Tag: Education

  • How Changes in NCAA Athletics Impact Everyone on Campus, The Key

    How Changes in NCAA Athletics Impact Everyone on Campus, The Key

    College athletics has fundamentally changed in the last two decades. With students earning thousands—sometimes millions—for their name, image and likeness and changing teams with greater ease via the transfer portal, athletics have transformed from amateur levels to something more akin to a professional sports league.

    The imminent ruling on the $2.8 billion House settlement case stands to bring about even more change for the sector.

    In the latest episode of The Key, Inside Higher Ed’s news and analysis podcast, Editor in Chief Sara Custer speaks with Karen Weaver, an adjunct assistant professor in the graduate school of education at the University of Pennsylvania, about what the new landscape means for everyone on college campuses, not just those in the athletic department.

    “College athletics have played a critical role in higher education for over 100 years,” said Weaver. “The problem is that the money that has come into so much of college athletics at the highest level is just astronomical.”

    With coaching salaries well into the millions and eight-figure investments into athletics facilities, the campus starts to look and feel differently, she said. “I think that has an impact on everybody.”

    Meanwhile, ensuring athletes have academic success is further complicated when they can change institutions to pursue more lucrative deals, she said.

    “The transfer portal has created an enormous burden on academic counselors and faculty when athletes are supposed to make normal progress toward a degree—all of that is very confusing now,” she said.

    Weaver explained what policy shifts mean for the future of Olympic teams as well as Division II and III programs. In light of rumors that President Trump plans to sign an executive order to regulate payments for name, image and likeness, Weaver suggested collective bargaining would be a more comprehensive solution to the legal and financial complexities of the current state of affairs.

    “I understand collective bargaining with students is tough, I get that, and it’s messy … but it’s still a legitimate outlet to try to address all of these issues and it needs to be talked about more.”

    Listen to the full episode here.

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  • Pro-Palestinian Protesters Arrested at Columbia, UW, Beyond

    Pro-Palestinian Protesters Arrested at Columbia, UW, Beyond

    About 80 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested at Columbia University Wednesday as they occupied a reading room in the campus’s library, The New York Times and other sources reported.

    The arrests come just over a year after protesters at Columbia occupied Hamilton Hall, an academic building, as part of a massive protest movement that inspired other student demonstrations nationwide but drew ire from Republicans and pro-Israel groups, who argued that the protesters’ chants and signs were antisemitic.

    Columbia isn’t the only campus where protesters are seeking to revitalize the movement as the spring semester winds down. Though their numbers are nowhere near the hundreds that erupted last spring, pro-Palestinian protests have sprung up on several campuses in recent weeks—in some cases honoring the anniversary of last year’s demonstrations or calling for charges against student demonstrators to be dropped.

    “In light of all of the repression that the student movement for Palestine faced in the wake of the encampment last year, it’s important for us to insist on our demands, which have not changed,” a spokesperson for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine told The News & Observer regarding a daylong demonstration held at the end of April.

    Ultimately, it seems that most protesters are asking for the same thing they demanded a year ago: for their institutions to divest from companies with ties to Israel. Only an extremely small number of colleges has done so, but that hasn’t deterred students from trying.

    The protests also come amid President Donald Trump’s ongoing attacks on institutions that he believes failed to protect Jewish students during last year’s demonstrations. So far, his administration has frozen billions in federal funding to Columbia and other institutions, and taken steps to deport international students who participated in the protests.

    UW and Columbia

    Columbia students weren’t alone in taking over a campus building in recent weeks. About 75 protesters at the University of Washington occupied a new engineering building, barricading the doors and starting fires in nearby dumpsters Monday night, The Seattle Times reported. The organizers, part of a group called Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return UW, told the paper they wanted to “repurpose a building that is meant to make weapons of war to a place that serves the needs of students and workers and staff at the University of Washington.”

    Three law enforcement agencies were called in to disband the protest; 31 people were arrested.

    Administrators at both Columbia and UW have issued statements condemning the protests on their respective campuses. UW president Ana Mari Cauce called the demonstration “dangerous, violent and illegal building occupation and related vandalism.” She condemned statements by the group celebrating Hamas’s deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israeli civilians, saying the institution would “continue our actions to oppose antisemitism, racism and all forms of biases.”

    In a lengthy message to the Columbia campus, Claire Shipman, the recently installed acting president, called the Wednesday protest “utterly unacceptable.”

    “Let me be clear: Columbia unequivocally rejects antisemitism and all other forms of harassment and discrimination. And we certainly reject a group of students—and we don’t yet know whether there were outsiders involved—closing down a library in the middle of the week before finals and forcing 900 students out of their study spaces, many leaving belongings behind. Our commitment to a safe, inclusive, and respectful campus community is unshakeable, and we will continue to act decisively to uphold these values,” she wrote.

