Feeling Violated and Not Fully Heard
"A months-long conflict has been simmering between a group of faculty and staff members of color and administrators at Queens College after a racist message was found written on a bulletin board on campus. Some professors, employees and students say campus leaders lagged in responding to their demands for new safety measures and mental health supports, which—even after some significant wins—left them feeling burned out and disheartened. Administrators say their response to the incident was thorough and immediate." - Inside Higher Ed, 5/25/22
Gates Foundation pushes to scale dual enrollment and early college
"The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Tuesday announced a series of six-month grants each totaling about $175,000 to support regional design efforts to boost dual enrollment and early college credit offerings. A dozen groups of organizations around the country are receiving the grants under an initiative the foundation calls Accelerate ED: Seamless Pathways to Degrees and Careers. Students should be able to earn enough credit to finish an associate degree a year after graduating from high school, all while earning career experience at little or no cost, according to the foundation. These pathways are meant to lead to a good job or enable students to transfer to a bachelor’s program." - Higher Ed Dive, 5/25/22
Student Debt’s Impact on Perceived Value of College
"The Federal Reserve Bank does more than set the nation’s monetary policy; it also keeps close tabs on Americans’ views of the economy and their own financial well-being. And the latest iteration of its closely watched household survey reaffirms the people’s belief in higher education but offers some significant warning signs for college leaders. Some of the findings of 'Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2021' buttress those who believe higher education remains essential for individual economic success and satisfaction in the U.S." - Inside Higher Ed, 5/25/22
After splashy opening, Whittle School faces financial struggles
"Three days before Christmas, the founder of a private school with global ambitions sent a bombshell note to families, faculty and staff of the D.C. campus. Paychecks for employees of Whittle School & Studios were a week late, Chris Whittle disclosed, and the financial situation looked dire. It was unclear whether classes would resume after the winter break. ... The school survived that scare, with parents pitching in to help cover the payroll. It plans to hold its first D.C. graduation this week for 14 students in the Class of 2022 — a milestone for an educational start-up that has struggled to live up to grand promises. Uncertainty hangs over the Whittle School nearly three years after it opened in Northwest Washington with about 185 students in tandem with a sister campus in China." - Washington Post, 5/25/22
Blind Review Is Blind to Discrimination
"The blind peer-review process has long been a hallmark of academic research. Blind review ensures that research is evaluated based on the merits of the work, not the individuals who did the work. In theory, this results in better-quality research and mitigates the impacts of bias and gatekeeping in academic publishing. In reality, however, blind review can facilitate the perpetuation of institutional discrimination by turning a blind eye to the identities of those whose work is disseminated and the agendas of their institutions. It is time for academia to rethink the consequences of blind review and create processes to evaluate research that promote the sharing of high-quality work without the unintended consequence of reinforcing legacies of harm." - Inside Higher Ed, 5/25/22
To Restore American Liberty, We Need Colleges that Actually Teach the Liberal Arts
"Collectivists of many stripes—but one aim—have been eating away at our free society for over one hundred years. If we want to reverse America’s current slide into authoritarianism and actively move towards a fully free society, we need to be as clear about our goals as the collectivists have been about theirs. And theirs have always been power and control—to that end, ingeniously using indoctrination masquerading as education. To counter this, our educational goal should be to vigorously nurture that autonomous, active minority in every profession who are capable of being society’s change agents and who are entrepreneurial." - The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, 5/25/22
Indiana Lawmakers Override Transgender Sports Veto
"Republican lawmakers in Indiana on Tuesday banned transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams at their schools, overriding the veto of Gov. Eric Holcomb, a fellow Republican who said the measure did not address any pressing problem and exposed the state to lawsuits. The override made Indiana the latest conservative state to enact legislation blocking transgender girls or women from playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity. Though the details of the laws vary from place to place, at least 17 other states have introduced restrictions on transgender sports participation in recent years, according to data from the Human Rights Campaign, an L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy group." - New York Times, 5/24/22
Ohio School District’s ‘Transgender Guidelines’ Instruct Teachers to Socially Transition Students without Parental Consent
"In recently developed K-12 'transgender guidelines' circulated among principals and school counselors, the Olentangy Local School District in Ohio instructs teachers to begin the social transitioning of non-gender conforming students without parental consent. The guidelines, obtained by non-profit Parents Defending Education, would advise teachers and staff on how to treat students who identify as a member of the opposite sex, though it’s not clear whether they’ve yet been issued to teachers." - National Review, 5/24/22
Consumer groups seek to force Ed Department to forgive Westwood College students’ loans
"A group of higher ed and consumer advocacy groups filed a lawsuit last week against the U.S. Department of Education requesting debt forgiveness for students who took out federal loans to attend the now-shuttered Westwood College, a for-profit chain. In late 2016, the attorney general for Illinois filed a group borrower defense to repayment application to the Ed Department on behalf of the state’s students who enrolled in Westwood’s criminal justice program. But the Ed Department still hasn’t made a decision on the application, which would grant defrauded students debt forgiveness if approved. The lawsuit follows a letter sent to the Ed Department earlier this month by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul." - Higher Ed Dive, 5/24/22
When Privileged Students Protest
"It occurred to me that the Sarah Lawrence student protesters had quite naturally assumed the position of the weaker party vis-à-vis the college’s administrators. But from the van driver’s perspective, by going public in a self-righteous way, the students had widened their audience to individuals who had a very different understanding of what constituted identity privilege and who held it. To the high-school educated, hourly employee that drove Sarah Lawrence students and visitors around, it was the college students she chauffeured around campus, regardless of race, gender or sexuality, who had quite a bit of power." - Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/24/22
All this moaning and groaning about “corruption” in the admissions process assumes that there is a Platonic standard for “fairness.” Just SAT’s? And, does this Platonic standard apply equally to all schools? Can somebody enlighten me on this ideal standard. Once established we can then calibrate degree of unfairness. Until that time, this is all posturing.
My wife’s brother is managing partner of a large venture capital company. He told me they won’t even look at applicants that haven’t graduated from a very short list of schools (MIT, Caltech, most Ivy’s, Stanford, Berkeley, Duke, UT Austin, U. of Washington) . They are also unlikely to fund entrepreneurs who haven’t graduated from the same list.
This is just the Nordstrom version, I’m waiting for the WalMart version to break.
There are lots of mid-level state schools and I have no doubt the same sorts of games being played there as well.
And it’s not just to get in but to stay in — to get junior back in after he’s been booted for misbehavior. For example, UMass Amherst kicked a lot of kids out for the various riots, with some mysteriously reappearing without explanation. Rumor had it that $30K-$40K in cash would get junior back in.
I agree that this story has a long way to go – and I’m waiting for the Massachusetts nexus to appear as there has to be one for the Massachusetts US Atty to be bringing these cases. The other two wild cards are the failed Mt Ida College and the failing Hampshire College — who knows what an intrepid forensic accountant might have found, or who so found might have been willing to make a deal.
And could this be the pin that bursts the Higher Ed Bubble?
It’s important to pay people who might otherwise be corrupted well. That’s one if the reasons why we shouldn’t complain about police officer pay. Test center proctors and administrators are given next to nothing. Big mistake.
The students who were admitted under false pretenses should forfeit their degrees, whether they knew or not.
If our best and brightest aren’t actually our best and brightest, the future of our country is certainly compromised.