Teaching and Learning
How Students Think About AI (Beth McMurtrie, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 27, 2025): Students were asked to respond to the question: “How is AI changing what it means to learn?”
Teaching in Red State America (Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Ed, March 27, 2025): The challenges aren’t the obvious ones – they’re subtler, more pervasive and ultimately more corrosive.
Meet the Class of 2029 (Ashley Mowreader, Inside Higher Ed, March 24, 2025): The CIRP Freshman Survey highlights the growing diversity of incoming college students, the pressures of paying for college, increased mental health concerns among young people and, for the first time, how state policies and legislation factor into college choice.
Ungrading for Hope (Tony Perman, Inside Higher Ed, March 21, 2025): Four key benefits and how, at best, ungrading helps create a classroom community that can take a semester’s journey in tandem.
From Feedback to Feedforward: Using AI-Powered Assessment Flywheel to Drive Student Competency (Khameel Mustapha, Faculty Focus, March 24, 2025): The central idea of the assessment flywheel is to use GenAI to overcome two challenges of assessment: the increased workload they entail, and the difficulty of getting students to engage with them.
As in the past weeks, the news about higher education, and the impact of many Trump Administration policies, has come fast and furious. Here are some of the articles that you may want to catch up on or simply store for later reference:
Columbia University: The Larger Meaning
What Columbia Has Promised to Do (Statement from Columbia University, March 21, 2025): Advancing Our Work to Combat Discrimination, Harassment, and Antisemitism at Columbia.
This Time, Higher Ed’s Resistance to Trump Is Being Led by Its Associations (Megan Zahneis, Chronicle of Higher Ed, March 26, 2025): While individual colleges have been relatively quiet, groups like the American Council on Education and the American Association of University Professors are fighting the administration in the courts.
‘It Is Remarkable How Quickly the Chill Has Descended’ (Evan Goldstein and Len Gutkin, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 25, 2025): Legal scholars on what Columbia University should have done – and what other colleges could do next.
Columbia Capitulated – But So Did the Rest of Higher Ed (Brian Rosenberg, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 24, 2025): The gravity of the university’s mistake should not obscure our widespread failure.
‘Mourning’ Democracy, Professors Lambast Columbia Administrators for Submitting to Trump (Adrienne Lu, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 24, 2025): We’ve seen this playbook before.
Columbia’s Capitulation Will Hurt Us All (Jonathan Cole, New York Times, March 24, 2025): Columbia’s former provost analyses the harm that will come to America from the university’s decision to give in to Trump’s demands.
Academic Confronts a Watershed Moment at Columbia, and the Right Revels (Troy Closson, Alan Blinder, and Katherine Rosman, New York Times, March 22, 2025): Threatened with losing $400 million in federal funding, the university agreed to overhaul its protest policies and security practices.
A Statement from Constitutional Law Scholars on Columbia (Eugene Volokh, Michael C. Dorf, David Cole, and 15 other scholars, New York Review of Books, March 20, 2025): The government may not threaten funding cuts as a tool to pressure recipients into suppressing First Amendment–protected speech.
Columbia Makes Concessions to Trump Amid Bid to Reclaim Federal Funds (Troy Closson, New York Times, March 21, 2025): Columbia University agreed on Friday to make changes to its protest rules, campus security policies and Middle Eastern studies department in a remarkable concession to the Trump administration, which had refused to consider restoring $400 million in federal funding without an overhaul.
Why Trump’s Ultimatum to Columbia Could Upend Higher Education (Troy Closson, New York Times, March 20, 2025): A demand for the university’s administration to place the Middle Eastern studies department under receivership could signal a broader crackdown across the United States.
Why Hasn’t Columbia U. Sued to Protect Itself? (Nell Gluckman, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 20, 2025): Legal scholars say the university would have a strong case to make if it wanted to use the courts to fight for its funding to be restored.
International Scholars and Students
US Immigration Officials Detain Doctoral Student at University of Alabama (Sam Levin, Guardian, March 26, 2025): Justification for arrest not clear as Trump administration increasingly targets students for arrest and deportation.
Judge Blocks Immigration Officials from Arresting Columbia Student (Josh Gerstein, Politico, March 25, 2025): Activist Yunseo Chung, who has a green card, claims she’s being targeted for pro-Palestinian views.
US Authorities Detain Turkish Student at Tufts, Revoke Visa (Nate Raymond, Reuters, March 26, 2025): The Turkish national, Rumeysa Ozturk, was taken into custody near her home in Somerville, Massachusetts, according to her lawyer, who filed a lawsuit in Boston federal court arguing she had been unlawfully detained.
Old Laws, New Targets (David S. Busch, Inside Higher Ed, March 24, 2025): Immigration enforcement has been used before to police student activism.
Lewelyn Dixon, University of Washington Lab Technician, Held in Tacoma ICE Detention Center (Lauren Rosenblatt, Seattle Times, March 24, 2025): Dixon, who came to the United States from the Philippines five decades ago and is a green card holder, has been held for more than three weeks at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Tacoma.
ICE Requests Cornell Students Who Sued Trump Administration to ‘Surrender’ to Immigration Authorities (Maanvi Singh, Guardian, March 21, 2025): Momodou Taal, a dual citizen of the UK and Gambia, is one of three Cornell students who are plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to block the enforcement of Trump executive orders aimed at deporting foreign university students and staff involved in pro-Palestinian protests.
What We Know About the Case of Detained Georgetown Professor Badar Khan Suri (Jaclyn Diaz, NPR, March 21, 2025): Suri is the latest scholar to be detained or deported by the Trump administration for their support for Palestinian rights or for criticizing Israel for the war in Gaza.
