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College strikes spread: Portland Community College shuts campuses; NYU faculty walk out
Labor actions halted instruction at multiple institutions this week. Portland Community College closed its four campuses after classified staff and faculty unions began a large strike over pay and...
Canvas rolls out AI teaching agent — debate flares over AI’s classroom role
Canvas announced an AI teaching agent intended to automate routine instructional tasks while stopping short of full automated grading. The vendor says the agent will free faculty from low‑value...
Business‑school demand shifts — GMAC: candidates want AI fluency and measurable ROI
GMAC’s 2026 Prospective Students Survey shows a structural shift in graduate business education demand: prospective candidates are prioritizing skills upgrades, AI fluency and demonstrable return...
Campus climate tensions deepen — BU pulls pride flags; schools expand instruction on Jewish and Muslim histories
Boston University removed pride flags under a policy restricting posted signs, a move that faculty and free‑speech advocates say chills expression on campus. Professors warned that uniform...
Education Dept. reshapes oversight — accreditors warned, programs shifted via interagency pacts
The Department of Education has stepped up regulatory pressure on accreditation agencies and is reallocating some program responsibilities to other federal agencies via interagency agreements. Two...
Federal student‑aid shakeup — Treasury to take on loans as Pell faces a decade‑long shortfall
The Education Department announced a plan to shift responsibility for defaulted federal student loans to the Treasury Department, placing collection and repayment duties with an agency that has...
Program cuts and budget strain force course closures and staff reductions
Financial pressures forced institutions on both sides of the Atlantic to trim academic offerings and staff. The University of Leicester announced it will close its film studies and modern...
State rules and bargaining maps reshape faculty rights — Indiana sanctions, Virginia excludes faculty from new bargaining
State‑level policy is remaking faculty governance and employment protections. Indiana University sanctioned a faculty member under the state’s intellectual‑diversity law after a classroom...
Education Dept. ramps up probes — Harvard and Cornell face federal scrutiny
The U.S. Department of Education opened new investigations into Harvard while federal scrutiny also returned to Cornell after a recent settlement and fine. The Education Department’s inquiries...
State laws tighten faculty oversight: Indiana sanction, Virginia bargaining exclusions
Indiana University Bloomington disciplined a tenured professor under a two‑year‑old state ‘intellectual diversity’ law after a student complaint about in‑class remarks, producing a formal...
Universities trim programs amid deficits — community college and Leicester axe courses
Financial strain forced Lane Community College leaders to propose eliminating roughly 20 positions and suspending two programs to close a projected $4.2 million shortfall for fiscal 2027. The...
Faculty and staff strikes halt campuses — NYU, Portland confront labor standoffs
Faculty and classified staff walked off campuses this week, halting classes and services at two multi‑campus institutions. Portland Community College’s classified and faculty unions continued a...
Assessment reboot... Sydney and Cornell pilot AI‑era fixes
The University of Sydney rolled out a menu‑style set of assignment options that permit AI use for most out‑of‑class work while preserving proctored, human‑assessed in‑class tasks—a redesign aimed...
Campus tech arms race: chatbots and Canvas roll out teaching agents
Colleges are facing a new competitor in classroom instruction: commercial AI chatbots and vendor‑built teaching agents. Faculty report students increasingly rely on general chatbots for research...
Students fear AI harms thinking — research shows homogenized outputs
Surveys and academic research show growing alarm among students and instructors that generative AI is undermining critical thinking and producing highly similar, model‑generated essays. A RAND...
Presidential turnover and protest — new hires amid Bard and Ohio State turmoil
Several campuses installed new presidents this cycle as others resigned amid controversies. Ohio State announced Ravi V. Bellamkonda as its 18th president three days after Walter Carter Jr.’s...
Colleges double down on career readiness: major‑finder courses and life‑skills curricula
Institutions are scaling curricular interventions aimed at faster career outcomes. The University of Delaware’s University Studies course guides first‑year students through major exploration using...
Student finance in flux: Treasury to assume loans, groups press Congress on Pell
The federal government signaled a major restructuring of student‑debt administration: Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced a plan to shift responsibility for the nearly $1.7 trillion...
Federal scrutiny widens: Cornell hit with fresh probe; Harvard faces two investigations
Federal investigators opened a new inquiry into Cornell University following a recent settlement and fine, the Chronicle reports, signalling heightened federal oversight of campus compliance. The...
Campus climate: Boston University yanks pride flags — Bard students mobilize over presidential investigation
Boston University removed pride flags from a campus display citing a rule on hanging signs, a move that scholars and faculty say risks chilling protest and debate on campus. Administrators pointed...