Arthur Laffer, the Reagan-era economist best known for the “Laffer Curve,” appeared recently at a Young America’s Foundation (YAF) event, still making the same tired claims that have shaped decades of economic inequality, deregulation, and magical thinking. The event, broadcast on C-SPAN, was marketed as a fresh take on conservative economics. What it delivered instead was a rerun of discredited supply-side talking points—punctuated by jokes that fell embarrassingly flat.
Laffer claimed that Donald Trump’s tariffs were a strategy to bring about more free trade in the future—a baffling contradiction to anyone who understands trade policy or the basics of coercive economic diplomacy. The idea that protectionism is a roundabout route to free markets would be laughable if it weren’t so destructive. But Laffer, like many libertarians, thrives on contradiction. The audience—young, mostly white, mostly male—nodded along as if it all made sense.
He also defended increased U.S. military spending, invoking Ronald Reagan’s 1980s arms buildup. What he didn’t mention: Reagan was in the early stages of dementia during his presidency, and his military strategy deepened the national debt, even as Laffer’s beloved tax cuts starved the government of revenue. That context never surfaced, of course.
Laffer’s appearance was followed by Linda McMahon, former WWE executive and Small Business Administration head under Trump. The tag team pairing reinforced the spectacle of right-wing economic theater disguised as intellectual discourse.
YAF, a competitor to Turning Point USA, presents itself as the more polished brand of conservative youth organizing. It’s backed by deep pockets and institutional support, but its message remains the same: glorify the market, demonize government, and elevate charisma over critical thinking. Its speakers are well-coached in rhetorical sparring, skilled in sophistry, and eager to exploit the inexperience of their college-aged audience.
Laffer fits that mold perfectly. He’s less a thought leader than a relic of failed policy, propped up by a movement that rewards ideological loyalty over intellectual honesty. His ideas can’t really be called “theories” anymore—empirical evidence has repeatedly debunked them. But among libertarians and the far right, evidence is optional, and repetition is persuasive.
Young America’s Foundation is adept at drawing youth into a worldview of individualism that rarely benefits individuals. It relies on the passion and ignorance of its followers, asking them to embrace contradictions: that tariffs bring freedom, that debt from war is freedom, that cutting taxes magically increases revenue. It’s a faith-based economics, and Laffer remains its high priest.
In the end, the only thing more stale than the Laffer Curve is the attempt to keep it alive.
Sources:
C-SPAN: Art Laffer speech at YAF
Reagan’s Alzheimer’s revelations: The New York Times
Critiques of supply-side economics: Brookings, Economic Policy Institute
The federal government has frozen $584 million in grants and contracts at UCLA.
The Trump administration is ratcheting up pressure on the University of California, Los Angeles, and seeking a $1 billion settlement, following concessions from other institutions, CNN reported.
University of California president James B. Milliken said in a statement Friday that “a payment of this scale would completely devastate our country’s greatest public university system as well as inflict great harm on our students and all Californians.”
Demands for a settlement come as the federal government has accused UCLA of violating civil rights law by allegedly failing to protect students from antisemitism as pro-Palestinian protests surged on campus last spring. The National Science Foundation and other agencies have since suspended $584 million in federal research funding, according to UCLA chancellor Julio Frenk. TheNew York Timesreported that the administration also wants UCLA to put $172 million in a fund for victims of civil rights violations.
UC system officials announced Wednesday they would negotiate with the federal government in the hope of reaching a “voluntary resolution agreement” over the charges.
“Our immediate goal is to see the $584 million in suspended and at-risk federal funding restored to the university as soon as possible,” Milliken wrote in a Wednesday statement, adding that cuts to federal research funding “do nothing to address antisemitism.”
UCLA was one of several institutions whose executives were hauled before Congress over the last two years to address pro-Palestinian encampments and alleged antisemitism and harassment tied to such protests.
Should UCLA reach a settlement with the Trump administration, it would be the first public university to do so but the third institution to strike a deal with the federal government over the course of several weeks. Last month, Columbia University reached an unprecedented settlement with the Trump administration, agreeing to changes to admissions and academic programs and paying $221 million to close investigations into alleged antisemitism and restore some frozen research funding. The deal will be overseen by a third-party resolution monitor.
Brown University also struck a deal with the federal government in July that did not include a payout to the Trump administration, but officials did agree to provide admissions data to the federal government and bar transgender athletes from competing, among other concessions.