    Both presidents said they attempted to resolve the situation peacefully before sending in police.

    Shipman’s statement earned her the praise from members of the Trump administration’s Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, who said in a statement that they are “confident that Columbia will take the appropriate disciplinary actions for those involved in this act.”

    At the same time, the same task force announced it would launch a review of the protest at UW.

    “The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism appreciates the university’s strong statement condemning last night’s violence and applauds the quick action by law enforcement officers to remove violent criminals from the university campus,” the task force said in a press release. “While these are good first steps, the university must do more to deter future violence and guarantee that Jewish students have a safe and productive learning environment. The Task Force expects the institution to follow up with enforcement actions and policy changes that are clearly necessary to prevent these uprisings moving forward.”

    Arrests Elsewhere

    In recent weeks, pro-Palestinian protesters have also been arrested at Swarthmore College, Rutgers University, Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of California, Los Angeles.

    At Swarthmore, protesters erected an encampment on Trotter Lawn, a central campus green, on April 30, demanding divestment and the protection of students from the Trump administration. The university began issuing interim suspensions the next day. On May 3, police were called in to tear down the encampment, according to a statement by college president Val Smith. Police arrested nine individuals, including one current and one former student.

    The Rutgers protest, held on April 29, was arranged to oppose an appearance by U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, an Israel supporter who participated in a roundtable on antisemitism at the university’s Hillel. Though they were protesting in a designated area near the Hillel, four individuals—three of them Rutgers students—were charged with rioting after they stepped out of the area, blocking a public sidewalk, according to MyCentralJersey.com.

    At VCU, one person was arrested April 29 during a gathering to commemorate a clash between protesters and police on campus the previous year. A student organizer with the campus’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter said the event was not a protest. However, university police said it violated a policy that requires authorization for events where students hold signs or banners, The Progress-Index reported. Police asked the students to disperse and arrested one individual who held up a sign chastising police for pepper-spraying protesters last April.

    At UCLA, three individuals were arrested at an on-campus showing of The Encampments, a documentary on the pro-Palestinian encampments of spring 2024. According to the university, the event, which drew about 150 guests, was unauthorized because it was hosted by the campus’s SJP chapter, which was suspended in February. The university indicated that the three individuals were arrested for assaulting a police officer and assaulting and robbing a student.

    ‘Scared to Talk About It’

    Despite the recent increase in protests, the Trump administration’s actions—as well as the penalties levied on student protesters by many institutions over the past year—seem to have quieted some planned demonstrations this spring.

    Emory University was home to an explosive clash between protesters and police on April 25, 2024, which led to 28 arrests. But this year, according to The Emory Wheel, Emory’s student newspaper, only about 50 people showed up to an event commemorating that day.

    One faculty demonstrator told the Wheel that many students no longer felt comfortable protesting.

    “It’s clear that there’s just a lot of people who are afraid,” he said. “You don’t have to actually arrest people sometimes to suppress freedom of speech.”

    Student protesters at the University of Texas at Austin, the site of over 130 arrests in April 2024, expressed a similar sentiment during a protest marking the anniversary of those arrests. About 100 people showed up, according to the university’s student paper.

    “You don’t hear near as many people talking about the genocide that’s going on, even here at UT,” a student told The Daily Texan. “With the 100-plus arrests that [law enforcement] made, people are almost scared to talk about it or to do anything about it.”

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  • Fulbright-Hays Grants Canceled for the Year

    Fulbright-Hays Grants Canceled for the Year

    The Department of Education canceled this year’s competition for three Fulbright-Hays fellowship programs, adding to the growing list of higher education grants that have been eliminated since President Donald Trump took office in January.

    The decision, announced Thursday on the Federal Register, will affect doctoral students and faculty who applied for the Group Projects Abroad, Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad and Faculty Research Abroad programs—all of which focus on expanding American expertise in critical languages and are congressionally mandated.

    About 110 individuals and 22 groups from over 55 institutions benefited from these three programs, according to department data, in fiscal year 2022, the most recent year for which data is available. This year, prior to the cancellation, more than 400 applications had been submitted.

    Department officials wrote in Thursday’s announcement that the cancellation is just for fiscal year 2025 and was part of a “comprehensive review” to ensure that all competition criteria and priorities “align with the objectives established by the Trump Administration.”

    But outside critics say these cuts signify larger problems that stem from cutting nearly half of the department’s staff in March.

    The massive reduction in force was sweeping and impacted nearly every sector of the agency, including the International and Foreign Language Education Office, which oversees Fulbright-Hayes. After the cuts, not one IFLE employee remained.

    “When [the department] conducted the reductions in force, it claimed it would continue to deliver on all of its statutory requirements,” said Antoinette Flores, director of higher education accountability and quality at New America, a left-leaning think tank. “But this is evidence that it’s not, and it can’t.”

