Tag: Danger

  • On a college campus in Minneapolis, a sense of danger and anxiety prevails

    On a college campus in Minneapolis, a sense of danger and anxiety prevails

    by Paul Pribbenow, The Hechinger Report
    January 30, 2026

    Spring semester at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, where I serve as president, began with the sound of helicopters on January 20 — one year after the second Trump inauguration, two weeks after the killing of Renee Good, and four days before the shooting of Alex Pretti. 

    Our campus in the heart of the city is seamlessly integrated with the surrounding neighborhood, so what happens in Minneapolis reaches into the heart of Augsburg. The city offers our students extraordinary opportunities for learning and service; in every discipline, the city acts as an extension of the classroom. 

    The reverse is also true, and what is happening in higher education and in our city right now is unprecedented — a word that has risked losing its meaning through overexposure. Yet I don’t know how else to describe how profoundly the so-called “Operation Metro Surge” has affected our students, faculty, staff, neighbors and community.

    A sense of danger and anxiety permeates Minneapolis. The ongoing federal operation in our streets, the targeting of immigrant communities and the killings of U.S. citizens by federal agents raise profound questions about what justice looks like in practice.

    Related: Fear, arrests and know your rights: How one school district is grappling with ICE coming to town 

    I often think about what this moment means for all of us who serve as college presidents. I firmly believe that we have been called to stand for the historic values that have defined higher education in our democracy for more than 250 years.

    Those values — human dignity, academic freedom, social mobility and the rule of law —must be our North Star no matter what challenges we face. 

    I sincerely hope my colleagues around the country will not face the distressing challenges we have experienced here in Minneapolis. But if they do, perhaps there is something to be learned from our story about what it means to be called to lead in a moment such as this.

    Aside from the helicopters, spring term opened with an unusual quiet on campus. Many more students than usual opted for online classes: After Good was killed, Augsburg immediately pivoted to increase virtual options for students — adding several new online course offerings and increasing caps on existing online courses.

    For some, this decision is about personal safety; others are caring for siblings or family members after a parent was taken by ICE. Some had no choice but to take a temporary leave of absence for the spring; others moved into emergency housing on campus to avoid the risks of a daily commute. 

    In this fraught time, our goal is prioritizing in-person learning as much as possible, while allowing individuals the flexibility to make the best choices they can for their own circumstances. This calculus looks different for every student, faculty member and staffer.

    This work is ongoing, and our academic advisors continue to meet one-on-one with students to navigate the thorny problem of making satisfactory academic progress in a time of personal and collective crisis. 

    At Augsburg, as on many college campuses throughout the U.S. that serve a large number of low-income and first-generation students from diverse backgrounds, these questions are not hypothetical. Our students have been stopped and interrogated by agents in unmarked cars while crossing from one campus building to the next. 

    Many of our Somali American neighbors — including those with citizenship or legal status — are afraid to go out in public, fearing harassment, detainment, or worse. Swatting attacks that have targeted educational institutions around the Twin Cities have prompted multiple evacuations of campus buildings. 

    Most chillingly, ICE  has detained several Augsburg students, including one on campus following a tense confrontation with armed agents in early December. 

    Navigating all of this has been relentless and exhausting. As with any community, Augsburg students, faculty, and staff have diverse viewpoints, including about how best to respond to our current moment. 

    But a truth we hold in common is that education is resistance — not to any political party or administration, but to the forces of dehumanization, violence, and injustice, wherever they are deployed. 

    I am not naïve enough to believe that simply being educated in a university with a deep commitment to the liberal arts will cultivate in the hearts of students that love of the world and their neighbors; they each must make that choice. 

    Related: Opinion: Colleges must start treating immigration-based targeting as a serious threat to student safety and belonging

    But for better or worse, the city is our classroom. Our students are receiving a crash course in what my colleague Najeeba Syeed calls a “lived theology of neighborliness.” 

