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Trump Administration Withholds Millions for TRIO Programs
Nonprofits that advocate for first-gen students say that without the federally funded programs, college could become unattainable for hundreds of thousands of students. Normally, back-to-school season means that the staff who lead federally funded programs for low-income and first-generation college students are kicking into high gear. But this month, the Trump administration has frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in TRIO grants, creating uncertainty for thousands of programs. Some have been forced to grind to a halt, advocates say.
Stopping Political Violence With Free Speech
Because censorship is the foundation of political violence, we cannot cure it with more censorship. The horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University is an unspeakable crime. But we must speak about its causes and how we can seek to reduce violence of this kind—and also how we must not seek to silence free speech in response. Obviously, murder is an evil act in itself. But a political assassination of this kind is many magnitudes worse than the all-too-common murders we encounter every day in America.
Thoughts on Education and Freedom as Fall Begins (opinion)
As a new academic year begins, Michael S. Roth writes that colleges must redouble their commitment to educating for freedom—including freedom from governmental intrusion. As our fall semester begins, college students are filled with excitement and nervous anticipation. By my lights, they are getting ready to practice freedom in the service of learning. Back in the 18th century, the great German philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote that enlightenment was freedom from self-imposed immaturity, describing how the process of education was the practice of freedom.
Florida Finalizes Interim President Hire
The Florida Board of Governors approved Donald Landry as interim president after their last search ended in failure when Santa Ono was voted down over past support for DEI. The Florida Board of Governors unanimously approved Donald Landry on Thursday as interim president of the University of Florida, three months after it rejected Santa Ono for the job in a split vote.
Staff Members Fired, Grad Student Punished for Cheering Charlie Kirk’s Death
Two administrators are now out of a job and a graduate student lost an internship after making comments online that downplayed or celebrated the death of Charlie Kirk, the influential conservative founder of the campus-focused Turning Point USA.
Teaching and Learning Can’t Happen Under These Circumstances
The world sure can shake your faith sometimes. I’m hoping everyone working in higher education is aware of the recent events at Texas A&M, where a student recording of an exchange with an instructor ultimately led to the dismissal of the instructor and the demotion of both the department chair and college dean that had backed the instructor’s classroom autonomy.
Lutnick: Trump Wants Harvard to Build Vocational School
While President Trump has proposed slashing the federal workforce development budget, a potential settlement between Harvard University and the Trump administration could involve the a plan to use $500 million the government is demanding to build vocational schools, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
3 More Faculty, Staff Removed for Kirk Comments
At least five faculty and staff members have been fired so far for comments they made in response to the death of Turning Point USA founder and conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed Wednesday during an event at Utah Valley University.
Education Department Moves to End MSI Programs
Trump administration officials call the programs unconstitutional. But advocates argue they improve the quality of education for all students who enroll. The U.S. Department of Education plans to end discretionary grant programs for a slew of minority-serving institutions, officials announced Wednesday—after Congress had already appropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars to those programs. The move stunned MSI advocates, who argue the department doesn’t have the authority to nix them.
The Key Podcast: StoryCorps Takes One Small Step to Colleges
Dave Isay, the founder of StoryCorps, said his dream for One Small Step, an initiative that pairs politically divided strangers for one-on-one conversations, is to “convince the country it’s our patriotic duty to see the humanity in the people with whom you disagree.”
Charlie Kirk Killing Feeds Fears for Higher Ed’s Future
The provocateur supercharged the right’s depiction of campuses as intolerant, leftist spaces. Then he was killed on one while exercising free speech and debating students. Wednesday saw a moment without precedent in recent history: A college speaker shot to death on a campus during an event. That fact alone would’ve escalated growing concerns about the future of free speech and civil discourse at colleges and universities.
The Fall Promises More Upheaval for Colleges
College leaders have had little rest, but the fall promises more upheaval. It was never going to be a quiet summer. Between when faculty turned in their final spring grades and when students came back to campus, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law and higher ed was hit with more funding freezes, new policy demands and fresh attacks no one saw coming.