Federal officials didn’t respond to a request for comment Friday.
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Dive Brief:
Immigration enforcement officers apprehended a parent during morning student drop-off hours in California’s Chula Vista Elementary School District on Wednesday — marking at least the third known time Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have arrested family members during school pick-up or drop-off time.
While the arrest was not on public school grounds, it took place near school property, outside of the district’s Enrique S. Camarena Elementary School. CVESD Superintendent Eduardo Reyes told families and staff in a community message after the incident that the district serves all students “regardless of citizenship or immigration status.”
In addition, Reyes said the district has “strong protocols in place to prevent unauthorized access to our schools.” The superintendent said the protocols include limiting access for law enforcement, who aren’t allowed to interact with students “unless there is an immediate threat to school safety, such as an active emergency or a signed warrant by a judge.”
Dive Insight:
“The district remains committed to reassuring families that CVESD remains a safe space for all students,” Giovanna Castro, communications director for the district, said in a statement after the ICE arrest, as reported by local Fox 5 News.
Under a January policy change from the Trump administration, ICE can conduct raids on school grounds, among other sensitive locations, which were previously protected from immigration enforcement. Districts have said the new U.S. Department of Homeland Security policy is impacting student attendance and stoking anxieties among their immigrant families.
While DHS clarified to K-12 Dive in June that such immigration enforcement activity on school grounds would be “extremely rare,” there have been a handful of incidents on elementary school grounds and during school pick-up and drop-off hours in recent months.
The Aug. 6 incident outside of Camarena Elementary was related to a July 15, 2022, deportation order from a San Diego judge, according to ICE.
“The arrest was part of ICE’s ongoing enforcement efforts and was resolved promptly, safely and not on the school grounds,” said Patrick Divver, field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations San Diego, in an emailed statement on Friday.
“The school was not involved in the incident, and there was no impact on students, staff or the school premises,” Divver said. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to ensuring the safety and security of our communities.”
Chula Vista City Councilmember Michael Inzunza told a local news outlet, KPBS, that two children were in the car at the time of the arrest.
Last month, a lawsuit challenging the administration’s ICE policy included an account of immigration enforcement apprehending a man dropping his granddaughter off at a church’s school in Downey, California, a predominantly Latino suburb of Los Angeles.
And in April, ICE agents attempted to enter two public elementary schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, where school building administrators denied officers entry. That appeared to be one of the first confirmed attempts of immigration enforcement seeking to enter public schools since the change in federal policy.
At the time, DHS said it was conducting “wellness checks on children who arrived unaccompanied at the border.”
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Dive Brief:
The Iowa Board of Regentshas removed references to “critical race theory” and “diversity, equity and inclusion” from a controversial proposal to limit what courses the state’s three public universities can require.The regents plan to vote on the issue during a special meeting on Tuesday.
Under the original proposal, academic programs would not have been able to require students to take classes containing “substantial content that conveys DEI or CRT.” Universities that wanted an exemption would have had to gain board approval every other year.
Following public pushback, the board reworked the proposal to state that “faculty may teach controversial subjects” when relevant to course content, but they are expected to “present coursework in a way that reflects the range of scholarly views and ongoing debate in the field.” The revision also leaves the board the option to “periodically” review the universities’ compliance.
Dive Insight:
The Iowa Board of Regents — which oversees the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa — has so far delayed the vote on the proposal twice, last postponing the decision at its July 30 meeting.
The original language included extensive examples of DEI topics that would have been restricted, including anti-racism, “transgender ideology,” systemic oppression, and unconscious or implicit bias.
“One of the primary reasons we are not taking up the DEI/CRT policy is that the discussions on how to best implement the ideas that were brought forward are still ongoing,” Board President Sherry Bates said in prepared remarks, citing responses from the community. “It has become clear that we would be better served by something more comprehensive.”
Much of the local response has been negative.
Five Iowa educator advocacy groups joined together to form the Iowa Higher Education Coalition to oppose the policy and launched a petition“to urge the Iowa Board of Regents to firmly reject efforts to restrict what students can learn.” The petition, which does not address the updated policy, had garnered 470 signatures as of Friday afternoon.
The faculty union at the University of Northern Iowa, one of the members of the coalition, voiced opposition at the board’s June meeting, when it was first scheduled to vote on the proposal.
“There is no middle position, no position of slight appeasement,” United FacultyPresidentChristopher Martin told board members at the meeting. “Either you stand for free expression at Iowa’s universities or you don’t. And God help Iowa, its public universities and all the citizens of this state if you don’t.”
Martin said that the proposal came from two out-of-state think tanks’ generic recommendations,and he alleged that it runs contrary to state law.
Since that meeting, the board has reworked the language significantly.
“University teachers shall be entitled to academic freedom in the classroom in discussing the teachers’ course subject, but shall not introduce into the teaching controversial matters that have no relation to the subject,” the updated version said.
Regardless of how the board votes next week, the Iowa Legislature may step in.
State Rep. Taylor Collins, chair of the Legislature’s newly created Higher Education Committeeand an avid opponent of DEI efforts, voiced support for the board’s original policy proposal last month.
“If this policy is not adopted, the House Committee on Higher Education stands ready to act,” he said on social media after the board delayed a vote on the policy for the second time.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynoldssigned a bill in May 2024 that prohibits public universities from maintaining or funding DEI offices or from officially weighing in on a wide array of issues. The list includes allyship, cultural appropriation, systemic oppression, social justice, racial privilege or “any related formulation” of the listed topics.
The law prompted PEN America, a free expression advocacy group, to include Iowa on its yearly list of states that enacted “educational gag orders.”
The board of regents has also moved to limit diversity work on campus. In 2023, it ordered the universities under its purviewto cut all campuswide DEI efforts not required to comply with the law or accreditation standards.
The Stanford Daily has filed a federal lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, marking a bold legal move from one of the country’s most prominent student newspapers. Editors at the Daily argue that Trump-era immigration policies targeting international students for political speech violated constitutional protections and created a climate of fear on campus.
Student journalists now find themselves confronting the same administration that reshaped higher education financing, gutted transparency, and targeted dissent. Their lawsuit challenges the chilling effect of visa threats against noncitizen students, particularly those who criticize U.S. or Israeli policy. Two international students joined the case anonymously, citing fear of deportation for expressing political views.
Stanford holds one of the largest university endowments in the world, valued between $37 and $40 billion. Despite this immense wealth, hundreds of staff—including research support, technical workers, and student service roles—face termination. The disconnect between administrative austerity and executive influence speaks to a larger crisis in higher education governance.
The Daily’s lawsuit cuts to the core of that crisis. Student reporters are asking not only for legal accountability, but also for transparency around how universities respond to political pressure—and who gets silenced in the process.
HEI’s Commitment to Student-Led Accountability
The Higher Education Inquirer is elevating this story as part of an ongoing effort to highlight courageous journalism from student-run newsrooms. Editorial boards like The Stanford Daily’s are producing investigative work that professional media often overlook. These journalists aren’t waiting for permission. They’re filing FOIA requests, confronting billion-dollar institutions, and—when necessary—taking their cases to court.
HEI will continue amplifying these efforts. Student reporters are already reshaping the media conversation around academic freedom, labor justice, and the political economy of higher education. Their work deserves broader attention and support.
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
—Upton Sinclair
Purpose
This proposal seeks modest support to research and write a new book in the spirit of Upton Sinclair’s 1923 exposé The Goose-Step: A Study of American Education, a biting critique of higher education’s corruption and corporate control. The revised and updated work—tentatively titled The Goose-Step Revisited: The College Meltdown and the Future of American Higher Ed—will document the present crisis of U.S. higher education from the ground up: on campuses, in classrooms, in communities, and in conversations with students, workers, adjuncts, administrators, and those left behind.
This is not a detached academic exercise. It is a journalistic and moral investigation into a failing system. Like Sinclair, we will name names. But we will also listen carefully to those who are rarely heard—especially debtors, dropouts, whistleblowers, and exploited faculty.
Scope
The project will include:
Travel across the U.S. to visit a diverse array of colleges: from collapsing for-profits and underfunded regional publics to elite private institutions and community colleges on the brink.
Field interviews with stakeholders in higher education, including:
Adjuncts and contingent faculty
Debt-burdened students and recent grads
College workers and unions
Policy experts and whistleblowers
Administrators, where access is permitted
Archival research and use of public data (IPEDS, College Scorecard, OPE, etc.)
Photographs and dispatches for the Higher Education Inquirer along the way
A final book manuscript, synthesizing travel writing, investigative reporting, data analysis, and historical reflection.
Questions the Book Will Explore
How does the current College Meltdown resemble or diverge from the problems Sinclair exposed in 1923?
What does higher education actually provide today—for whom, and at what cost?
How have corporatization, finance capital, and political ideology reshaped American colleges?
Is reform still possible—or are we watching the managed decline of an unsustainable system?
Budget and Support Needed
This is a modest request, commensurate with the ethos of the Higher Education Inquirer. A stripped-down, independent operation. Key needs:
Travel and lodging across the U.S. (preferably via Amtrak, bus, or car)
Minimal tech support (phone, laptop, data storage)
Small editorial stipend for fact-checking, manuscript preparation
Crowdfunding, foundation support, or collaboration with independent media outlets may supplement this request.
Why Now?
The signs are everywhere.
Colleges closing.
Debt rising.
Adjuncts starving.
Truth distorted.
Labor crushed.
Meanwhile, the gatekeepers of knowledge—like those in Sinclair’s time—are too often complicit, compromised, or silent.
This book is not intended to speak for anyone. It aims to amplify those whose stories have been buried beneath bureaucracy and branding. It’s A Modest Proposal for a not-so-modest truth: American higher education is in a manufactured crisis. But from this so-called collapse, a more just and democratic vision might emerge—if we’re willing to listen, document, and act.
This is a proposal to walk the ruins, record the voices, and revive the fierce spirit of Upton Sinclair.
North Carolina is taking bold steps to democratize college access with the expansion of its NC College Connect program, which will offer direct admission to more than 62,000 public high school seniors this fall. The initiative represents a significant shift toward equity-focused admissions practices that prioritize accessibility over traditional application barriers.
The program targets students who complete their junior year with a weighted GPA of 2.8 or higher. By eliminating the often overwhelming application process, NC College Connect removes financial and procedural obstacles that disproportionately affect first-generation college students and those from underrepresented communities.
“NC College Connect represents a fundamental shift in how we approach college admissions in North Carolina,” said Peter Hans, President of the University of North Carolina System. The initiative reflects growing national recognition that traditional admissions processes can perpetuate educational inequities.
Maurice “Mo” Green, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, praised the collaborative nature of the effort.
“When our entire education community works together like this, students win. NC College Connect removes barriers and creates clear pathways to college for thousands of our students,” he said.
The program’s inclusive design addresses systemic challenges that have historically limited college access for students from diverse backgrounds. By providing direct admission letters and eliminating complex application requirements, the initiative particularly benefits students who might otherwise be deterred by navigating multiple institutional processes.
Participating institutions span the full spectrum of North Carolina’s higher education landscape, including UNC System universities, independent colleges and universities, and community colleges. This comprehensive approach ensures students have pathways to various types of post-secondary education that align with their academic goals and financial circumstances.
Dr. Jeff Cox, President of the North Carolina Community College System, highlighted the program’s potential to transform access to affordable education.
“By removing barriers and simplifying the process, we’re helping more students access the life-changing opportunities our community colleges provide—close to home and at a price they can afford,” he said.
Community colleges have long served as crucial entry points for students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, offering both career preparation and transfer pathways to four-year institutions. The inclusion of community colleges in NC College Connect recognizes their vital role in democratizing higher education access.
The program’s commitment to equity extends beyond admissions to address affordability concerns through targeted financial aid initiatives. The Next NC Scholarship and NC Need-Based Scholarship specifically support students from households earning $80,000 or less, covering tuition and fees at participating institutions.
Additionally, students attending Elizabeth City State University, Fayetteville State University, University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and Western Carolina University benefit from the NC Promise plan’s $500 per semester tuition rate. These historically Black institutions and regional universities serve particularly diverse student populations, making the affordable tuition structure especially impactful for underrepresented students.
Hope Williams, President of North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities, noted the unique value proposition of smaller institutions: the personalized attention and specialized programs that can be particularly beneficial for students who might struggle in larger university environments.
The program builds on a successful pilot year that served more than 70,000 students, demonstrating the demand for streamlined college access. The expansion indicates that initial outcomes validated the approach’s effectiveness in connecting students with higher education opportunities.
Students can verify their eligibility through the NCCollegeConnect.com portal or by consulting with high school counselors, ensuring multiple touchpoints for information and support. Eligible seniors will receive official admission letters this fall for the 2026-27 academic year, providing ample time for planning and preparation.