    In the midst of this crisis, we know that educating students for lives of service has been our core purpose for 157 years. This moment, while difficult, is one we are called to meet in the long arc of higher education’s role in our democracy. The stakes couldn’t be higher.

    Paul C. Pribbenow is the president of Augsburg University.

    Contact the opinion editor at [email protected]. 

    This story about Minneapolis and ICE raids was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s weekly newsletter.

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  • The danger of overdoing over-the-counter medicine

    The danger of overdoing over-the-counter medicine

    In 2023, David Mitchener, 89, was admitted to a hospital in Surrey, England where he died. His death was attributed, in part, to high levels of Vitamin D, which he had been taking for nine months before his death.

    It turns out that using herbal remedies and nutritional supplements could put your health at risk.

    In a 2020 study at a Canadian naturopathic clinic, 42% of participants said they did not discuss their use of natural health products, including herbal remedies and vitamins, with their doctor. It turns out there are risks associated with not disclosing that you’re taking herbal remedies and supplements.

    Some people are aware of the risks and are careful when using these products, but some people aren’t, said Frances Atcheson, a community pharmacist based in Northern Ireland. “There is a danger with people thinking that they’re always safe to take, just because they’re natural.”

    Lezley-Anne Hanna, chair of pharmacy education at Queen’s University Belfast, said that the products could interfere with a patient getting a correct diagnosis. “If you didn’t disclose that you were on an herbal medicine, well, that could actually be causing your symptoms in the first place,” Hanna said.

    Drug interactions

    A major risk, Atcheson said, is that the natural medicines will interact negatively with with conventional medicine. Increased bleeding risk, for example, is associated with using herbal remedies such as ginkgo biloba, cranberry juice and ginger at the same time as blood-thinning medication, such as warfarin and aspirin.

    In 2014, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which regulates medicines in the United Kingdom, warned about the interaction between hormonal contraceptives and St. John’s wort, a herbal supplement that is used to alleviate mild depression and anxiety.

    Such interaction has been blamed for unplanned pregnancies. St. John’s wort can also cause serotonin syndrome when used with other antidepressants. This can show up as high blood pressure, shivering and mania.

    Ayurvedic medicine, which originated in India, uses many herbal remedies. The products can also include metals. However, in December 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning about the possibility of heavy metal poisoning, such as lead and mercury, when using Ayurvedic products.

    This could lead to infertility, kidney and brain damage and convulsions.Taking herbal remedies and supplements when there aren’t specific symptoms or illnesses has risks too.

    Side effects of natural remedies

    While taking Vitamin D supplements is recommended for everyone in the United Kingdom by the Department of Health and Social Care, too much Vitamin D can lead to bone pain, loss of appetite and abdominal pain in otherwise healthy patients.

    Liver injury caused by herbal remedies and supplements has been reported in Australia, the United States and Spain, in some cases so serious that it led to the need of a liver transplant.

    Seema Haribhai, a 37-year-old woman from North London, became concerned about the potential side effects of conventional medication and turned to herbal remedies to treat psoriatic arthritis — a type of arthritis that causes pain and swelling in joints. A coroner’s report attributed her death to liver failure that might have been aggravated by herbal remedies recommended by an Ayurvedic medicine practitioner. “All medicines can cause harm, even those that are herbal based,” the report said.

    Eva Delaney, 24, of Belfast takes the herbal supplement ginkgo biloba to improve brain function and Kalms tablets, which contain the herb valerian root, to reduce stress. She says she found out about the supplements in the pharmacy where she worked and consulted a pharmacist at her work before buying the products. “It probably should be the thing where you should always go to your pharmacist first,” she said.

    Hanna said that pharmacists should be able to discuss these products in the context of patient safety. “Pharmacists are the expert in the safe and effective use of medicine,” she said.

    Discussing herbal medicine with doctors

    What form the herbal remedies and supplements take, Delaney said, play a role in whether people tell a healthcare professional they’re taking them. “I think if it’s a tablet, you’d be more inclined to tell someone, ‘Oh, I’m taking this’,” Delaney said. “But if it was anything else, like a syrup … I think it would be harder to consider that as a medicine.”