Trump Administration and Higher Education: Academic Freedom and Speech
Banning DEI is Catastrophic for U.S. Science (Joseph L. Graves, Jr, et al, Inside Higher Ed, March 26, 2025): An attack on DEI is an attack on science itself.
A Historical View of Trump’s Anti-DEI Crusade (Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed, March 25, 2025): Historian Robert Cohen, whose most recent book focuses on integration at the University of Georgia, explains what we stand to lose now that anti-DEI attacks extend to the classroom.
How the Ph.D. Project, and 45 Colleges, Became a Target of the Trump Administration (Elissa Nadworny, NPR, March 24, 2025): For about 30 years, the Ph.D. Project has provided support, mentorship and guidance to students from underrepresented groups who are earning doctoral degrees in business.
The US Is Poised to Use Terror Laws Against Students. This Could Be Worse Than McCarthyism (Thomas Anthony Durkin and Bernard Harcourt, Guardian, March 21, 2025): A new 7 October 2023 taskforce says it’ll investigate support for Hamas, paving the way for a legal strategy targeting free speech.
Trump’s Latest Target: Foreign Scholars (Liam Knox and Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, March 21, 2025): As the administration continues its crackdown on noncitizens in higher ed, international academics face ICE raids, deportation and challenges at the border.
Congress Eyes More Control Over Colleges (Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed, March 21, 2025): Lawmakers have introduced dozens of bills related to higher education, according to a new searchable database from Inside Higher Ed. Taken together, the proposals offer a sketch of the Republican agenda to crack down on colleges.
Trump Signs Executive Order to Dismantle US Department of Education (Rachel Leingang and Hugo Lowell, Guardian, March 20, 2025): Order calls for teardown of department as Trump seemingly tries to circumvent need to obtain congressional approval. The bulk of the budget goes to fund high-poverty schools and students with disabilities.
Trump’s Battles with Colleges Could Change American Culture for a Generation (Alan Blinder, New York Times, March 20, 2025): Many in higher education worry Trump’s efforts to bend academia to his will could end American leadership in research and science. Universities are not finding many allies to defend them.
Universities Are Caving to Trump with a Stunning Speed and Scope (Irie Sentner and Bianca Guilantan, Politico, March 20, 2025): Some of the nation’s oldest and wealthiest institutions are swiftly bending to President Donald Trump, who is acting on longstanding conservative criticisms of universities as elitist and progressive.
How the G.O.P. Went from Championing Campus Free Speech to Fighting It (Jeremy W. Peters, New York Times, March 20, 2025): President Trump and state politicians are pushing new laws and policies that crack down on curriculum, protests and speakers.
Trump Doesn’t Give a Damn About Jews (Amir Goldberg and Barbara J. Risman, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 19, 2025): Campus antisemitism is real, but the president’s vandalistic attack isn’t about justice or discrimination.
‘It Is Facing a Campaign of Annihilation’: Three Columnists on Trump’s War Against Academia (M. Gessen, Tressie McMillan Cottom and Bret Stephans, New York Times, March 15, 2025): And see, as well, John Warner’s commentary, With Friends Like These, Who Needs Authoritarians? (Inside Higher Ed, March 21, 2025).
Extra Credit Reading
The Case for a More Engaged, Holistic College Education (Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Ed, March 25, 2025): How campuses can better cultivate critical awareness, civic engagement, student development and global literacy.
What Autocrats Want from Academics: Servility (Anna Dumont, March 20, 2025): In 1931, Italian scholars were made to take loyalty oaths. Could it happen here?
Courage and Purpose (Christen Aragoni, Liberal Education, Winter 2025): Higher education under a second Trump presidency.
What Is at Stake (Lynn Pasquerella, Liberal Education, Winter 2025): Universities must take action for democracy in our politically charged times.
Point/Counterpoint: Should university officials be able to restrict speech that’s offensive or hurtful to others? (Claire Finkelstein and Patricia McGuire, Liberal Education, Winter 2025).
Summer Reading Bookshelf
Looking to catch up on some reading? Here are some suggestions from colleagues in the small colleges POD:
- What Inclusive Instructors Do: Principles and Practices for Excellence in College Teaching, Tracie Addy, Derek Dube, Khadjiah A. Mitchell, and Mallory SoRelle
- Picture a Professor: Interrupting Biases about Faculty and Increasing Student Learning, ed. Jessamyn Neuhaus
- Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education, Thomas J. Tobin and Kirsten T. Behling
- Plantation Politics and Campus Rebellions: Power, Diversity and the Emancipatory Struggle in Higher Education, eds. Bianca C. Williams, Dian D. Squire, and Frank A. Tuitt
- The Hidden Curriculum: First Generation Students at Legacy Universities, Rachel Gable
- Enhancing Inclusive Instruction: Student Perspectives and Practical Approaches for Advancing Equity in Higher Education, Tracie Marcella Addy, Derek Dube & Khadijah A. Mitchell
- Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning, José Antonio Bowen and C. Edward Watson
- Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classrooms, Flower Darby with James M. Lang (Spring 2025)
- Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI, Ethan Mollick
- More than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI, John Warner
- The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI by Tricia Bertram Gallnat and David A. Rettinger
- Grading for Growth, David Clark and Robert Talber
- Becoming a Critical Reflective Teacher, Stephen D. Brookfield
- Navigating Difficult Moments in Teaching Diversity and Social Justice edited by Mary E. Kite, Kim A. Case, and Wendy R. Williams
- A Light in the Tower: A New Reckoning with Mental Health in Higher Education, Katie Rose Guest Pryal
- Pedagogy of Kindness, Cate Denial
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)