A New Year: Déjà Vu All Over Again?
Yes and no. Already arrests at Columbia and Michigan, post–affirmative action showing mixed results, the new institutional neutrality, the new U.S. News rankings—and a blast from the past: Rousseau
Welcome back, dear subscribers. We left you with a special issue, in August, the Year in Review I, II, and III, plus a Serendipitous Timeline, in case you’ve forgotten what a dramatic nine months of war, protest, arrests, shouts, and AI (Artificial Intelligence) that descended like an early-morning fog on our campuses—and hasn’t burned off. In fact, we think our Year in Review report should be a must-read before making any consequential decisions during the 2024–25 academic year. A depressingly familiar beginning, unfortunately, with Middle East peace more elusive than ever, even as, as Elizabeth Janice reports in her three entries below, college protests threaten to boil over early, with crackdowns also coming early. We ended last year with DEI on the run, and we begin this year with dismal data about the end of affirmative action. Something that we didn’t have in the previous academic year is a historic presidential election, with candidates who couldn’t be more different. (For that, see “Trump’s Road Map,” below).
Whether you believe a college degree is useless or not (see “useless” below), our higher education industry is still worth billions and we believe that Paideia Times is as good as any GPS (Global Positioning System) in finding your way around. The Harvard endowment alone, the country’s richest, is worth almost $6 billion.
Though the Ivy League took some hard hits last year (see especially Part III of our Year in Review), our “elite” institutions remain a beacon of excellence in a world of equity, glass ceilings, and races to the bottom. And Paideia Times remains committed, as our mission statement has professed from the beginning, in 2016 (our first issue of the quarterly, which we suspended last fall), to excellence within a rubric of four guiding principles (Purpose, Governance, Public Trust, and Emergent Orders), explained here, as do the multiple topics and subjects that make up those principles, from admissions, affirmative action and athletics, to curriculum and community, free speech, faculty, identity politics, K-12 education, regulation, and much more.
The stakes are high for our public and private educational system—and this year we will emphasize more than ever our pre-K–12 system, which is where, to paraphrase the Bible, we put our children on the right path knowing that they will still be there when it’s time for college (Proverbs 22:6). What if it’s the wrong path?
But if Paideia Times is to continue to cover this most important national asset (see A Nation At Risk, from 1983, and Your Neighborhood School Is a National Security Risk, from 2023), we’ll need your help to get the word out—not just to our nation’s 20,000 trustees (see ACTA, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni), but to organizations like the Alumni for Free Speech Alliance and the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, to mention just two of the dozens we track, as well as the hundreds of publications, large and tiny, represented in our Sources and Further Readings.
We need 1,200 pledges by the end of November
We need 1,200 pledges by the end of November. Don’t tempt me to dance on Instagram— please hit the share and pledge buttons, which are plentiful in this new-ear issue. And then please take our very short survey and tell us how we can be more perfect! Let us know how we’re doing. Let us know what we can do better. (Review a year’s worth of weeklies here. And look at our Substack below and tell me how many of those clips you have already seen.)