    In a 2021 study, more than 90% of pregnant women in Ethiopia using herbal remedies throughout their pregnancies did not discuss this with their health-care professionals. The most common reason they gave was that the healthcare professional did not ask.

    Atcheson said that she wouldn’t normally ask about herbal remedies specifically. But she will ask patients: “Are you on any other prescribed medication or do you take anything over the counter? And sometimes they will volunteer information if they’re taking herbal remedies or supplements.”

    Hanna said that healthcare professionals need to ask specific questions in order to learn about patients’ use of herbal remedies and supplements. “If you want to know if somebody’s on a herbal medicine,” she said, “you need to ask.”

    It is also important for healthcare professionals to know their own limitations, and to know how to find the information they lack. “It’s about accepting that you may not know that particular product or you may not know that name,” Hanna said. “But where can you go and find out reliable information? Where could you advise the person to go?”

    Finding reliable resources

    Atcheson said that she uses the online Cochrane Library as a resource when presented with a patient question she can’t answer. The Cochrane Library provides evidence-based information on herbal remedies and supplements and their effectiveness in different medical conditions. Unfortunately, she said, there aren’t many other readily available resources. “Apart from the Cochrane Library, I’m just going onto Google Scholar looking for reviews,” she said.

    Atcheson recalls telling a patient not to take collagen supplements because the patient had chronic kidney disease. “There’s something about collagen where it can actually interfere with the kidneys when you take it orally,” she said.

    Many young people find misinformation on the internet, she said. “I’ve heard about people buying supplements and herbal remedies for weight loss,” Atcheson said. “It’s especially risky when you’re buying things on the internet. Then there’s no point of contact at all.”

    In the UK, people can look for a  Traditional Herbal Registration symbol on product packaging when deciding whether to buy a herbal remedy. This symbol means the product has met the safety and quality standards set by the MHRA.

    Hanna said that discussing over-the-counter products with a health-care professional can help patients feel empowered about their own health and provide them with unbiased information.

    “It really would be a missed opportunity to not use a healthcare professional,” she said, “and to help you whenever you’re thinking about a herbal medicine.”

    Questions to consider:

    1. Why don’t many people discuss herbal medicines with their medical doctors?

    2. What are some things you need to consider before taking vitamins or herbal remedies?

    3. If you or someone you know takes vitamins, how did you or they decide to do that?

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  • Clear and Present Danger – A history of free speech

    Clear and Present Danger – A history of free speech

    Why have kings, emperors, and governments killed and imprisoned people to shut them up? And why have countless people risked death and imprisonment to express their beliefs? Jacob Mchangama guides you through the history of free speech from the trial of Socrates to the Great Firewall.
    Stay up to date with Clear and Present Danger on the show’s website at freespeechhistory.com

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  • Colorado reversal on misgendering ban is a crisis averted but a danger revealed

    Colorado reversal on misgendering ban is a crisis averted but a danger revealed

    Colorado just dodged a constitutional bullet. Not a legislative win so much as a near-miss.

    The Kelly Loving Act, named after a trans person killed in the Club Q mass shooting in Colorado Springs in 2022, started out as a sweeping and constitutionally suspect bill aimed at protecting transgender individuals from discrimination, but trampling the First Amendment in the process.

    The bill would have classified misgendering and deadnaming in certain contexts as unlawful under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. Its most controversial provision said that if a parent doesn’t use their child’s preferred pronouns, that must be considered “coercive control” in any custody dispute. This would have negatively impacted a parent’s case for custody of their child, regardless of any other context.

    The original bill would have also required parents, journalists, business owners, and educators to use people’s chosen names and pronouns in every piece of public-facing content, from news articles to school newsletters.