    The Department of Education did not respond to Inside Higher Ed’s request for further comment on why the cuts were made and whether the program will resume in fiscal year 2026.

    ‘A Loss to Education’

    All three of the canceled programs were signed into law by President John F. Kennedy during the Cold War in response to national security concerns. The goal was to ensure Americans had the international exposure and comprehensive language training necessary to maintain the nation’s diplomatic, economic, military and technological prowess.

    In total, the 12 Fulbright-Hays programs have allocated more than $2 trillion to nearly 58,000 participants since 2000. But now higher education advocates worry that impact will be squandered.

    “This is just a cancellation for these grants for this year, but the entire office that ran these programs was let go. It’s a team that had very specific expertise and knowledge that is not easily transferable or replaceable,” said Flores, who worked as a political appointee in the department during the Biden administration. “This is just one year, but long term, it’s a loss to education over all.”

    IFLE’s former director of institutional services confirmed Flores’s concerns in a court declaration filed in an ongoing lawsuit from Democratic state attorneys general challenging Trump’s efforts to dismantle the department.

    In addition to selecting grant recipients, the anonymous declarant said, IFLE assisted the awardees with securing visas and housing, ensured their work aligned with the goals articulated in their applications, helped establish research affiliations, and responded to safety and security concerns if they arose. Furthermore, each of the 18 staff members had expertise in curriculum development, and most were multilingual—skills the declarant said were “critical.”

    Without the staff’s expertise, maintaining the program and meeting the department’s statutory obligations would likely be impossible, the former director explained.

    “The complete removal of our team, leaving underqualified and overwhelmed staff left to manage these programs, seems to suggest to me that the decision was not made for budgetary efficiency but rather as part of a broader effort to dismantle international education initiatives within the Department and the America[n] education system,” the declarant explained.

    And the consequences will not only fall on this year’s applicants whose proposals will be dismissed, but also on last year’s awardees, who are currently abroad and left with no experienced contact point in the States.

    “We put in lifesaving mechanisms to ensure that scholars overseas are safe,” the declarant said. “The absence of this expertise puts scholars at extreme risk.”

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  • Understanding the Impact of Workplace Incivility in Higher Education – Faculty Focus

    Understanding the Impact of Workplace Incivility in Higher Education – Faculty Focus

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  • Understanding the Impact of Workplace Incivility in Higher Education – Faculty Focus

    Understanding the Impact of Workplace Incivility in Higher Education – Faculty Focus

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  • Higher education postcard: Harvard University

    Higher education postcard: Harvard University

    Greetings from Cambridge! No, not that one.

    This is Cambridge, Massachusetts, home of Harvard University. Harvard is one of the world’s great universities; it’s the oldest university in the United States of America; and it is currently the target of attempted coercion by the executive of the USA. There’s quite a story to tell!

    April showers bring May flowers

    In the 1630s, the northeast of what would become the USA was a series of colonies from Britain: parties of settlers had landed, established small towns, fought and traded with the people who were already there (this was no terra incognita), and either died out or survived. The colonies were not independent states: they were British, and ultimately ruled from Britain. But local government was needed, and in the case of the Massachusetts Bay colony this was via the charter obtained by the Massachusetts Bay Company.

    The General Court of Massachusetts was the local government, and in 1636 it allocated £400 to establish a college to be located in Newetowne. In 1638, Newetowne was renamed Cambridge; this was coincident with a bequest by John Harvard, a graduate of the University of Cambridge in England, who left the college half of his estate, and his library of 400 books.

    John Harvard was born in Southwark in 1607; he studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge and gained a BA in 1632, and an MA in 1635. He moved to the Massachusetts colony in 1637 and was a puritan preacher, he died in 1638. The value of his estate was £1700, worth about 300,000 today. And the college got half of that. Not a huge amount, but enough to get the college going; and it was named for him in commemoration.

    Here’s two fun facts: the statue of Harvard at Harvard says on its plinth that he was the founder. Not true. Also, it isn’t an image of Harvard, but of an 1884 student who was descended from an early president of the university.

    The first students graduated in 1642. In 1650 the college was granted a charter – issued by the General Court, not the British monarch, for by 1650 Britain was temporarily a commonwealth not a monarchy. The charter created the Harvard Corporation, being the president and the fellows of Harvard College; and it is this corporation which continues to this day.

    Harvard College continued to grow and develop, as successful colleges do. Its curriculum was modelled on the Cambridge liberal arts approach; its theology was Puritan. It enrolled a native American student, John Sassemon, in 1653. When serving as interpreter to Metacom, the Wampanoag chief in 1675, he was murdered as an English informant, sparking the worst of the many wars between settlers and existing populations in New England.

