Free Speech or “Impermissible” Speech, New FAFSA Rules, Florida Back in the Spotlight, Poor Harvard
And another ShortStack: News and Drama from All Over
The Free Speech Pendulum Swings Back at Barnard—and (Most) Everywhere
It’s hard to tell whether the New York Times broke a story or whether Barnard College broke ranks with its progressive colleagues, but in the manner of such matters Sharon Otterman reported in the third paragraph of her January 24 story that, “What happened next has sparked a crisis over academic freedom and free expression at Barnard at a time when the Israel-Hamas conflict has led to tense protests on American college campuses and heated discussions about what constitutes acceptable speech.” As we have reported before, things have been rowdy on campuses across the United States almost from the day that Hamas attacked Israel last October, but what Barnard administrators did a couple weeks ago to draw the Times’ attention was remove a portion of a faculty website in support of Palestinians against “settler colonial war, occupation and apartheid” as, said administrators, “impermissible political speech.” It's a story worth studying, as this week’s piece by Jeannie Suk Gersen, who teaches law at Harvard, in the New Yorker. Gersen takes on the continuing drama of “two congressional committees demand[ing] documents and explanations from Harvard, on topics ranging from antisemitism, free speech, discrimination, and discipline, to admissions, donations, budgets, and legal settlements. Some at Harvard might say this is a crisis sparked by external forces: the government, donors, and the public. But it developed long before Gay became president and won’t end with her fall.” Gersen is not alone in arguing that many universities have “allowed the core academic mission of research, intellectual inquiry, and teaching to be subordinated to other values that, though important, should never have been allowed to work against it.” By the time the Wall Street Journal editorial board weighs in, it feels a bit like running salt in the wounds, announcing that Harvard had appointed a professor who believes that Israel operates “a regime of apartheid” to lead a university antisemitism task force. “We wish we were kidding,” said the WSJ board. Please explore our meticulously curated Further Reading list.
Sources and Further Reading
A $1.8 Billion FAFSA Mistake
There is an old saying in the news business that “if it bleeds, it ledes”—and it always keeps journalists (and their headline-writers) on the defensive, but here we go: according to NPR, “this year's Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is months behind schedule. And to make things really complicated, it includes a mistake that would have cost students $1.8 billion in federal student aid.” Usually the Education Department makes the FAFSA info available on Oct. 1 and colleges receive applicant data shortly thereafter. This year, the department released the FAFSA form on Dec. 30—nearly three months later than usual. This cuts into colleges ability to offer early aid packages. As one financial aid officer told NPR, “The polite way to say it is, Wow. I mean, I was shocked.”
Sources and Further Reading
ShortStack
Headlines from All Over, Including “Why Americans Have Lost Faith in the Value of College” and “Inventing the Perfect College Applicant”
Inventing the Perfect College Applicant For $120,000 a year, Christopher Rim promises to turn any student into Ivy bait (New York Magazine)
Hate Crimes Reported in Schools Nearly Doubled Between 2018 and 2022 (New York Times)
Why America’s “Anti-Discrimination” Regime Needs to Be Dismantled (American Mind)
‘America is Under Attack’: Inside the Anti-DEI Crusade (New York Times)
California State University faculty reach tentative contract agreement and will end strike (AP)
An Honest Diversity Statement (Law & Liberty)
Harvard Teaching Hospital Seeks Retraction of Six Papers by Top Researchers (Wall Street Journal)
UMich now has more than 500 jobs dedicated to DEI, payroll costs exceed $30 million (College Fix)
DEI boomerang (The New Criterion)
Code words and dog whistling’: why the conservative attack on higher education is so efficient (The Guardian)
Why Americans Have Lost Faith in the Value of College (Wall Street Journal)
Republicans Focus on Affordability, Accountability in Higher Ed Overhaul (Inside Higher Ed)
Amid Push to Ban DEI in Utah, Its Top Higher-Ed Official Warns of ‘Untested’ Outcome (Chronicle of Higher Education)
Your College’s New Marketing Campaign, With a Boost From AI (Chronicle of Higher Education)
Not a Priest, Not a Man, but Ready to Run Fordham (New York Times)
The Value of a Bachelor’s Degree (American Enterprise Institute)
Hounding the Elites: Poor Harvard
It’s hard to choose the best/worst headline of the week for what’s ailing the nation’s oldest college (1636), but the rest of the country’s institutions of higher education should appreciate the inattention: “Watchdog files accreditation complaint against Harvard,” “Third-Rate Governance for First-Rate Universities,” “No Task Force Can Save Harvard.” (Haven’t had enough? See Further Reading.) Even former Harvard president Larry Summers piled on: “I have lost confidence in the determination and ability of the Harvard Corporation and Harvard leadership to maintain Harvard as a place where Jews and Israelis can flourish,” Summers wrote on X, after the appointment of Derek Penslar, a professor of Jewish History, to be co-chair of the new group.
Sources and Further Reading
Florida Back in the News
It didn’t take long for Florida—whose governor had just “spent a stunning amount on a [presidential] primary race he departed after just one contest,”—to be back in the news after Gov Ron DeSantis dropped out—where it began it, basking in higher education news (see here). “Florida Eliminates Sociology as a Core Course at Its Universities,” was one headline, because, said the Sunshine State’s education commissioner, “sociology has been hijacked by left-wing activists.” Welcome home, governor Ron. Then there was this one, “Recruited to Play Sports, and Win a Culture War,” which described what the New York Times said was “many New College athletes [who] had no idea they were part of Ron DeSantis’s attack on ‘woke ideology.’ Then the semester began.” Oops.