    But the Constitution protects the right to call others by any name or pronoun under the sun, even if it causes hurt or offense. Forcing people to use particular language, even with the intention of inclusivity, is compelled speech, and the First Amendment generally forbids it.

    The test of a free society is not how well it protects popular speech, but how well it protects speech that others find uncomfortable or even offensive.

    This important principle also protects the rights of people in states whose government officials would seek to require that people be deadnamed and misgendered, or prohibit other expression in support of trans or queer causes. The First Amendment blocks that kind of speech restriction as well.

    Of course, any speech, including declining to use a child’s preferred pronouns, can be part of a broader pattern of abuse that would be appropriate to consider in decisions about the custody of children. The problem was that the bill automatically counted this speech as a legal mark against parents, regardless of any further context. This served to effectively force all parents to adopt the state’s preferred speech, lest they one day face a custody battle and risk losing their children because of it.

    Another concern was that the Kelly Loving Act included “pre-publication requests” for publishers to use preferred names and pronouns, signaling that the law may be used against journalists simply for quoting a legal name in a criminal proceeding or publishing information already in the public domain that contradicts someone’s preferences or identity. This raised serious concerns that the law could chill legitimate journalistic expression and infringe on press freedoms protected by the First Amendment.

    Thankfully, its sponsors stripped all three provisions — misgendering, deadnaming, custody — out before the state senate approved the bill this week.

    Colorado’s lawmakers did the right thing by cutting these provisions. But we should still reflect on what happened because while the final bill is harmless, the impulse behind it is not.

    There are those in America who believe the state should address speech they oppose by compelling citizens to use approved words, or forbidding them from using disapproved words. This goes beyond political correctness to coercive control, to use a familiar term.

    The right is no stranger to this kind of behavior either. Florida’s Stop WOKE Act, which aims to control what can or cannot be said about race and gender in classrooms and workplaces under the guise of anti-discrimination law, is no better. After FIRE filed a lawsuit challenging the law, a federal court halted enforcement of key parts of it.

    If you think it’s dangerous for Florida’s legislators to have the power to police speech in public school classrooms, then you should find it equally outrageous for Colorado legislators to try to mandate what pronouns parents can use with their own children in their own homes or journalists can use when reporting stories.

    When a state starts dictating which words are acceptable in public discourse and private discussion, it jumps headlong into the culture wars, telling everyone to fall in line or face the consequences.

    Sadly, this is nothing new. Milton, Locke, and Voltaire all warned against the dangers of governments trying to manage thought. In Areopagitica, Milton argued for the liberty to know and argue freely “above all liberties.” In our wisdom, we Americans took note and enshrined this liberty in our First Amendment, understanding it is the one that protects the rest.

    In A Letter Concerning Toleration, Locke eloquently wrote “the care of souls is not committed to the civil magistrate, any more than to other men.” In other words, the state has no business telling you what to think or say any more than your fellow citizens.

    That is not how a free society operates, and that is why in West Virginia v. Barnette, the Supreme Court famously struck down a rule requiring students to salute the flag. In the words of Justice Robert H. Jackson, “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion.”

    Thankfully, we live in a country where the government doesn’t get to tell you what you have to say or what you must believe. The test of a free society is not how well it protects popular speech, but how well it protects speech that others find uncomfortable or even offensive.

    The revisions to this bill should be counted as a victory for the good people of Colorado. But we should also be concerned this was such a close shave in the first place because it indicates a dangerous impulse lurking in our culture. If people want to lead on inclusion, they must do so by persuasion, not coercion.

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  • The Danger of Homogenisation: Why specialist HEIs are crucial to the success of UK Higher Education and the Government’s priorities

    The Danger of Homogenisation: Why specialist HEIs are crucial to the success of UK Higher Education and the Government’s priorities

    Today on the HEPI website, Annamaria Carusi challenges the common assumption that translational research is only relevant to STEM fields, making the case for a broader, more integrated approach that fully values the contributions of the arts and humanities. If we want to maximize the real-world impact of research, she argues, it is time to rethink outdated silos and recognize the creative industries as essential players in innovation and economic growth. You can read that piece here.