    Independence day

    The late eighteenth century was momentous in America. Eight Harvard graduates (John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry, William Ellery, William Williams, and William Hooper) signed the declaration of independence in 1776.

    In 1780, when Massachusetts as a state gained a constitution, it granted to Harvard the title of university. In 1781 a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa opened at Harvard – it is the oldest continually running chapter of the society. And in 1782 it opened a medical school – which, interestingly, the university’s own history regards as the start of it being a proper university.

    A side note on Phi Beta Kappa. This described itself as an academic honour society; such societies also might be known as fraternities. Frat houses cause no end of trouble on some American university campuses, as well as providing a location for some sometimes dubious comedy.

    You may recall in my blog on Purdue University that one of its presidents resigned having failed to ban fraternities from campus. There’s loads of them – the Wikipedia entry has too many for me to count – and there are accrediting bodies. I may have to find a postcard one day…

    Football crazy

    In the nineteenth century Harvard continued to grow, adding schools of divinity and law in the first couple of decades, a science school in the 1850s, a dental school in the 1860s, and a graduate school in 1872. In 1852 the first intercollegiate boat race – Harvard versus Yale – took place on Lake Winnipesaukee. And in 1875 the first intercollegiate football match (gridiron, not association, union or league) took place. Harvard won.

    Let’s at this point note Tom Lehrer, mathematician, satirist, Harvard alumnus and academic, who I regard as one of Harvard’s finest. An early song of his, Fight fiercely, Harvard, satirizes the football fight song. And the YouTube video linked above has some fabulous footage of Harvard v Yale games through the ages.

    Lehrer also wrote Bright College Days, a satire of college songs. Which includes the wonderful line, “ivy-covered professors, in ivy-covered halls”. A great Lehrer quote: “political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel peace prize.” And finally, Lehrer in 2022 gave all his songs to the public, making them available without copyright on a website: well done, sir.

    Establishment

    Harvard was by now a firm fixture in the US establishment. Eight US Presidents have been educated at Harvard (as was the most recent Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney). In 1886, at its 250th anniversary celebrations, President Grover Cleveland, not an alumnus, was in attendance.

    In 1908 the Harvard Business School opened, the first in the country restricting its intake to graduates. More schools were established; the Harvard University Press opened in 1913; the first Harvard Nobel laureate was crowned in 1914 (Theodore Richards, for determination of atomic weights).

    In 1947 General George C Marshall (pictured, when he himself was a student at the Virginia equivalent of Colonel Oates’ miliary academy), then Secretary of State, received an honorary degree. He used his speech to announce the Marshall Plan, via which the US supported the rebuilding of post-war Europe. To be fair this knocks most graduation speeches I have heard into a cocked hat.

    Opening the door a little wider…

    It would be fair to characterise Harvard as not having been, historically, at the forefront of change. One example is women’s education.

    Harvard was, like (I suspect but can’t demonstrate) nearly all universities previously, restricted to men only. In 1879 Arthur Gilman, a banker, and his wife Stella Scott Gilman, wished their daughter to have a university education. Harvard would not admit women, so they persuaded the president of Harvard to allow them to employ Harvard academics, part-time, to deliver courses to women in what became known as the Harvard Annex.

    They had hoped that Harvard might relax its stance and accept women to study for degrees, but the attitude of the university was summed up in 1869 by its President, Charles Eliot, who in his inaugural address said:

    The world knows next to nothing about the capacities of the female sex. Only after generations of civil freedom and social equality will it be possible to obtain the data necessary for an adequate discussion of woman’s natural tendencies, tastes, and capabilities…It is not the business of the University to decide this mooted point.

    And this in 1888 from Eliot to a potential new faculty member:

    There is no obligation to teach at The Annex. Those professors who on general grounds take an interest in the education of women…feel some obligation but there are many professors who think it their duty NOT to teach there, in which opinion some of the Corporation and Overseers agree.

    Nevertheless, the Harvard Annex thrived, with increasing numbers of women wishing to study there. In 1894 a compromise was reached: the annex became a degree-awarding college – Radcliffe College – with Harvard staff teaching and guaranteeing standards.

    In the 1930s a subsequent Harvard President – Lawrence Lowell – felt that Radcliffe was a distraction to Harvard’s academics, and a limit was placed on the number of students who could be admitted to Radcliffe: 750 undergraduates in total, 250 graduate students. These limits stayed in place until 1979, when Radcliffe was incorporated into Harvard, which finally became co-educational.

    It wasn’t only women with which Harvard, historically, had a problem. In the 1923, Lowell had sought to put a cap on the proportion of Jewish students at Harvard. He was unsuccessful. Harvard presidents don’t always get what they want.

