Top Higher Education News for Wednesday
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Lumina Foundation is committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025.

November 20, 2024

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Trump Names Linda McMahon as His Pick for Education Secretary

Kristen Holmes, Kaitlan Collins, and John Towfighi, CNN

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President-elect Donald Trump is nominating billionaire professional wrestling magnate Linda McMahon, 76, to lead the U.S. Department of Education, overseeing an agency that Trump repeatedly promised to eliminate on the campaign trail.

 

McMahon is a longtime Trump ally, serving as director of the Small Business Administration during his initial term from 2017 to 2019. She's also the board chair of the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank that was formed in 2021 by McMahon, Larry Kudlow, and other advisors from the first Trump administration.

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The Campus in the Second Age of Trump

The Chronicle Review

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The re-election of Donald Trump has been a seismic event for the United States and for the world. Its consequences will be felt everywhere—including on college campuses, which have become fraught symbols of the anger, hyperpolarization, and fear characterizing American politics today.

 

In this interview, eight thought leaders reveal what to make of the 2024 presidential election—and why a second Trump term might permanently alter the future of higher education.

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Opinion: There’s an Answer to College Diversity Right in Front of Us

David Kirp, The Washington Post

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Several leading universities recently released enrollment data on the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision gutting affirmative action. As many critics predicted, the reports show a dramatic decline in the enrollment of Black and Latino students in these institutions.

 

So how can elite universities maintain a diverse student body in a post-affirmative-action world? David Kirp, a professor emeritus at the Goldman School of Public Policy and author of “The College Dropout Scandal,” offers what he says is one promising approach: recruit community college graduates.

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Meet Professor Robot

Jack Stripling, College Matters

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For most of the history of higher education, tasks such as grading papers, giving lectures, and providing students with feedback were considered a big part of a professor's job. But what if a machine could do it all?

 

Today, new technologies are transforming the delivery of educational content and altering the student-professor relationship on college campuses across the country.

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Their Student Loans Should Have Been Canceled Already. Now They Fear It Won’t Happen Under Trump.

Jillian Berman, MarketWatch

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Stephen Richards received a letter in May from the Biden administration promising to cancel his $79,000 in student debt. Months later, he’s still waiting for the loans to disappear—and Donald Trump’s election win has made the situation feel more urgent.

 

There are tens of thousands of borrowers like Richards who are in the process of receiving student-loan relief and are waiting anxiously for their cancellation to go through in the waning days of Biden’s time in office. Trump hasn’t said much about his plans for student debt, but if his first term is any indication, borrowers will likely be battling his administration’s officials for debt cancellation. 

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How One Regional University Is Growing

Michael Horn and Jeff Selingo, Future U

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Recent enrollment decreases have hit regional public universities harder than most colleges. But there are exceptions, including Montclair State University in New Jersey.

 

On this episode of Future U, Montclair's Jonathan Koppell explores the details behind his school's enrollment success, its programs for underserved students, and what he and others are doing to improve degree attainment for men of color in particular.

HUMAN WORK AND LEARNING

Transforming Higher Ed: Why Partnerships Matter for Everyone

Wendy Sedlak, Lumina Foundation

Aspen Schools Try to Address Local Employment Gaps and Boost Student Performance With Career Coursework

Halle Zander, Aspen Public Radio

AI Chatbots Defeated Doctors at Diagnosing Illness

Gina Kolata, The New York Times

Q&A: How Data Intelligence Drives Student Success at Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education

Tara Spence, EdTech Magazine

Opinion: Students Need More Educational Choices After High School

Cindy Cisneros, The Hechinger Report

Blog: Introducing ‘Recentering Learning’

Joshua Kim, Edward J. Maloney, and Maggie Debelius, Learning Innovation

RACIAL JUSTICE AND EQUITY

UNT Faculty Slam University for Removing References to Race and Equity in Course Names

Kate McGee, The Texas Tribune

Representation of Low-Income Students at Highly Selective Colleges Didn’t Budge Over 100 Years

Eric Hoover, The Chronicle of Higher Education

Will Universities' Reforms Head Off Anti-DEI Legislation? A Leading Kentucky Republican Hopes the General Assembly Takes Action in 2025

Josh James, WUKY

Campus Diversity Is Becoming Difficult to Measure as Students Keep Their Race and Ethnicity Hidden on College Applications

Sarita Ford, The Conversation

In 'The Atlantic,' Dartmouth President Writes: 'Saving the Idea of the University'

Michel Martin, NPR

STUDENT SUPPORTS

Future-Prepping HBCU Students With Digital Learning

Ashley Mowreader, Inside Higher Ed

Student Hunger Ambassadors at Colleges Across the State Fight Food Insecurity

Sasha Strong, Spectrum News

Half of Young People Felt Hopeless in Some Pittsburgh Suburbs, But Community Assets Can Feed Optimism

Amber Frantz, PublicSource

Strengths-Based Beginnings: First-Year Experience and Peer Mentoring

Damýen Davis and Truman Hudson Jr., The EvoLLLution

FEDERAL POLICY

What Are Donald Trump’s Plans to Overhaul U.S. Colleges and Universities?

Rachel Leingang, The Guardian

Citing Legal Challenges to SAVE Program ED Moves to Renew ICR, PAYE Repayment Plans

Megan Walter, National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

How a Top Trump Advisor Might Influence the President-Elect’s Views on Higher Ed

Amanda Friedman, The Chronicle of Higher Education

Trump Wants More Tariffs. What That Means for U.S. Manufacturers.

Bailey Schulz, USA Today

NEW REPORTS AND EVENTS

The Effects of Expanding Pell Grant
Eligibility for Short Occupational Training Programs

Institute of Education Sciences

Webinar: Internships Don’t Scale: Combining Industry Immersion With Study Away

Inside Higher Ed

Global Green Skills Report 2024

LinkedIn

The G.I. Bill, Standardized Testing, and Socioeconomic Origins of the U.S. Educational Elite Over a Century

National Bureau of Economic Research

Webinar: Exploring the Future of Data Centers in Higher Education

eCampus News

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Daily Lumina News is edited by Patricia Brennan.

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