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Public campuses cut staff — Michigan State and Northern Colorado axe workers
Two public universities announced layoffs this week as administrators move to close budget gaps driven by rising costs, federal funding disruptions and enrollment shifts. Michigan State University...
Presidents' pay spikes as campuses shutter programs
Penn State’s board boosted President Neeli Bendapudi’s base pay nearly 50% to $1.4 million even as the university announced closures of seven regional campuses and large buyouts, drawing sharp...
Academic freedom erupts — AAUP post and faculty ousters fuel backlash
A social-media post from the American Association of University Professors ignited a heated debate about viewpoint diversity and academic freedom after it characterized fascism as incompatible...
Public pushback on federal oversight — poll shows broad opposition
A new Public Religion Research Institute survey found 70% of Americans oppose federal control of college admissions, faculty hiring and curriculum, including majorities of Democrats and...
Loan forgiveness restarts — shutdown strains campus operations
After a lawsuit from the American Federation of Teachers, the Department of Education agreed to resume student-loan forgiveness for roughly 2.5 million borrowers enrolled in income-driven...
Avatars and guardrails — campuses adopt human-centered AI
Higher-education leaders and vendors are advancing human-centered AI principles while operationalizing AI-driven teaching tools, including faculty 'avatars' that can deliver course content in...
FT reopens FT50 — business schools face a research ranking shake-up
The Financial Times has launched a formal review of its FT50 journal list—the backbone of the research metric in its MBA and EMBA rankings—asking business schools worldwide whether the list should...
Credentials and ROI: students shoulder costs while outcomes lag
New reports show a rise in nondegree credentials funded primarily out-of-pocket by students alongside research indicating many public-college graduates still see weak returns on their investment....
AI browsers and cloud outages expose campus vulnerabilities
Two technology developments this week underscored new operational and security risks for colleges. Cybersecurity researchers warned that OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas—with features like 'browser...
University of Virginia: Agrees to White House terms — probes paused
The University of Virginia reached a settlement with the Justice Department and the White House to resolve civil-rights investigations into its admissions and hiring practices. The deal follows...
Trump compact falters: seven of nine institutions say no
Seven of the nine universities targeted by the White House’s “Compact for Academic Excellence” publicly rejected the administration’s proposed conditions this month, with several others declining...
University of Illinois system: Ends race/sex consideration — campus unions object
The University of Illinois system issued guidance instructing campuses to stop considering race, color, national origin or sex in hiring, tenure, promotion and student financial-aid decisions. The...
Harvard to cut Ph.D. admissions — science intake slashed
Harvard University plans steep reductions in Ph.D. admissions across the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, with proposed cuts of roughly 75% in the sciences and roughly 60% in the arts and humanities....
SAT, ACT takers remain depressed — testing not back to 2019 levels
Five years after pandemic disruptions, SAT and ACT participation has not recovered to pre-COVID levels. The ACT recorded about 1.38 million test-takers in 2025 versus 1.78 million in 2019; roughly...
University of Northern Colorado: Plans 50 layoffs — aims to close $7M shortfall
The University of Northern Colorado told staff it will lay off about 50 employees in early November and eliminate roughly 30 vacant positions to close a projected $7 million budget gap for fiscal...
High-school college plans slump — demographic enrollment reports thin
New research finds a sharp decline in teenagers’ aspirations to earn a bachelor’s degree: only 44% of high school students in 2022 expected to complete a bachelor’s, a near 30% drop over two...
Universities tighten through unwritten rules — boards need clarity
A growing number of institutions are relying on informal, verbal directives to shape faculty behavior and campus policies, provoking concern among professors and shared-governance advocates....
Former NCES chief warns: Ed Dept. cuts hollow out school data and research
Peggy Carr, the fired National Center for Education Statistics commissioner, and researchers warned that staff cuts and contract cancellations at the Department of Education have gutted federal...
AI and VR move into the classroom — institutions pilot immersive curricula
Universities are scaling AI-driven immersive learning: UNC Greensboro opened a Google-funded cybersecurity clinic that pairs students with AI and VR mentors to defend small businesses, while...
Universities Split on Trump Compact — Most Reject, Some Engage
Most of the elite institutions that received the Trump administration’s proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence” publicly rebuffed the offer this week, even as a smaller group signaled a...