    Lowell also enforced racial segregation where he could. In 1921 he refused to allow black students to reside in the university’s dormitories. Writing to the father of one such student, he said:

    We owe to the colored man the same opportunities for education that we do to the white man, but we do not owe to him to force him and the white into social relations that are not, or may not be, mutually congenial.

    Do the right thing

    Faced with examples like these, you might be forgiven for thinking Harvard would always behave badly where it could. But they are currently taking a stand for academic autonomy.

    Threatened with withdrawal of funding and tax exempt status, the university has refused to accede to the US government’s demands which are, frankly, a full-on assault on academic autonomy. Here’s the letter of 11 April sent to the university; here’s the university’s response.

    It is worth taking a minute to read the demands made of Harvard. They relate to student discipline; the appointment and employment of faculty; the content of programmes; the admission of students. The US government cavilled that the letter was sent in error (and if you believe that I’d like to talk to you about a bridge I have for sale) but its my view that where a country’s government threatens universities, that country is in trouble.

    Harvard has an endowment of over $50 billion, so it has the financial resources to cushion the significant blow. But it didn’t have to resist, and we should all be glad that it is doing so.

    Missed opportunities

    With such a big university, such a famous university and such an old university, there’s a stack of things which I haven’t been able to write about. Another time, maybe.

    For now, here’s a jigsaw of the card, which was sent in November 1907 to Miss Adeline Tower at Rutgers Prep School, New Jersey. The message on the front – to save you straining you eyes – reads:

    Dear Ade: how are you? Eliza came home alright. I missed her very much. Hope to see you Xmas. Love Grandma

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  • Why I Chose University of Florida, by Santa Ono (opinion)

    Why I Chose University of Florida, by Santa Ono (opinion)

    The University of Florida is already one of the nation’s premier public universities. But it has the potential to be the very best. That belief—in UF’s momentum, its mission and its future—is what led me to pursue the extraordinary opportunity of the UF presidency.

    Santa J. Ono was recently recommended as the sole finalist for the University of Florida presidency. 

    University of Florida

    Over the past several weeks, I’ve had the chance to spend meaningful time with the university’s leadership. I believe deeply in their vision: ambitious, anchored in a culture of excellence and laser-focused on student success. The passion I’ve seen for this institution—including during my visit to campus earlier this week to meet its students, faculty and administrators—is infectious, and the alignment between the Board of Trustees, the Board of Governors, the governor and the Legislature is rare in higher education. This alignment signals seriousness of purpose, and it tells me that Florida is building something truly exceptional. I’m excited to be part of that.

    I believe in Florida’s vision for higher education. I understand its priorities, and I support them. I will execute this vision with clarity, consistency and integrity. I put my name forward for this position because I agree with the state leadership’s vision and values for public higher education. My alignment is rooted in principles—like the renewed emphasis on merit, the strengthening of civics and foundational learning, and the belief that our universities should prepare students not just for careers, but for informed citizenship in a free society.

    Public universities have a responsibility to remain grounded in academic excellence, intellectual diversity and student achievement. That means rejecting ideological capture, upholding the rule of law and creating a culture where rigorous thinking and open dialogue flourish. I share that commitment.

    Like many, I supported what I believed to be the original intent of DEI — ensuring equal opportunity and fairness for every student. That’s something on which most everyone agrees. But over time, I saw how DEI became something else—more about ideology, division and bureaucracy, not student success. That’s why, as president of the University of Michigan, I made the decision to eliminate centralized DEI offices and redirect resources toward academic support and merit-based achievement. It wasn’t universally popular, but it was necessary. I stood by it—and I’ll bring that same clarity of purpose to UF.

    The future of higher education depends on a clear mission, a culture of merit and accountability, and a deep commitment to preparing students to thrive in the real world. That means strengthening partnerships with businesses, supporting agriculture and innovation, and ensuring each student—regardless of background—has the opportunity to reach their full potential.

    I also understand the challenges of leadership in today’s academic environment. During my tenure leading other public universities, I declined to politicize the institutions or publicly oppose national political figures. I did this because I believe universities must serve as platforms for learning, not partisanship or ideological activism.

    Combating antisemitism has been a priority throughout my career. I’ve worked closely with Jewish students, faculty and community leaders to ensure that campuses are places of respect, safety and inclusion for all. I know that the University of Florida has been a national leader in this regard —setting a gold standard in standing firmly against antisemitism and hate. That standard will not change under my leadership. I will continue to ensure that UF is a place where Jewish students feel fully supported, and where all forms of hatred and discrimination are confronted clearly and without hesitation.

    Finally, peaceful protest has a place in campus life. But the University of Florida is not a place for disruption, intimidation or lawlessness. If I am approved, UF will remain a campus where all students are safe, where differing views can be heard and where the rule of law is respected.

    This is an exciting moment for Florida and for the University of Florida. I’m honored to be a part of it. And I’m ready to get to work.