And remember, a pledge is NOT money—it’s a wish and a promise we hope you can keep…. Write to me directly if you have further questions or suggestions. Thank you for your time. Enjoy the rest of the issue. Peter Meyer
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GOVERNANCE
Colleges Brace for a New Round of Student Protests
As the fall semester begins and students return to campus, so have the pro-Palestinian protests. At Columbia University, the epicenter of protests against Israel’s military operation in Gaza, police reported at least two arrests on the first day of the fall semester but characterized the gatherings as "peaceful.” Earlier this month, protestors at Temple University marched in solidarity with Palestinian “resistance against their colonizers.” At the University of Pittsburgh campus, a man attacked a group of Jewish students with a bottle. And at the University of Michigan, four protesters were arrested during a “die-in.” Colleges and universities across the country are enacting new rules and tightened restrictions around protest and speech to avoid a repeat of last spring—when activists set up encampments and thousands of people were arrested. At Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, students now must receive approval from the administration before they can protest. At Indiana University students may no longer engage in what school leaders call “expressive activity” between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Schools claim that these policy changes are minimal or simply clarify existing rules. However, the activists say they are designed to stifle protest. ---Elizabeth Janice
Sources
Columbia University term starts with protests and security (BBC)
When Students Become Terrorists (Free Press)
How Colleges Are Changing Their Rules on Protesting (New York Times)
Further Reading
Reflections on the New Encampment Culture (reason)
Suspect arrested after attack on Jewish University of Pittsburgh students (CNN)
VCU’s New Protest Policy Makes Sense (Martin Center)
College Students Need to Grow Up. Schools Need to Let Them. (New York Times)
UCLA aims to rebuild trust with free speech zones, more security (Los Angeles Times)
Pro-Palestinian Protesters Return to Columbia on First Day of Classes (Wall Street Journal)
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PURPOSE
Mixed Results for Diversity Following the End of Affirmative Action
Colleges have begun releasing demographic data for the class of 2028—the first undergraduate class to be admitted since the U.S. Supreme Court banned race-conscious admissions last year. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the first major university to release demographic statistics about its freshman class, reported a precipitous drop-off in the percentage of certain minority groups. In just one year, the percentage of Black students dropped to 5 percent from 15 percent, and the percentage of Hispanic and Latinx students dropped to 11 percent from 16 percent. White students made up 37 percent of the new class, compared with 38 percent last year. Meanwhile, the percentage of Asian-American students in the class jumped to 47 percent from 40 percent. Contrary to expectations, at Harvard University, which was the target of a lawsuit by Students for Fair Admissions charging it with discrimination against Asian-American students, the percentage of Asian students was unchanged. At Yale and Princeton universities, the share of Black and Hispanic students remained relatively stable, while Duke University reported a slight increase. All three reported declines in the number of Asian-American students—with the share falling by two percentage points at Princeton and six points at Yale and Duke. ---Elizabeth Janice
Sources
At M.I.T., Black and Latino Enrollment Drops Sharply After Affirmative Action Ban (New York Times)
Affirmative Action Was Banned. What Happened Next Was Confusing. (New York Times)
Ed Blum Puts Colleges ‘On Notice’ Over Diversity (Inside Higher Ed)
Further Reading
Destined to Fail (City Journal)
Diversity That’s Not Divisive (City Journal)
Can College Campuses Get a Grip on Antisemitism? (Wall Street Journal)
Ph.D.s Are Next in Fight Over Affirmative Action (Wall Street Journal)
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PUBLIC TRUST
Shortstack: Our best (and longest) ever
ProfessorMIA Unprepared and increasingly uneducated college students get little help from professors, many of whom barely seem to work anymore. (City Journal)
Can Colleges Do WithoutDeadlines? Since COVID, many professors have become more flexible about due dates. But some teachers believe that the way to address student anxiety is more deadlines, not fewer. (New Yorker)
Is there any institution in the United States that, though built on ideals of political neutrality, is more politically biased, more hard left, than the college campus? Is any institution more resistant to the smallest efforts at conservative reform? I don’t think so and history doesn’t, either. (Philanthropy Daily)
What Happens to Academia When Ideas Become Taboo?
Are we more committed to uncovering objective truths in science, or have we become too afraid to rock the boat in fear of backlash? (Minding the Campus)
College Students Need to Grow Up. Schools Need to Let Them.
Universities don’t openly describe students as children, but that is how they treat them. (New York Times)
On Their Own, Without a Home, and Waiting for Federal Aid
Why the FAFSA crisis has been especially tough on students in the direst of circumstances. (Chronicle of Higher Ed)
Can College Campuses Get a Grip on Antisemitism?
If they don’t, expect a collapse of authority like what I saw as a student in the 1960s. (Wall Street Journal)
The State of Student Loan Forgiveness: September 2024
If student loan forgiveness lost in the Supreme Court, how are so many student loans still being forgiven? (NAS Minding the Campus)
Higher education needs to monitor these four undercurrents
There are undercurrents of trends in higher education that, while not apparent now, could manifest sometime in the future. (University World News)
D.E.I. Is Not Working on Campus. We Need a New Approach.
