Statistic of the Week
(Source: Inside Higher Ed. Story follows below in Academic Freedom section)
Teaching and Learning
Grade Inflation: An Ahistorical Narrative (Christopher J. Richmann and Ryan T. Ramsey, Inside Higher Ed, November 14, 2024): The narrative around grade inflation would benefit from some historical perspective.
Improving College Student Outcomes with Course Policies that Support Autonomy (Megan Sumeracki, Learning Scientists, November 14, 2024): The authors note that autonomy enhances student motivation and achievement, yet many policies that are frequently adopted can undermine feelings of autonomy.
Preparing Students to Engage in Equitable Community Partnerships (Bonni Stachowiak, Teaching in Higher Ed, November 14, 2024): 40-minute podcast dealing with how to avoid issues that arise from community partners if students aren’t well prepared for partnerships.
From One Woman to Another (Heather Setka, Inside Higher Ed, November 12, 2024): Female colleagues can be one another’s best supports in teaching in male-dominated classrooms.
Recent Storms Stir Climate Anxiety Among College Students (Kathryn Palmer, Inside Higher Ed, November 11, 2024): Despite President-elect Donald Trump’s belief that climate change is a hoax, most young people are worried about the future of the environment. In light of that, colleges are nurturing mental resilience.
All Things AI
Is It Time to Regulate AI Use on Campus? (Lee Gardner, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 11, 2024): Due to increased risk of data breaches and worries over what else could happen, some administrators are cracking down.
After the Election: Consequences for Higher Ed
Trump Likely to End Title IX Trans Protections (Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed, November 15, 2024): In recent years, each new administration has led to significant changes in the rules governing how colleges respond to sexual misconduct. Don’t expect that to change under a second Trump term. Here’s what to know about Trump and Title IX.
Republicans, Back in Charge of Congress, Aim to Increase Higher Ed Accountability (Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed, November 14, 2024): With Republicans in the majority, expect continued attacks on elite universities and more momentum behind key legislation introduced when the GOP took the House in 2023.
What Trump 2.0 Means for International Education (Karin Fischer, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 13, 2024): International education had an uneasy relationship with Donald J. Trump during his first term in office, and his reelection to the presidency has many wondering what’s next.
Specifics Aside, Trump’s Rule Will Mean Less Global Exchange (Brendan Cantwell, University World News, November 13, 2024): Because Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ movement traffics in ethno-nationalism, his administration may be concerning for international students and scholars in the US, and broadly for internationalization.
Protecting Black Students During the Second Trump Presidency (Shaun Harper, Inside Higher Ed, November 12, 2024): More, not fewer, task forces for the protection of Black collegians are needed on campuses at this time.
5 Questions for Trinity Washington’s Outspoken President and Trump Critic (Sara Weissman, Inside Higher Ed, November 12, 2024): Patricia McGuire set a tone by fiercely critiquing the first Trump administration. She’s poised to do it again, calling institutional neutrality “pure folly.”
Trump Gears Up for Assault on Wokeness With Education Overhaul (Matt Bartnum and Douglas Belkin, Wall Street Journal, November 11, 2024): President-elect lays out big changes for America’s classrooms, including expanding school choice and closing Department of Education.
Affirmative Action and DEI
Trump’s Anti-DEI Brigade Prepares to Take Power (Zachary Basu and Erin Doherty, Axios, November 15, 2024): Trump and his conservative allies have long seen the Department of Education as being at the center of their mission to eliminate what they view as left-wing ideologies in the classroom.
The Role of Writing in Communicative Language Teaching: An Investigation of an AI-Integrated Classroom Activity (Angela Rodriguez Mooney and Ann Wheeler, November 13, 2024): Acknowledging both the importance of writing and the challenges it presents, the authors recently introduced an innovative activity in their Intermediate Spanish class, an AI-powered writing exercise using ChatGPT, designed to make writing more approachable and less intimidating for students.
What’s Next for DEI? (Patrick J. Casey, Inside Higher Ed, November 13, 2024): Colleges should rethink their approaches to DEI if they don’t want to see it dismantled during a second Trump administration.