    Santa J. Ono has been recommended as the sole finalist to be the 14th president of the University of Florida. He formerly served as the president of the University of Michigan.

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  • The New Pope, Leo XIV, Is a ’77 Villanova Grad

    The New Pope, Leo XIV, Is a ’77 Villanova Grad

    The Vatican announced the selection of a new pope to lead the Catholic Church on Thursday, the first to come from the United States and the first to hold a bachelor’s degree from a U.S. university.

    Pope Leo XIV, then Robert Prevost, graduated from Villanova University in 1977.

    Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Prevost, is a Chicago native who graduated from Villanova University in Philadelphia in 1977 with a bachelor of science in mathematics. In September of that year, he joined the Order of St. Augustine. He took his solemn vows in August 1981 and earned a master of divinity from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in 1982.

    Villanova president Peter M. Donohue said in a statement that the university celebrates the election of Pope Leo XIV.

    “I cannot help but reflect on what his Augustinian papacy will mean to our university community and our world,” Donohue said. “Known for his humility, gentle spirit, prudence and warmth, Pope Leo XIV’s leadership offers an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to our educational mission.”

    For most of his career, Prevost served in Peru, holding roles as a parish pastor, diocesan official, seminar teacher and administrator before becoming bishop of Chiclayo in 2015. In 2023, Pope Francis appointed Prevost prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, which increased his visibility and influence in the church, putting him on the path to the papacy.

    In addition to being the first pope from the U.S., Leo is also the first dual-citizen pope, holding citizenship in Peru. He’s also the first Augustinian friar to be elected pontiff, reflecting Villanova’s Augustinian Catholic roots.

    The last pope to take the name Leo also has ties to American higher education. Pope Leo XIII (1878–1903) gave his formal approval for the founding of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., on April 10, 1887, and the university recognizes this date as Founders Day.

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  • Conservatives Clash Over Ono Hire at UF

    Conservatives Clash Over Ono Hire at UF

    Less than a year after former president Ben Sasse resigned abruptly, the University of Florida has gone in the opposite direction for its next presidential pick, announcing Santa Ono as the sole finalist.

    Ono, who stepped down from the University of Michigan presidency last week after less than three years on the job, brings a wealth of academic and research experience: He also served in the top jobs at the University of Cincinnati and the University of British Columbia.

    Sasse, a Republican U.S. senator from Nebraska when he was hired in late 2022, previously served as president of Midland University, a small institution in his home state. Despite a lack of experience overseeing a massive research enterprise like UF, Sasse fit a profile in demand in Florida, where GOP lawmakers have ascended to presidencies at multiple universities. But his time at UF was short-lived; after less than 18 months on the job, he stepped down amid a spending scandal. At the time, he cited his wife’s deteriorating health as his reason for leaving.

    Ideology has regularly trumped experience in recent Florida presidential hires. Multiple former lawmakers, all Republicans, are at the helm of various state institutions. They include former lieutenant governor Jeanette Nuñez at Florida International University, Adam Hasner at Florida Atlantic University and Richard Corcoran at New College of Florida, among others.

    Considering those recent hiring trends, Ono is an outlier—a traditional higher ed candidate in a state where Republican governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Board of Governors, most of whom he appoints, have taken active roles in presidential searches.

    And while many faculty members have celebrated the selection of a candidate with strong research and leadership credentials, some conservative figures are pushing back on Ono.

    Now a public battle appears to be brewing over who will lead the University of Florida.

    Opposition Emerges

    When UF announced Ono as the sole finalist for its presidency on Sunday, many observers were shocked that he was leaving his plum job at Michigan so soon. In October, Ono signed an eight-year contract extension with a $1.3 million base salary to keep him at Michigan long term. (Though UF’s compensation package has not yet been released, Ono could earn as much as $3 million a year, according to a salary range set by trustees.)

    But almost seven months later, Ono resigned when his candidacy at UF was announced.

    Given the trend of DeSantis’s involvement in presidential searches across the state, it seems unlikely Ono would have emerged without the governor’s blessing. But other conservative figures have publicly objected to Ono’s candidacy over concerns about diversity, equity and inclusion programs at Michigan, which has been scrutinized for its significant spending on such efforts.

    Chris Rufo, a trustee at New College of Florida who has championed anti-DEI efforts nationwide, strongly opposed the pick and called for UF to reverse course on the hire. Rufo has been a regular critic of DEI at UM.

    “The finalist for the University of Florida presidency is a left-wing administrator who recently declared his support for ‘DEI 2.0’ and claimed that ‘the climate crisis is the existential challenge of our time.’ Florida deserves better than a standard-issue college president,” Rufo wrote on X.