    Below, as the government considers higher education reform, Dr Brooke Storer-Church and Dr Kate Wicklow make the case for specialist higher education institutions and warn against the dangers of homogenisation.

    GuildHE represents the most diverse range of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) that are crucial to the prosperity of the sector, the economy, and our global reputation. We therefore argue that in an increasingly complex world, the role of specialist higher education institutions has never been more vital. These institutions, with their deep-rooted expertise and tailored approach, offer a unique and invaluable contribution to the landscape of higher education by providing diverse approaches and pathways to a wide range of students. 

    Diversity is a necessary ingredient for a successful and sustainable higher education sector, and this is becoming clearer from an analysis of the United States landscape, along with Australia and other large higher education systems.  Expert commentators grappling with some of the current challenges for American universities and colleges offer a hypothesis, positing that losing the diversity of mission and distinctiveness, objectives and audiences has been key to its diminishing public support. This homogenisation includes institutional, mission, operational, and aspirational similarities, which see every institution strive to ‘be all things to all people’ and thereby offer ‘the same thing for only some of the people.’ 

    In November, the Secretary of State wrote to the higher education sector outlining five areas for reform. GuildHE has scrutinised these areas and suggested to the Department for Education (DfE) ways to use the strengths of our sector to meet these challenges. However, some of the debate surrounding reform includes calls for consolidation and institutional mergers to offer the best ‘efficiencies’ in the sector. 

    While GuildHE members drive innovation, enrich communities and ensure access to high-quality education, their impact is often overlooked because they are not traditional, large-scale, multi-faculty universities. Funding and regulatory systems and government policies often fail to recognise institutions that do not fit this conventional university image. We, therefore, argue consolidation in the sector puts institutional diversity and student choice at risk, jeopardises our world-leading status, and undermines the Government’s missions of supporting local communities, equality of opportunity and our national economy.

    Overall, we want to see Government reform which champions our diversity, avoids policies that undermine the unique contributions of our diverse institutions, and actively invests to protect them.

    A focus on depth and industrial relevance

    Unlike their more generalist counterparts, specialist HEIs prioritise depth over breadth. They delve into specific disciplines, professions or industries, providing students with a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of their chosen field.  This focused approach fosters a level of knowledge and skills that is often unmatched elsewhere and is increasingly in demand to tackle 21st-century challenges.

    Whilst GuildHE is known for representing specialist creative arts institutions, which together train about 40% of all creative HE students in England, we represent a wider range of specialists, including healthcare specialists like Health Sciences University, specialists in the built environment like University College of Estate Management (which is also a specialist in online delivery) and all the land-based specialist universities in the sector. The agri-food sector employs almost 4 million people and is larger than the automotive and aerospace sectors combined. Technological innovations and sustainability and productivity improvements are driven by our specialist land-based institutions, which work closely with industrial partners. This specialist expertise is transforming the future of food production, bringing together disciplines such as robotics and artificial intelligence and contributing to the broader push towards net-zero food and farming. Several agriculture-focused higher education providers have their own farms and industrial research centres for testing and development.

    Nationally, our institutions work with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, right across government and with industry sector bodies; for example, Harper Adams University has advised the government on matters related to food security.  Their impact is also international, as agri-food HEIs work with the Department for International Trade to boost the profile of UK agricultural innovation overseas and educational and research and development programmes are forged with international partners from the US and China to Kenya, Australia and the Netherlands.

    A culture of innovation

    As natural innovators, many specialist institutions know their regions well and will be a critical part of generating economic growth there. They are locally significant as employers and community anchors and active partners in Local Enterprise Partnerships and other local bodies, such as Chambers of Commerce. Below is just a small sample of the innovations delivered by our specialist institutions.

