In this week’s roundup:
Election aftermath continues to shape college and university campuses, attention turns to plans for the spring and college application numbers are down at some institutions in the wake of the pandemic.
Stay tuned for our weekly roundup on what trends we’re seeing across institutions, how individual colleges and universities are responding to them and what national policy changes are affecting higher ed.
November 5 – November 11
- College presidents struggled with how to communicate to students following an unresolved presidential election, while many students just... struggled.
- Analysis finds that young voters favored Joe Biden over President Donald Trump by a wide margin, with young people of color voting for him by the widest margins.
- Speculation has begun on what a Biden presidency could mean for higher education.
- With at least 214,000 COVID-19 cases linked to American colleges, student journalists are playing an important role in covering the pandemic.
- Colleges and universities continue to seek punishment for students who don’t abide by COVID-19 safety measures.
- Nearly three in five college students were struggling to meet basic needs like food and housing in the spring and, with federal relief now mostly depleted, colleges are now finding new ways to respond.
- A new study suggests that university leadership was not prepared for a situation like the coronavirus pandemic, despite having crisis plans for infectious disease outbreaks.
- Colleges and universities are digging into their endowments to offset the financial challenges as a result of COVID-19.
- The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine’s Class of 2024 rewrote the Hippocratic oath to fight racial discrimination and misinformation.
- Faculty push back on colleges’ and universities’ mandates for increased in-person options for teaching and learning in the spring.
- College admissions has been exceptionally difficult for institutions and students looking to apply this year.
- University of Michigan has cancelled all housing contracts for the upcoming winter semester set to begin January 19, citing public health as the most important factor in the decision.
- UNC Chapel Hill is currently on trial for their use of affirmative action after Students for Fair Admissions filed a lawsuit against the university in 2014.
- Private colleges and universities across the country are resetting their tuition, noting that the resets were in the works pre-pandemic. This action is an attempt to ease the financial fears of prospective students who may have been intimidated by high prices.