    Congressman Byron Donalds, who represents Florida’s 19th Congressional District and is the expected front-runner to replace DeSantis as governor at the end of his term, has also voiced concerns: “Florida cannot afford to inject wokeness into our flagship university. This selection must be blocked and the search committee must start over,” Donalds wrote in a social media post.

    DeSantis Defends the Pick

    But DeSantis defended the selection in a Wednesday press conference.

    Though he said he was “not involved” with the search and had not talked to Ono, he emphasized that he has faith in UF’s trustees—most of whom he appointed—guiding the pick. He added that the expectations for higher education in Florida were clear, noting the state’s opposition to DEI and what he called a rejection of “woke indoctrination” at state institutions.

    “I don’t think that a candidate would have been selected who is not going to abide by those expectations, and I think that you will likely see that will be very clear in this instance. I will let the process play out, but we have put a real serious stake in the ground on this,” DeSantis said.

    The governor boasted that Florida “led the efforts” to take down diversity initiatives, which he said the Trump administration has since followed on a national level.

    DeSantis also noted that Ono eliminated the University of Michigan’s DEI office in recent months.

    “I don’t think that anyone would want to come to the University of Florida if your goal was to pursue a woke agenda. You’re going to run into a brick wall here in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said.

    If the governor disapproved, he could blow up the search, as he did last month when UF’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences tried to hire a new dean. In that case, DeSantis ordered the search restarted after his office took issue with DEI statements from candidates. Allowing UF’s hiring effort to proceed seems to suggest at least tacit approval from DeSantis.

    Some members of the Florida Board of Governors have also thrown their support behind Ono, pushing back on criticism. Their support is critical, considering that board has the power to upend presidential searches, which it has done in past searches, such as at FAU in 2023.

    Florida Board of Governors member Alan Levine has taken to social media to urge fellow conservatives, including Rufo, to give Ono a chance and hear him out through the process.

    “Chris, let’s give @SantaJOno a chance to tell his whole story,” Levine wrote in response to Rufo. “He eliminated the DEI office at Michigan. He faced threats and vandalism for standing up to the pro-palestinian/anti-israel/anti-US movement on campus. There seems to be more to Dr. Ono’s actions, and we need to let him tell his story. No candidate is without things they need to explain. I’m open to giving him the chance to do that, particularly given his total body of work.”

    The University of Florida declined to comment on critiques of the candidate.

    Ono Explains

    As Ono exits Michigan, he leaves several controversies in his wake.

    The outgoing president has faced criticism for his handling of pro-Palestinian protests in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel and the brutal retaliatory offensive by the Israeli military. Several former employees alleged they were fired for engaging in pro-Palestinian protests, prompting a lawsuit against the university, Ono and others, filed earlier this month.

    Michigan has also navigated a series of athletic scandals during Ono’s tenure. Most recently, a former Michigan football coach was accused of hacking the digital accounts of more than 2,000 NCAA athletes and downloading “personal, intimate digital photographs and videos,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Matt Weiss, an assistant at UM from 2021 through early 2023, was charged with 14 counts of unauthorized access to computers and 10 counts of aggravated identity theft in March. The incident also prompted multiple lawsuits against the university.

    And Ono shut down Michigan’s DEI office in March, despite objections from constituents.

    But in an op-ed shared exclusively with Inside Higher Ed, Ono made no mention of the lawsuits and avoided most other controversies. Instead, he focused on the potential at the University of Florida, emphasizing his belief “in Florida’s vision for higher education” and UF’s leadership.

    “The passion I’ve seen for this institution—including during my visit to campus earlier this week to meet its students, faculty and administrators—is infectious, and the alignment between the Board of Trustees, the Board of Governors, the governor and the Legislature is rare in higher education. This alignment signals seriousness of purpose, and it tells me that Florida is building something truly exceptional. I’m excited to be part of that,” Ono wrote in the op-ed Thursday.

    Ono echoed themes championed by both DeSantis and Rufo as he argued that universities must reject “ideological capture” and renew “emphasis on merit.” He also sought to distance himself from DEI efforts.

    “Like many, I supported what I believed to be the original intent of DEI—ensuring equal opportunity and fairness for every student. That’s something on which most everyone agrees,” he wrote. “But over time, I saw how DEI became something else—more about ideology, division and bureaucracy, not student success. That’s why, as president of the University of Michigan, I made the decision to eliminate centralized DEI offices and redirect resources toward academic support and merit-based achievement. It wasn’t universally popular, but it was necessary.”

    Ono added that he would bring “that same clarity of purpose to UF.”

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  • OfS continues to sound the alarm on the financial sustainability of English higher education

    OfS continues to sound the alarm on the financial sustainability of English higher education

    For the third year in a row, the English higher education sector’s collective financial performance is in decline.

    That is the conclusion of the latest annual assessment of the sector’s financial sustainability from the Office for Students (OfS), based on finance returns for 2023-24.

