higher education

Colleges Must Follow the Law, but they Don't Need to Aid SCOTUS's Resegregation Agenda

by Richard Thompson Ford

From the architects of Jim Crow to William Rehnquist to John Roberts, conservatives have been able to use "color blind" principles to actively defend segregation. Colleges must consider this history in deciding how they adjust their admissions practices in response to SCOTUS's affirmative action ruling. 

SCOTUS's Affirmative Action Decision Caps a Decades-Long Backlash

by Jerome Karabel

A scholar of university admissions says that the decision will be a "monumental setback for racial justice" that is rooted in myths about the policy that have surfaced through decades of opposition to affirmative action. 

SCOTUS Declares Race-Aware Admissions at Harvard, UNC Unconstitutional

The decision makes most race-based affirmative action admission policies at selective universities illegal. Historians discuss the decision, the history behind it, and the likely effects. 

Turning Universities Red

by Steve Fraser

American colleges were built to serve the children of elites and maintain the social order they dominated. Despite fears of liberal indoctrination on campus, growing labor movements including all workers are the only way that colleges will really make a more egalitarian society. 

The Hypocrisy (and Futility) of English-Only "Decolonization"

by Eric Adler

The peril the liberal arts face today is exemplified by calls to dislodge the centrality of "dead white men" from the curriculum; universities are happy to accept this as a cheap way to pander to diversity as they gut language requirements and departments that would enable students to have a deeper engagement with world cultures.

Richard Rothstein: The Problem with Class-Based Affirmative Action

While Black Americans are disproportionately poor, argues a scholar of discriminatory policy, the larger numbers of poor whites make it likely that class-based admissions preferences will fail to address racial disparities, including concentrated poverty in Black communities. 

Jeremi Suri: Texas Higher Ed Conflict "Doesn't Have to Be This Way"

The UT-Austin historian previously worked in Wisconsin when Governor Scott Walker went to war with the university system. He discusses the similarities and differences a decade later in Texas. 

Reject the Bombastic Optimism of College Presidents

by Joshua Doležal

When the rhetoric of university presidents—transformative this, vision that—resembles that of prosperity gospel televangelists, it may be time for some healthy skepticism. 

The Labor of Teaching and Administrative Hysteria

by Elise Archias and Blake Stimson

Although diversity and cultural sensitivity administrators often embrace (and arguably encourage) student complaints about ideas presented in the classroom, students are more harmed when administrators use those complaints to undercut the expertise and autonomy of faculty who have effective ways of teaching difficult material.

Faculty and Librarians Must be Allies in the Fight to Save Higher Ed

by Emily Drabinski

"A robust defense of free expression requires an equally vociferous defense of the institutions where that speech is most widely celebrated. The fight for higher education must be a fight for the library as well."

Higher Ed Institutions Push Diversity to Avoid Dealing with Justice

by Ariana González Stokas

"Beginning with Regents of the University of California v. Bakke in 1978, diversity became a proxy for the real work of remedying persistent and entrenched exclusions based on race and gender."

How an Accreditor Became a Political Target

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools used to keep a low profile while verifying the academic integrity of schools in their region. But their region includes Texas and Florida. 

Statehouse Assaults on Tenure and Diversity are Impacting Hiring at State Universities

"In Florida, some candidates’ concerns are so profound that they’re turning down job offers in the state — despite not having other offers, said Andrew Gothard, president of the United Faculty of Florida, a union representing faculty at all 12 of the state’s public universities, a private one, and community colleges."

Controversy Dogs Another Florida Campus Presidential Search

by Francie Diep

The elevation of Henry Mack III, a senior leader at the state education department, to the final tier of candidates for the presidency of Florida Gulf Coast University has raised questions whether academic experience or political considerations are the driving factor. 

Brown President: States, not Students, are Threatening Speech on Campus

by Christina Paxson

"It is ludicrous to claim that state-sponsored censorship — which carries the full force of the government and can even entail criminal penalties — is justified by student misconduct or peer pressure."

Once an Alumnus Critical of Diversity at UVa, Now He Sits on the Board

Bert Ellis has been appointed to the University of Virginia's governing board by Governor Glenn Youngkin, having worked as the leader of a conservative alumni group demanding and end to diversity programs he sees as conflicting with the university's heritage. 

Rutgers Strikers Ran the Table; Is This the Way out of Higher Ed's Crisis?

by Jonathan David

Three Rutgers unions, representing instructors in different professional positions, won by modeling the kind of solidarity that university workers need to fight back against the privatization and corporatization of public higher education. 

Rutgers Unions Suspend Strike after Big Gains

Although unions representing graduate workers, lecturers, and full-time faculty must approve them, a framework for agreement has been reached that would deliver significant gains in wages and other demands. 

Another Consequence of Gun Culture: Fake Emergency Calls

Although campus communities are thankful when they don't experience gun violence, shootings have spawned another disruptive phenomenon: the mass shooting hoax. A campus security expert discusses how colleges can respond. 

Anti-DEI Bills are Already Changing Higher Ed

Even though many state-level bills banning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs have not yet taken effect, many campus administrations appear to have begun complying with the political pressure to roll back existing initiatives.