More Selective Colleges See Diversity Dip (Liam Knox, Inside Higher Ed, November 13, 2024): Reports from Vanderbilt, NYU.
Academic Freedom and Speech on Campus
Many Faculty Say Academic Freedom Is Deteriorating. They’re Self-Censoring (Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, November 13, 2024): In an Inside Higher Ed/Hanover Research survey conducted shortly before the election, over 90 percent of faculty strongly or somewhat agreed that academic freedom is under threat.
Did Title VI Guidance to Colleges Suppress Protesters’ First Amendment Fights? A Lawsuit Seeks the Answers (J. Brian Charles, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 12, 2024): After antiwar protests spread across campuses last spring, federal officials privately told college officials to go above and beyond what anti-discrimination laws require, a free-speech group alleges.
Extra Credit Reading and Listening
How Higher Ed Can ‘Safeguard’ for Democracy (Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed, November 15, 2024): “There is no one thing that explains the current state of our democracy, but I think that we overlook the dramatic role that higher education does play in predicting its health,” said Charles Ansell, vice president for research, policy and advocacy at Complete College America, the national advocacy group behind a white paper released Thursday.
How the Ivy League Broke America (David Brooks, The Atlantic, November 14, 2024): The meritocracy isn’t working. We need something new.
Republican Victory and the Ambience of Information (Nathan Heller, The New Yorker, November 13, 2024): For years, Democrats have sought to win elections by micro-targeting communities with detailed facts. What if the secret is big, sloppy notions seeded nationwide?
How Professors Handled Classes After the Election (Beckie Supiano, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 12, 2024): Students’ reactions varied, as did their desire to discuss the subject. The same was true of how their instructors approached it.
Is Loneliness as Bad for Students as Smoking? (Jack Stripling, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 12, 2024): College campuses appear designed to foster human connection. But many students feel isolated and excluded.
Therapeutic Infantilization, Election Edition (Len Gutkin, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 11, 2024): Harvard, Georgetown, and other institutions treat students like helpless babies.
Stop Treating Students Like Babies (Amna Khalid and Jeffrey Aaron Synder, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 8, 2024): Now is not the time to retreat to designated “safe spaces.” Institutions of higher learning need to turn their attention to empowering our students to contend with the reality of living in a diverse, pluralistic democracy.
Future Imperfect
A Texas University Tells Professors Their Teaching and Research Will be Under ‘Intense Scrutiny’ (Megan Zahneis, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 13, 2024): Faculty members at the University of North Texas fear their teaching and research on topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion will be curtailed by their own university’s interpretation of a state law — and, in one college, they say it already has.
Bill Sent to Gov. De Wine [Ohio] Bars Transgender Students from Using School Bathrooms of Gender Identity (Laura Hancock, Cleveland.com, November 13, 2024): Ban applies to public and private, K-12 and colleges and universities. “This bill is offered with no animus toward students who are experiencing gender issues,” said state Sen. Jerry Cirino, its sponsor. He didn’t mention who will be checking the genitals of Ohio’s students.
Texas Republicans Look to Expand DEI Ban into College Curricula (Michael Adkison, CBS Austin, November 12, 2024): In a Texas Senate hearing, the Higher Education Subcommittee began evaluating higher education curricula and whether or not certain initiatives needed to be eliminated, largely under the guise of workforce development.
Florida Department of Education Releases List of over 700 Banned Books in K-12 Schools (Danielle Prieur, Central Florida Public Media, November 11, 2024): Includes writings of Toni Morrison, Kurt Vonnegut, and George R. R. Martin.
On the Bookshelf
Maggie Debelius, Joshua Kim, and Edward Maloney, eds., Recentering Learning: Complexity, Resilience, and Adaptability in Higher Education (Johns Hopkins, December 2024). Essays examine the wide-reaching implications of disruptions such as the pandemic on higher education.
Valerie C. Johnson, Jennifer Ruth, and Ellen Schrecker, eds., The Right to Learn: Resisting the Right-Wing Attack on Academic Freedom (Beacon, April 9, 2024).
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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)