Multiple HBCUs Go On Lockdown in Response to Threats
At least seven historically Black institutions in five states investigated threats of violence, evoking memories of the wave of bomb threats that shook HBCUs in 2022. At least seven historically Black colleges and universities across the country went into lockdown on Thursday after institutions received threats, which they did not elaborate on. Southern University and A&M College in Louisiana asked those on campus to shelter in place in response to a “potential threat to campus safety.”
College Student Mental Health Remains Poor, Minority Report Thriving
A new survey finds poor mental health conditions, particularly anxiety and depression, continue to impact a significant share of college students. College students continue to report poor mental health, with more than one in three students saying they experience moderate anxiety or depression. Data from the most recent Healthy Minds Survey, published Tuesday, found that only 36 percent of college students are thriving—reporting high levels of success in relationships, self-esteem, purpose and optimism—down slightly from 38 percent the previous year.
Consulting the Manual
How to teach American Government in Trump II? Focus on the Constitution, readers say. Earlier this week, I expressed exasperation at the seeming irrelevance of what I used to teach in American government classes in the context of what’s going on now. Old standbys like “checks and balances,” “equal protection of the law” and “judicial review” seem to have been discarded in favor of what Lionel Trilling called “a series of irritable mental gestures.” I couldn’t imagine how I would teach the class now.
NIH Cuts Mean Job Losses in College Towns
New report from the Brookings Institution shows that National Institutes of Health funding increases can boost labor markets in college towns. But if Trump’s proposed budget cuts takes effect, some will lose thousands of jobs. Some college towns would lose thousands of jobs if the National Institutes of Health implements President Trump’s drastic proposed budget cuts, according to new economic projections published by the Brookings Institution last month.
New Report: Tribal Colleges Boost the Economy
Tribal colleges and universities are known to play an outsize role in educating and employing members of their local tribal communities. But they also offer major returns to taxpayers and the economy at large, according to a new economic impact study by the American Indian Higher Education Consortium and Lightcast.
Turning Point USA Founder Kirk Killed at Utah Valley U
Kirk was a driving force behind the modern conservative movement on college campuses. Utah’s governor called his death “a political assassination.” Charlie Kirk, the young founder of Turning Point USA, a campus-focused conservative organization that rose to general prominence on the right, died Wednesday after he was shot during one of his group’s events at Utah Valley University in Orem. Kirk, 31, leaves behind a wife and two children. He first rose to prominence in 2012 after creating Turning Point and speaking out about the need to reform higher education. In recent years, he became a close ally of Donald Trump.
On AI, We Reap What We Sow (opinion)
We’re seeing the predictable results of higher ed’s decades-long focus on outcomes over process, Chad Hanson writes. I teach a first-year seminar. We call the course Education and the Good Life. The goal of the class is to engage students in a 15-week conversation. We talk about how they can make the most of their courses and our campus, with an eye toward the question of how the college experience can create an approach toward the world that lasts their whole life. In that spirit, last fall, I gave students an example of how I spend my time.
California Lutheran Settles Lawsuit With Congressman
The settlement ends a years-long legal battle over former Republican congressman Elton Gallegly’s allegations that the university broke its contract regarding the operation of his namesake public service center. Four years after former Republican congressman Elton Gallegly sued California Lutheran University for allegedly violating an agreement on how to run his namesake campus public service center and archive, the two parties have settled out of court.
Pensacola State College Inks ICE Agreement
Pensacola State College is the latest Florida institution to sign an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to allow its campus police department to enforce immigration laws, following the lead of more than a dozen other public institutions across the state. The agreement is still pending, according to an ICE database.
Florida State Center Focuses on Greek Life Wellness
Florida State’s Center for Fraternity and Sorority Organizational Wellness seeks to improve Greek organization members’ career and professional development. Florida State University is home to over 50 fraternity and sorority chapters, with total Greek membership over 6,800—about 23 percent of the undergraduate population. Fraternity and Sorority Life (FSL) students are generally representative of the student population’s demographics, but they’re more likely to persist, graduate and land a job after graduation compared to their peers. A new center on campus seeks to ensure that Greek organizations promote holistic student development, in part by partnering with student leaders and providing for-credit leadership classes.
Colleges Boast Record Enrollment and Fall Classes
Colleges credit popular health sciences programs, increased dual enrollment, stepped-up retention efforts, new graduate programs and more for their record enrollments this fall. Another year, another fall that seems destined for bleak enrollment numbers. Between concerns about international student enrollment and continued skepticism about the value of higher education, some institutions are struggling to fill seats. Unexpected melt has prompted some wealthy, highly selective institutions to pull students off the wait list last minute; for smaller institutions, enrollment declines are leading to layoffs and program cuts.
Texas A&M Professor and Administrators Out After Viral Video
Video circulated by Texas state representative shows student accusing English professor of teaching material related to gender identity and violating Trump’s executive orders. State officials pressured the university to fire the professor involved. After a student at Texas A&M University filmed herself challenging the legality of material in a children’s literature class, the university removed two administrators from their posts and the state’s governor said he wanted the professor in the video gone. By Tuesday night, Texas A&M officials said the professor had been terminated.
Tolerance for Controversial Campus Speakers Declines
Amid Trump administration attacks on free speech, more students—predominantly conservatives—say they don’t think controversial speakers should be given a platform on campus. College students—particularly those who identify as conservative—are less likely to tolerate controversial speech than they were last year, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s annual survey.
More Faculty Taught Online in 2024
In-person instruction remains the most popular teaching method, but digital and hybrid courses continue to gain traction, according to a recent study. Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the rapid digitization of higher education, online courses and course materials remain prevalent. A new survey from Bay View Analytics found that while face-to-face instruction remains the most popular teaching modality, more faculty are teaching online or in a hybrid format as well.
The Trust in “Trustee” (opinion)
We should resist efforts to redefine the trustee role in narrow, partisan terms, Kevin P. Reilly writes. The federal government and some state governments are now wanting to dictate to American colleges and universities what can and can’t be said on campus, what must and must not be taught in the curriculum, which students to admit and which to expel, which faculty to hire and which to fire, and what subjects to research and how.
McMahon Dings University Leaders, Cites Hillsdale as Model
The education secretary says higher ed is in decline. Critics say her speech outlining her vision for the sector misrepresents the reality on campuses. Education Secretary Linda McMahon denounced higher education as broken in a speech Monday at Hillsdale College in Michigan, directing her remarks primarily at four-year institutions and pitching her vision for how to improve American colleges and universities.
Undocumented Students Face Fall Without In-State Tuition
After a court struck down the Texas Dream Act, thousands of undocumented students are left asking how—or if—they can finish their degrees. When the Department of Justice sued Texas over the Texas Dream Act in June, Jose, a rising junior at the University of Houston, worried that his future was about to be derailed. In a matter of hours, Texas sided with the federal government and a court order killed the law that granted in-state tuition to Jose and other undocumented students at the state’s public colleges and universities.
Virginia Democrats Accuse GMU Rector of Conflict of Interest
The lawmakers say the George Mason board leader’s role at the Heritage Foundation is a conflict of interest. The conservative think tank has called on the Trump administration to block federal funding at GMU. Virginia Democrats want George Mason University board rector Charles Stimson to recuse himself from federal investigations into the university as well as discussions about the university president’s future, saying that his role at the Heritage Foundation, which recently released a report critical of GMU, presents a conflict of interest.
3 Questions for Coursera’s Tom Fail
A conversation with the strategic accounts director and a new online M.B.A. graduate. Tom Fail and I work together on my institution’s Coursera portfolio, with Tom serving as our main point of contact. So far, I’ve enjoyed this collaboration, as Tom has been an effective and energetic partner.
A Case for Pleasure Reading in Grad School (opinion)
Reading for pleasure is an indispensable part of scholarly formation, Victoria McGovern writes. A paper published last month in iScience about how we spend our time generated plenty of headlines in the popular media. How many people enjoyed reading them? Good question.