In this week's roundup:
students’ trust in their institutions remains steady, career-oriented education is valued more than the liberal arts, and institutions are receiving help from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
September 15-21
- A student-led protest over a controversial speaker at the University of New Mexico is reigniting a discussion about free speech on campus. Over 100 students gathered where conservative speaker Tomi Lahren was scheduled to speak. While tensions were high, the protest remained mostly peaceful.
- Students have grown skeptical of liberal arts education and have said they value an education that prepares them for a job more. According to the consultancy Art & Science Group, “it remains the case, in terms of broad market appeal, that no advantage, and some potential disadvantage, accrues to an institution laying claim to the ‘liberal arts.’”
- Yeshiva University has shut down all undergraduate clubs instead of recognizing an LGBTQ+ club. The private New York institution has been caught up in legal battles over religious freedom to not recognize the club.
- The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will spend $100 million over the course of five years to help institutions that have struggled with falling enrollment and other challenges. This would entail an overhaul of the institutions’ business models and structures.
- Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that recent college graduates face a disadvantage in the job market. Earlier this year, the unemployment rate for adults with a bachelor’s degree was slightly higher than all other workers.
- A study from Sage Journals found that students’ trust in their institutions was steady during the early months of the pandemic. Students with disabilities reported increased trust in their institutions.
- The Common Application saw a large rise in applications from underrepresented minorities between 2013–14 and 2021–22. Over the course of eight years, the total number of applications increased by 72% and minority applicants increased by over 130%.
- An AI service called Social Sentinel (renamed Navigate360) is being investigated after campus police used the AI to track student protests. The service was originally meant to track social media posts of students who might be at risk of harming themselves or others.
- Community colleges are rethinking ways to assist students who are single mothers. Delgado Community College in New Orleans is one of four institutions that received a grant to create programs designed to increase degree attainment for single mothers.
- A Montana state judge ruled that three laws related to the regulation of events on college campuses are unconstitutional. This includes legislation that had banned transgender women from competing on women’s sports teams.