NC College Connect positions North Carolina as a leader in reimagining college admissions to prioritize access and equity. As higher education institutions nationwide grapple with declining enrollment and questions about traditional admissions practices, North Carolina’s comprehensive approach offers a replicable model for other states.
The initiative’s success will likely be measured not just in enrollment numbers, but in its ability to diversify the state’s college-going population and create pathways for students who might otherwise forego higher education. By removing procedural barriers and addressing financial constraints, NC College Connect represents a holistic approach to educational equity that extends well beyond the admissions office.
Higher education serves different purposes for different people. For some, it represents transformation and expanded horizons. For others, it remains a site of oppression—a place where white supremacy and anti-Blackness flourish while administrations proclaim commitments to diversity even as their actions contradict these stated values. The commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have long been performative at most predominantly white institutions (PWIs). Now, institutions no longer need to maintain even this pretense.
Dr. Frederick Engram JrThe current presidential administration has made anti-Black, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ+, and anti-women policies central to its agenda. We are not approaching fascism—we are immersed in it. The fundamental problem with higher education and liberal politics more broadly is that while we all recognized the warning signs, no substantive preventative measures were taken to counter the impending assault.
When the previous Trump administration targeted K-12 education—falsely claiming that critical race theory was being taught in elementary schools and suspending administrators in states like Texas—higher education watched passively, believing itself safe from similar attacks. Instead of mounting resistance and uniting against authoritarian overreach, higher education capitulated. Institutions cancelled classes and programs designed to educate students about historical injustices, prioritizing the comfort of white students and families while disregarding everyone else.
As Professor Emeritus Dr. John R. Thelin documents in his seminal work A History of American Higher Education, the system was designed from its inception to serve wealthy, white, cisgender, able-bodied men. Higher education was never intended to include marginalized people of color or women. The argument that white men are now being excluded from spaces where they have always been centered would be absurd if it weren’t so dangerous.
Anti-discrimination DEI initiatives became necessary precisely because white men were not voluntarily making space for others—supported by white women who were themselves fighting for inclusion. The notion that white men feel excluded from higher education reflects a false sense of entitlement and the sting of having their mediocrity exposed. This wounded sense of supremacy drives them to destroy institutions rather than share them.
Fascism is not approaching—it has arrived.
The targeted attacks on Harvard, UCLA, University of Pennsylvania, minority-serving institutions (MSIs), and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are rooted in anti-Black rhetoric that was explicitly outlined in Project 2025. This blueprint seeks to create a dystopian America where marginalized voices are silenced and governance is built around white anxieties and grievances.
The worst possible response from higher education institutions is capitulation. Instead of forming coalitions, deploying legal resources, and mobilizing their extensive alumni networks, institutions are either confronting this administration in isolation or retreating into silence. Someone should inform higher education that fascism doesn’t reward compliance. It seeks total destruction and will not protect those who failed to oppose it simply because they remained quiet.
Our institutions and academic disciplines face existential threats. Regardless of how compliant we choose to be, when the destruction is complete, nothing will remain standing. We cannot measure progressive politics by white comfort levels, nor should white feelings determine whether we defend the most vulnerable among us.
Understanding liberation and resistance in this moment requires recognizing that active opposition is our only viable option. Millions have died, millions are dying, and millions more await death—all to satisfy the bloodlust of mediocre leaders drunk on power. Our resistance must be meaningful and sustained.
What purpose will silence serve when we lose everything anyway?
The time for half-measures and performative gestures has passed. Higher education must choose between principled resistance and institutional suicide. The stakes could not be higher, and history will judge our response.
_________
Dr. Frederick Engram Jr. is an assistant professor of higher education at at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Dr. Brendan L. JohnsonBrendan L. Johnson has been appointed as the new Director of Bands at Benedict College, where he will lead all ensembles, including the nationally recognized Benedict College Band of Distinction (BCBOD). Johnson brings a decade of transformative leadership from Darlington High School, where he served as Director of Bands. During his tenure, he grew the program from 75 to 225 members, making it one of the largest high school bands in South Carolina. He was selected for the Benedict role following an extensive nationwide search for elite musicians and conductors.
A dual graduate of Bethune-Cookman University, Johnson holds bachelor’s degrees in music education and liberal studies. While at Bethune-Cookman, he made history a the third Mr. Bethune-Cookman University. He later earned a master’s in education from Anderson University, and a Doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi.
