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We’ll get back to the music on 120 Minutes in just a moment, but first, it’s 12:30 and it’s time once again to check the news, for this week, October 18th.

The Kentucky Kernel reports Friday that the University of Kentucky has quietly pulled support from identity-based student organizations, eliminated gender-inclusive housing, and halted preferred name and gender updates on student records—all without formal announcement. Students discovered the changes only after their organizations’ bank accounts were frozen and their housing and name and gender update requests were denied.

The Kernel cites a recent meeting of engineering students where minority groups were told they’d lose access to funding, faculty advisors, and dedicated space. UK says these moves are due to Kentucky House Bill 4 and federal guidance, but students say the cuts disproportionately target and eliminate minority-led groups.

Trans and nonbinary students at UK who relied on gender-inclusive housing now face uncertainty—and in some cases, potentially unsafe living situations, where they’ll be housed only by assigned sex at birth, even if their physiology or identity has changed.

UK’s registrar has also stopped allowing preferred name or gender updates in student records and class rosters, forcing students to be outed to professors and classmates unless they’ve completed an exhaustive legal process, which most younger students have not. Students who tried to make changes after Friday, October 10th were denied.

Despite the sweeping impact, UK has yet to publish any policy or notify students directly. Faculty say students are overwhelmed and confused while calling for basic clarity, the Kernel reported. A joint statement from affected student organizations is reportedly in the works.

In other news, the Indiana Daily Student reported Wednesday that Indiana University in Bloomington abruptly shut down its physical paper this week, which had been in print since 1867. It started Tuesday when IU fired its director of student media after he refused a demand from the administration to stop printing news that doesn’t directly promote university events. IU then ended all printing of the Daily Student after 158 years. Student editors called it unlawful censorship and said, “To cut print entirely is a clear, blatant reaction to our protests.”

Also this week, The Wrap reported Wednesday that NBC News laid off its reporters who covered news affecting minority groups—Black, Asian, Latino, and LGBTQ communities. 150 employees were laid off, and the editorial teams for those verticals were dissolved.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that dozens of reporters from major news outlets turned in their access badges and walked out of the Pentagon, refusing new restrictions imposed by the Trump administration. This effectively removes journalists who cover the U.S. military from the seat of its power.

The New York Times reported Friday that MIT and Brown—2 of 9 universities targeted by Trump to sign a compact securing federal funding—rejected the proposal, which would have required them to abolish units that go against conservative ideas.

Finally tonight, in an op-ed Thursday for the Lexington Herald Leader, Georgetown professor Robert Curran addressed the current situation, saying, “An administration that lives by violence and intimidation is no longer making even a token effort to disguise their ultimate goal – to make America white again by whatever means it takes.” There will be another series of No Kings protests held across the country on Saturday, that’s later today. Lexington’s protest will be held downtown at the Courthouse Plaza, on the corner of Limestone and Main Street, starting at 1pm.

And that’s… the news.