favoring lower-profile, internally focused strategies that minimize public exposure while signaling commitment to employees, the report said. The handful of brands sticking with pro-LGBTQ+ messages this Pride Month are winning some praise for positive, productive campaignsfrom Mac cosmetics making a $1 million donation (its largest) to several LGBTQ+-focused nonprofits in connection with a new Kim Petras lip gloss collaboration, to Ikea donating proceeds from certain projects to LGBTQ+ charities and sponsoring the San Francisco Pride Parade, to a Levis collection with a $100,000 donation to nonprofit Outright International, which focuses on LGBTQ+ human rights. The skittishness of their peers just makes these efforts look that much more sincere. And definitely less beige.
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E-Commerce
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