With colleges and universities beginning a new academic year, we can expect more contentious debate over programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion. (New York Times)
Massive College Closings Is The Idea That Just Won’t Die
Today, the idea is that thousands of colleges will suffocate due to demographic trends and a loss of faith in “the return on investment.” Whatever the proffered cause, the zombie is the same – colleges cannot compete, and they are dropping like flies. Oh, the horror. (Forbes)
Elite Universities and the Diversity Game
Since the Supreme Court ruling in Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard and SFFA v. University of North Carolina in June 2023 that repealed race-conscious admissions policies, many observers have wondered what would happen to the racial makeup of elite universities. In the past, such schools have proudly advertised the data on the racial makeup of incoming freshmen. So far this year, most have remained strangely silent. (City Journal)
Make Schools Bear Some of the Risk of Student Loans
Holding colleges and universities financially responsible is the quickest way to ensure that higher education provides good value. (City Journal)
Students increasingly treat college as a transaction. Who — or what — is to blame? (Chronicle of Higher Ed)
New Problem With Four-Year Degrees: The Surge in College Closures
A New Problem With Four-Year Degrees: The Surge in College Closures Universities have buckled under the strain of tuition losses as the number of college-bound students continues to decline. When colleges close, the fallout for students can be catastrophic. It’s happening more often. (Wall Street Journal)
It took years, but elite colleges are learning the value of institutional neutrality
Colleges and universities are getting out of the business of making political statements.Having found a topic they do not want to talk about — the war between Israel and Hamas — the presidents of elite institutions, including Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell, have announced they will no longer issue statements on social and political events. (The Hill)
Campus Protest Hypocrisy Reveals Need For Student Education on Free Speech
As Israel-Hamas demonstrations continue in the new school year, the misunderstanding of free speech is fueling disruption and hypocrisy on campuses. (reason)
Congress Should Make Universities Pay For Handing Out Useless Degrees (The Federalist)
Penn Suspends Amy Wax, Law Professor Accused of Making Racist Statements
The case tested the limits of academic freedom and tenure. (New York Times) See also Glen Loury
Congress Can Protect Jews on College Campuses
A new bill would clarify the Civil Rights Act’s bar against antisemitism and toughen the penalties. (Wall Street Journal)
Getting Into Yale Isn’t Enough (New York Times)
Scathing GAO reports blame Education Department leaders for FAFSA mess
A monthslong investigation found the department failed to properly oversee vendors and communicate with colleges and students. (Higher Ed Dive)
‘Abolish the Family’: UPenn writing course touts feminist slogan
'Imagine new models of collective care together,' the course description states. (College Fix)Trump’s Road Map for Taking ‘Woke’ Out of American Education
The candidate has laid out ways to step up control over diversity issues (Wall Street Journal)
Why Is Trump Spreading Rumors About Haitian Immigrants? Rousseau Knows Jean Jacques’ “Discourse on the Origin and Foundation of the Inequality of Mankind,” in which he explored the origins and effects of economic inequality on societies [and] observed that unequal societies are inevitably divided into two diametrically opposed classes: rich and poor…. One tool that sustained inequality, Rousseau observed, was divisiveness. (New York Times)
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GOVERNANCE
Campus Leaders Embrace Institutional Neutrality and Students Speak Out on Free Speech
Leaders at some of America’s top universities are suddenly adopting institutional neutrality policies. A lesson learned? The presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell University have announced they will no longer issue statements on social and political events. After years of pronouncing on everything from the murder of George Floyd to the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion, university leaders found themselves tongue-tied in the wake of Hamas’s terror attack on Israel. As a result, alumni revolted, donors cut off funding and politicians opened investigations. Other prominent schools, including the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, and Yale University, have set up committees to consider institutional neutrality. A new survey of college students found that the vast majority, 89 percent, believe students have a right to engage in peaceful protests. About 40 percent support occupying buildings or staging “die-ins,” 27 percent think students have the right to disrupt class to protest, and 20 percent believe it is all right to shout down a campus speaker addressing the Israel-Hamas war. Sixty-two percent of all students—and 74 percent of liberal-leaning ones—say that professors should be reported for making controversial statements. More alarmingly, 56 percent of all students—and 63 percent of liberal-leaning ones—favor reporting other students for saying something they deem offensive. ---Elizabeth Janice
Sources
It took years, but elite colleges are learning the value of institutional neutrality (The Hill)
Campus Protest Hypocrisy Reveals Need For Student Education on Free Speech (reason)
Further Reading
Supreme Court Declines to Restart Biden’s Latest Student Debt Relief Plan (Wall Street Journal)
D.E.I. Is Not Working on Campus. We Need a New Approach. (New York Times)
House puts HHS on notice to ensure universities receiving federal funding are free of 'antisemitic behavior' (Fox News)
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