    Norwich University of the Arts collaborated with regional businesses to innovate film technology that mid-size regional film production companies use. The project created new jobs in Norfolk, boosted film production for regional, small-scale productions and start-ups, and the insights gained from the project were incorporated into the university curriculum. By equipping students with cutting-edge knowledge and skills, NUA is empowering them to contribute to the region’s growing knowledge-based economy by equipping them with cutting-edge knowledge and skills.

    Dyson Institute for Engineering and Technology is training the future workforce of engineers with a particular focus on pioneering new technologies that make intrinsically relevant real-world impacts. Innovation areas include delivering safe, cleaner, energy-efficient batteries, prototyping products in aerodynamics, mechatronics and microbiology and robotics for clinical imaging, navigation technology and machine learning.

    Hartpury University is a leading institution for agriculture, agri-tech, animal and veterinary sciences. Its Agri-Tech Centre is a state-of-the-art complex, connecting research, knowledge, data, and people in a real-world and applied setting. Through the Centre, it provides industry-led services for the advancement of agricultural technologies and delivers proven solutions and services to farms and suppliers across the UK. This hub offers a path for innovative agri-tech businesses to trial new products and services to modernise and sustain British farming.

    A sense of community

    One of the defining characteristics of specialist HEIs is their strong sense of community.  Students, staff and alumni often share a common passion for their field, creating a supportive and inspiring environment.  This sense of community fosters a deep sense of belonging and can lead to lifelong friendships and professional networks.

    Arts University Plymouth’s Young Arts programme was established in 1988.  It features the university’s renowned Saturday Arts Clubs and for over 30 years, has worked to bridge the gap in arts provision for young people created by increasingly limited access to creative activity in schools.  Young Arts uses art as a catalyst for learning, shaping the artists, makers and creative thinkers of the future, supporting learning and social development, often working with specific widening participation groups.

    Starting in September 2025, Harper Adams University (HAU) will open a suite of undergraduate courses at The Quad, Telford; its first additional site in 124 years and a new base from which the university can extend its collaboration with and connection to its local community.  In The Quad, HAU is co-located with Telford College, Invest Telford, and the local MP to broaden access for local learners to future-focused courses like data science, robotics mechatronics and automation, and digital business. HAU is also providing short courses and upskilling for local businesses to support local growth.

    Our asks of government

    As we argue extensively in our submission to DfE, specialist HEIs offer a diverse range of programmes and courses that meet the needs of a wide range of students and community partners and meet each of the five areas of higher education reform.  They are, therefore, the essential threads in the fabric of our diverse, rich and successful higher education landscape; threads that have been regrettably lost in other systems around the world. Their focus on depth, industry partnerships, innovation and community makes them uniquely positioned to prepare students for success in a rapidly changing world. As we look to the future, it is clear that specialist HEIs must continue to play a vital role in shaping the next generation of leaders and innovators.

    Observations about the increasing homogeneity of higher education have been available publicly for at least 2 decades, with some suggesting that a combination of government policies, regulation and academic communities are all playing their part. Regardless of the reasons behind it, there is widespread agreement that such homogeneity restricts access for students with different educational backgrounds or achievements. 

    Global trend analysis has shown that government policies, regulation and academic communities have all contributed to the homogeneity of higher education in other countries. This reduces social mobility by reducing modes of entry and delivery. It also weakens applied research and innovation and the pipeline of experts into the labour market, as it loses its ability to create the growing variety of specialisations needed for economic and social development. 

    At a time when we, as a sector, are grappling with the twin pressures of making our contributions to wider society clearer and delivering the promise with fewer resources, we must all protect the very diversity within it that ensures we can rise to the 21st-century challenges on our doorstep and retain a world-leading and (possibly) increasingly unique higher education sector.

    We have published a summary of our submission to DfE with our various policy asks to protect the diversity of our system here.

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  • The Danger of Going into College “Undecided” – College Strategy

    The Danger of Going into College “Undecided” – College Strategy




    The Danger of Going into College “Undecided” – College Strategy – DIY College Planning Course