Whiplash: Special Issue Part II: Higher Education Year in Review 2023-24
We unveil our next four top-ten stories -- seven through four -- from a year of intense ideological struggle about governance, public trust, and free speech. Plus, more from our serendipitous timeline
Story #7
DeSantis Shakes Up Higher Education in the Sunshine State
It has been a busy year for higher education reform under Florida Governor Ron DeSantis especially as he dangled prospects of becoming an education president. He expanded restrictions on bathroom use to private colleges and universities align with their sex assigned at birth. Another new law prohibiting institutions from partnering with “countries of concern” left professors unsure whether they could hire grad students from places such as China, Iran, and Russia. The Florida Board of Education unveiled a new rule banning Florida’s public colleges from applying state and federal funding to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and activities. Deeming it too left-wing, the board also removed Principles of Sociology from the list of courses the public-college students can take to fulfill their general-education requirements. Recently, DeSantis pushed back on federal changes to Title IX, which were set to go into effect in early August. “We will not comply, and we will fight back,” he said in a video posted on X. And let’s not forget New College of Florida, the small honors college overhauled by DeSantis and his friends. Among other things, they fired the president, hired a new one, ended DEI operations, and abolished the gender studies major. Whether this was a hostile right-wing takeover or an example of how a strong governor and a few savvy and fearless conservatives can enact genuine reform depends on one’s political point of view.
Sources
Florida’s private colleges and universities must comply with rule requiring people to use bathrooms aligning with their sex assigned at birth (CNN)
New law could subject graduate assistants from China and other “countries of concern” to extra screening (Chronicle of Higher Education)
Florida Public Colleges Banned from Using State and Federal Funding for DEI (National Review)
Florida’s Shunning of Sociology Should Be a Wake-Up Call (Wall Street Journal)
DeSantis: Florida ‘will not comply’ with new Biden Title IX rules (The Hill)
The Trustee Solution (City Journal)
Further Reading
Department of Education Opens Civil-Rights Probe into New College of Florida following DeSantis Overhaul (National Review)
The Administrative Overhaul of New College of Florida (Inside Higher Ed)
Florida Takes the Classic Learning Test (Wall Street Journal)
DeSantis orders Florida universities to waive certain transfer requirements for Jewish students (The Alligator)
DeSantis, Florida university system demand campuses shut down pro-Palestinian student group (Higher Ed Dive)
Story #6
A War of Words on Campus
As the Hamas attack on Israel quickly escalated to full-blown war in October of last year, college presidents struggled to find the right words to describe it; students walked out of classes, faculty members signed petitions, and donors threatened to close their checkbooks over colleges’ response to the bloodshed. Blamed for saying too much, too little, or not the right thing, a growing number of leaders have decided to say nothing at all. University of Florida president Ben Sasse called out fellow higher-ed leaders for not forcefully denouncing Hamas. Colleges can’t selectively decide when to wade into current events or public controversies, he said. “You can’t talk about everything—from Halloween costumes to culture wars, from international affairs to Supreme Court cases—and then not talk about the slaughter of innocent Jews.” The board of advisors at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business school recently recommended in a letter that Penn amend the university’s code of conduct. Among the proposals: Students and faculty will not “engage in hate speech, whether veiled or explicit, that incites violence.” And Harvard University announced that it will take steps to “more fully integrate antisemitism into the work” of its Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging.
---Elizabeth Janice
Sources
The Third Rail of Higher Ed (Chronicle of Higher Education)
The Fall of Penn’s President Magill Brings Campus Free Speech to a Crossroads (New York Times)
Further Reading
Can These College Presidents Help Revive Campus Democratic Discourse? (Forbes)
The Enemy Within: Former College Presidents Offer Warnings (Forbes)
We 7 former Florida college presidents say enough is enough (Tampa Bay Times)
The disgraceful, ducking, diving, dodging college presidents (The Spectator)
University Presidents Defend ‘Open Discourse’ When Confronted on Antisemitism Surge at Hearing (National Review)
Balancing Academic Independence: Beyond Congressional Oversight (Minding the Campus)
‘Arrogance, Ineptness, or Indifference’: Virginia Foxx Says Harvard Has Not Complied with Education Committee’s Subpoena (National Review)
Story #5
A Debt Relief Roller Coaster: From Legal Battles to Processing Woes, Borrowers and Colleges Navigated a Year of Financial Aid Turmoils
College-student borrowers rode a roller coaster of ups and downs in 2024, resulting in debt-relief whiplash and chaos surrounding blunders with the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, leaving tens of thousands of students, families, and college admissions officers reeling from the ride. When President Biden’s student-debt forgiveness plan was blocked by the Supreme Court and ruled unconstitutional in June 2023, the administration immediately responded by announcing a plan B to establish new pathways to forgiveness using provisions of the Higher Education Act. In March 2024, Biden announced forgiveness of $6 billion in student loans for nearly 80,000 public service workers, correcting past errors with the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and extending relief to over 870,000 borrowers, compared to just 7,000 before his term. Biden’s latest plan, announced this summer, promises relief for tens of millions of borrowers, including those who have been paying on loans for many years. As hopes were rising, however, lawsuits and a federal appeals court blocked key parts of the new income-driven repayment plan, Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE), this July, impacting over eight million borrowers. Weeks later, in a shocking move, the Eighth Circuit Court halted the SAVE plan entirely, forcing the Department of Education to suspend payments for borrowers enrolled in SAVE while the case moves through the courts. Riding along the debt-relief roller coaster was the all-important FAFSA form, which gave parents, students, and admissions officers a chance to get their financial houses in order but immediately ran into trouble. Following an update to the system, the 2024 FAFSA was released months behind schedule and was fraught with technical glitches and processing delays. It was a winter of discontent that lasted well into spring and was dubbed the “FAFSA Fiasco”—the newest f-word in education—causing a drop in college applications and jeopardizing the timely distribution of $1.8 billion in aid. Compounding problems, in a late July announcement the Department of Education reversed its earlier promise to roll out a corrected FAFSA form by mid-August, with no mention of a new timeline. Buckle up for more twists and turns ahead. ---Amy Genito
Sources: