Teaching and Learning
AI as an Education Ally: Innovative Strategies for Classroom Integration (Lisa Delgado Brown, Faculty Focus, April 23, 2025): One effective strategy is to intentionally redesign classroom activities and assignments to incorporate AI tools.
Reimagining Science Education for the 21st Century (Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Ed, April 23, 2025): Empowering undergraduates to think critically about science in the media and society.
5 Easy Ways Professors Skeptical About Group Work Can Use It (Tim Franz and Lauren Vicker, Inside Higher Ed, April 18, 2025): Getting students to actively engage in class discussions is a common challenge, but group exercises can help both new and experienced instructors accomplish just that.
Joy-Centered Pedagogy (Bonni Stachowiak, Teaching in Higher Ed, April 17, 2025): Eileen Camfield discusses her pedagogical approach in a 37-minute podcast.
A Simple Hack for Focused Discussions: The Follow-Up List (Nichole DeWall, The Teaching Professor, April 14, 2025): Keeping track of questions that come up during class discussions.
Higher Education and the Trump Administration:
It is truly difficult to keep up with the firehose of news related to the Trump administration’s impact on higher education. Here are some articles of interest:
Universities in the Crosshairs
Harvard’s Lawsuit Sets Up Monumental Clash Between America’s Most Prestigious University and the Trump Administration (TuAnh Dam, CNN, April 22, 2025): The government’s actions “threaten Harvard’s academic independence” and “are part of a broader effort by the Government to punish Harvard for protecting its constitutional rights,” Harvard’s lawyers wrote.
We Haven’t Seen a Fight Like Harvard vs. Trump in Centuries (Steven Brint, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 21, 2025): This is the most important showdown between state and academe since 1816.
Upholding Our Values, Defending Our University: Statement from Alan M. Garber, president of Harvard, announcing its lawsuit against the government.
The Ivy League Resistance Is Just Getting Started (Bianca Quilantan and Madina Touré, Politico, April 17, 2025): The nascent pushback, showcased by Harvard’s decision to reject several proposals from Trump this week, is a notable turnaround from a year ago.
International Students and Scholars
What Is SEVIS, and How Is the Government Using It to Go After International Students? (Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed, April 22, 2025): The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System has served as a repository for international student data for over 20 years. Now it’s under attack by the Trump administration.
What We’ve Learned So Far from Tracking Student Visa Data (Ashley Mowreader, Inside Higher Ed, April 21, 2025): More than 1,500 students from nearly 250 colleges have had their visas revoked, but who they are—and why they’ve been targeted—is still largely unknown.
Why Are So Many Visas Being Revoked? (Andy Rose, CNN, April 19, 2025): How the Trump Administration Is using a travel document to expel students and educators.
Trump Administration and Higher Education: Academic Freedom, DEI, Admissions, and Speech
A Blueprint for Repression (John K. Wilson, Inside Higher Ed, April 24, 2025): Harvard is rightly fighting back against the Trump administration’s demands, which pose a threat to every college in America.
Trump’s Latest Executive Orders Target Accreditation, Foreign Gifts (Jessica Blake and Katherine Knott, Inside Higher Ed, April 23, 2025): The seven orders address a range of priorities for the president, including cracking down on foreign gifts to colleges and supporting HBCUs. But accreditation reform is Trump’s “secret weapon.”
More Than 220 Academic Leaders Condemn Trump ‘Overreach’ (Stephanie Saul, New York Times, April 22, 2025): Signed by GLCA president and a number of presidents of GLCA colleges, the statement denounces White House for “undue government intrusion.”
No NIH Grants for Colleges with DEI Programs or Israel Boycotts (Katherine Knott, Inside Higher Ed, April 23, 2025): Colleges will have to comply with new certification requirements in order to receive any funding from the NIH, effective immediately.
As Trump’s Cuts Loom Large, Colleges Are Under Pressure to Punish Anti-Israel Speech (Kate Hidalgo Bellows, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 18, 2025): Some students and lawyers say a new campus bureaucracy enforcing Title VI is doling out unfair punishments and quashing pro-Palestinian views.
What to Know About Trump’s Strategy Targeting Colleges’ Grants and Contracts (Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed, April 18, 2025): The novel approach is targeting billions of dollars for research and could reshape higher education for years to come.
US Universities’ Faculty Unite to Defend Academic Freedom After Trump’s Attacks (Maya Yang, Guardian, April 16, 2025): Indiana University leads the push for a pact among 18 institutions as Donald Trump targets diversity.
Extra Credit Reading
New Carnegie Classification Aims to Shake Up How Higher Ed Sees Itself (Francie Diep, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 24, 2025): New labels assessing colleges’ minority and low-income enrollments, and students’ later earnings, suggest a new orientation from one of higher education’s longtime arbiters of prestige.
The University Is a Hostage. But There’s Hope (Arjun Appadurai, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 22, 2025): Where can we go from here?
College Professors Take First Step Toward Repealing Anti-DEI Higher Education Law (Andrew Tobias, Signal Cleveland, April 21, 2025): A group that includes faculty from Youngstown State University submitted voter signatures and paperwork in the hopes of getting a referendum on Ohio Senate Bill 1 before voters in November. How the process works.
America’s Veterans Deserve Better (Daniel Braun, Catharine B. Hill, and Emily Schwartz, Inside Higher Ed, April 21, 2025): Higher ed can and must do more to support veterans.
Outside the Ivory Tower (Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Ed, April 21, 2025): Universities are losing their place as central hubs of knowledge and cultural innovation.
The Trump-Harvard Showdown Is the Latest Front in a Long Conservative War Against Academia (Adam Gabbatt, Guardian, April 20, 2025): President’s attack on universities echoes efforts by Reagan and McCarthy – but experts say ‘we’re seeing much worse’.
What Jewish University Presidents Say: Trump Is Exploiting Campus Antisemitism, Not Fighting It (Nora Berman, Forward, April 16, 2025): Jewish university presidents are demonstrating more chutzpah than some of their counterparts.
Future Imperfect
White House Assesses Ways to Persuade Women to Have More Children (Caroline Kitchener, New York Times, April 21, 2025): White House officials have reviewed a proposal that would reserve slots in government fellowships for applicants who are married or have children, like setting aside 30 percent of scholarships in the prestigious Fulbright international program.
On the Bookshelf
Maria LaMonaca Wisdom, How to Mentor Anyone in Academia: A Practical Guide to the Art of Mentorship in Higher Education (Princeton). Review and discussion by Kathryn Palmer (Inside Higher Ed, April 18, 2025): While most students want good mentors, faculty often don’t know how to deliver on those expectations. A new book from a faculty coach at Duke University offers some guidance.
Have a short article or some news related to teaching and learning at your institution that you’d like to share with colleagues? Send your contribution along to us. Also, please email Colleen Monahan Smith (smith@glca.org) if you have colleagues who would like to receive this weekly report.
Steven Volk (steven.volk@oberlin.edu), Editor
GLCA/GLAA Consortium for Teaching and Learning
Co-Directors:
Lew Ludwig (ludwigl@denison.edu)
Colleen Monahan Smith (smith@glca.org)