This is the reward Columbia got for their early capitulation to Trump.
Please remember:
Bullies never get tired of bullying you, and the weaker you appear, the more they will attack, because they prey on the most vulnerable.
The only path that makes sense for Universities is collective resistance!
In a subtle shift toward accountability, the schools of ed now say,
“Congress should modernize the nation’s education data infrastructure so that information on educator preparation, placement, & performance can be directly linked to student learning outcomes.”
www.edweek.org/teaching-lea...
As a policy wonk, I've long criticized our highly selective college admissions system. Big parts fail to reward achievement and undermine diversity. But as a parent going through it, I'm enraged by it. It puts heavy pressure on kids to be and do something they're not yet ready to be or do.
. @arneduncan.bsky.social & @ambpressman.bsky.social are 100% correct that higher ed is in a war and should start acting like it.
There should be a higher ed PAC that funnels donations to candidates that defend academic freedom and due process.
Use democracy to defeat those who would destroy it
"Silence is not neutrality; it is permission," @arneduncan.bsky.social and @ambpressman.bsky.social write. https://wapo.st/45YQ01X
“This is unlawful, reckless, & legally & morally indefensible,” Democracy Forward president and CEO Skye Perryman said. “[C]hildren should never have to look over their shoulders at school or worry that their loved ones could be taken away at the schoolhouse gate”
Someone knows how to give a quote
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin was an accountability hawk with K-12 public schools. Now he’s embracing an accountability-free voucher scheme for K-12 private schools. What a surprise
@rweingarten.bsky.social @neatoday.bsky.social @arneduncan.bsky.social
www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/new...
Murder is murder- it doesn’t matter who the perpetrator is.
#ICE
"The College Backlash Is a Mirage"
Americans are more pessimistic than ever about the value of a degree—but enrollment keeps going up.
By @rosehorowitch.bsky.social in @theatlantic.com
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
2/2
While I'm at it, how about profiles of 700,000+ people in DC—more than total pop of VT or WY—who have been long-term gerrymandered out of any Congressional voice at all. While on average paying more *federal* tax, per capita, than people in any "real" state.
Do it in barber shop, vs diner.
In our research on socioeconomic background in academia, we ran a survey. Over 2,000 faculty members responded (thanks if you were one!)
Social & cultural capital showed up time and again as key issues.
A few findings you might be interested in...🧵
This weekend has been a year long 😥
“It is difficult to get a [person] to understand something when [his or her] salary (or political contributions) depends on [his or her] not understanding it.”
Been there
In the policy world, plagiarism is the highest form of flattery
you’re having an impact!
Yes, get rid of early decision and the legacy preference. But the truly progressive position on admissions is to change the financial incentives for colleges. Reward Pell Grant and middle income student enrollment. @jfallows.bsky.social @bobshireman.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/o...
Most stories on the percentage of adults who think college is not worth it fail to note most also overestimate the cost, underestimate how much financial aid they’re entitled to receive, & don’t have a firm grasp of the earnings premium associated w/ degree attainment. www.strada.org/reports/cost...
Making FAFSA mandatory: an evaluation of Louisiana's financial aid submission policy on college enrollment and pell grant awards www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
"I find positive, significant impacts on the enrollment rate for Black students at large, public four-year universities"
In addition to the cost side of the affordability issue, there’s the ability to pay side and individuals have a lot more control over that @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social
Latest rpt backing “the more you learn, the more you earn” is out of MA. $20K-$30K value-add for degree holders www.mass.edu/earnings
Hungary’s right-wing leader, Victor Orban, slashed university funding for independent research, cut support for content areas he doesn't like, and installed allies in key college roles.
JD Vance called him a "model."
Higher ed: You're in a war. It won't end with a handshake. @democracyforward.org
BGlobe op-ed proposes colleges agree to cap and reduce early decision admissions. To really make that proposal work, the federal gov’t would have to suspend antitrust law enforcement for that purpose. It can and should. @jfallows.bsky.social @booker.senate.gov
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/15/o...
My vision. Every college degree program comes embedded with a work-based learning experience (a paid internship for those with need), & every student graduates with a skill-based certification upon degree completion. Work matters. Skills matter.
@ginaraimondo.bsky.social
@petebuttigieg.bsky.social
@jimmessina.bsky.social @gavinnewsom.bsky.social @jbpritzker.bsky.social @chrismurphyct.bsky.social @rahmemanuel.bsky.social @lissmith.bsky.social @liamkerr.bsky.social
A 2028 hopeful should go big on work study, strengthen it, & better tie it to academic programs. The Trump admin has proposed an 82% cut to work study even though students who complete a paid internship are half as likely to be underemployed post-graduation. Help them & show Ds value work. #Clinton
When a college breaks and tries to take advantage of the Trump higher ed compact offer (one will, cough, UTexas), I hope someone sues claiming they will be competitively, illegally, harmed by Trump admin action. This type of infringement on academic freedom is barred by statute. 20 USC 1232
The law still matters, right?!
See 20 USC 1232. Federal Prohibition on Control of Curriculum and education institution programming.
Seems to me any college has good grounds to sue and seek an injunction stopping implementation of the Trump administration’s “compact” with higher ed. It runs directly counter to 20 USC 1232’s prohibition on direct or indirect federal control of academic programming. The law still matters, right?!
Doesn't have to be the @barackobama.bsky.social + @arneduncan.bsky.social one (though I think it has many elements worth reanimating), but we've gotta offer something that's about using public institutions to change policies to make schools fairer and better (while ALSO funding them better).
Education “reform advocates should always want…bipartisan support…[I]t makes for a stronger & more durable coalition,” says @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social True, but sometimes that’s not enough (see NCLB). You need the upper middle class as well. schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com?utm_campaign...
It's clearer by the day that Columbia making a deal with Trump in July was a catastrophe for higher education as a whole. It gave terrible people a bottomless appetite for extortion. The other eight universities must follow MIT's lead.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...
There’s a new campaign asking alumni to urge their alma maters to reject the Trump administration’s latest shakedown of higher ed.
They should start a PAC as well. Use participatory democracy to defeat those who would destroy it. @bluehaveninit.bsky.social
alumni.controlshift.app/petitions/tr...