    Overall, after stiff warnings this time last year about the risks of system-wide provider deficits if projected student number growth failed to materialise, OfS says that many providers are taking steps to manage their finances, by reducing costs and downgrading recruitment growth projections. It remains unlikely, says OfS, that a large provider will become insolvent in the coming financial year.

    But 43 per cent of providers are forecasting a deficit for the current financial year 2024–25, and there is an overall decline in overall surplus and liquidity – albeit with the expectation of growth in the years ahead. While larger teaching-intensive and medium sized providers were more likely to report a deficit, there is also quite a lot of variation between providers in different groups – meaning that institution type is not a reliable guide to financial circumstances.

    Recruitment woes

    Student recruitment is the most material driver of financial pressure, specifically, a home and international student market that appears insufficient to fill the number of places institutions aspire to offer. The broad trend of institutions forecasting student number growth in hopes of offsetting rising costs – including national insurance and pension contributions – makes it unlikely that all will achieve their ambitions. There’s evidence that the sector has scaled back its expectations, with aggregate forecast growth until 2027–28 lower than previous forecasts. But OfS warns that the aggregate estimate of an increase of 26 per cent in UK entrants and 19.5 per cent in non-UK entrants between 2023–24 and 2027–28 remains too optimistic.

    Questioned further on this phenomenon, OfS Director of Regulation Philippa Pickford noted that there is significant variation in forecasts between different providers, and that given the wider volatility in student recruitment it can be really quite difficult to project future numbers. The important thing, she stressed, is that providers plan for a range of possible scenarios, and have a mitigation plan in place if projections are not achieved. She added that OfS is considering whether it might give more information to providers upfront about the range of scenarios it expects to see evidence of having been considered.

    Storing up trouble

    While the focus of the financial sustainability is always going to be on the institutional failure scenario, arguably an equally significant concern is the accumulation of underlying structural weaknesses caused by year-on-year financial pressures. OfS identifies risks around deferral of estates maintenance, suspension of planned physical or digital infrastructure investments, and a significant increase in subcontractual (franchising) arrangements that require robust governance.

    All this is manifesting in some low-key emergency finance measures such as relying on lending to support operating cashflow where there is low liquidity at points in the year, selling assets, renegotiation of terms of covenants with lenders, or seeking injections of cash from donors, benefactors or principal shareholders. Generally, and understandably, the finance lending terms available to the sector are much more limited than they have been in the past and the cost of borrowing has risen. The general increases in uncertainty are manifest in the increased work auditors are doing to be able to confirm that institutions remain a “going concern.” Such measures can address short-term financial challenges but in most cases they are not a viable long term strategy for sustainability.

    OfS reiterates the message that providers are obligated to be financially sustainable while delivering a high quality student learning experience and following through on all commitments made to students – but it’s clear that frontline services are in the frame for cuts and/or that there is a limit to the ability to reduce day-to-day spending or close courses even when they are loss-making if there is likely to be an impact on institutional mission and reputation. Discussions between OfS and directors of finance point to a range of wider challenges around increased need for student support, the difficulty of recruiting and retaining staff, the increasing costs of conducting research, and shifts in the student accommodation rental market. Some even pointed to the cost of investment in AI-detection software.

    The future is murky

    The bigger picture points to long term (albeit unpredictable) shifts in the underlying financial model for HE. Philippa Pickford’s view is that institutions may need to shift from taking a short-term view of financial risks to a longer-term horizon, and will need to grapple with what a sustainable long term future for the institution looks like if the market looks different from what they have been used to. Deferral of capital investment, for example, may keep things going for a year or two but it can’t be put off indefinitely. There’s a hint in the report that some institutions may need to invest in greater skills, expertise and capacity to understand and navigate this complicated financial territory – and OfS is taking an increased interest in multi-year trends in financial performance, estates data and capital investment horizons in its discussions with providers.

    The situation remains, however, that OfS is primarily empowered to monitor, discuss, convene and, if necessary, issue directives relating to student protection. Activity of this nature has ramped up considerably in the past year, but financial sustainability remains, at base, individual providers’ responsibility – and system-level intervention on things like changing patterns of provision, or management of the wider impact of institutional insolvency, nobody in particular’s. Government is, of course, aware of the problem but has not yet given a steer on whether its upcoming HE reform measures, expected to be published in the summer after the spending review, will grasp the nettle in delivering the support for transformation the sector hopes to see.

    OfS has now said that it is talking to government to put forward the view that there should be a special administration regime for higher education. This signals that while the immediate risks of institutional closure or “disorderly market exit” are low, the pressures on a small number of institutions remain considerable. On the assumption of little or very modest changes in the funding model in the upcoming spending review, and ongoing competitive pressures, there will almost inevitably be losers.

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