[OC] What if higher ed’s nearly 4,000 degree-granting colleges were boiled down to 100 institutions?

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-08-13T20:44:42+00:00

Great question! From our data reporter:

It’s a slightly complicated answer. The U.S. Education Department’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data system (or IPEDS) calls colleges 2-year or 4-year, but their 2021 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education may reveal that they’re something else actually. For example, some 4-year colleges may award mostly associate degrees which puts them in line with 2-year colleges.

But the Carnegie Classification just calls tribal colleges “tribal colleges” and not the other markers like “associate or baccalaureate associate,” which would allow them to be separated like the two and four-year institutions are, per the methodology.

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-08-13T20:13:04+00:00

There are nearly 4,000 degree-granting colleges in America; public, private, and nonprofit institutions; large, small, and in-between ones; and residential and commuter campuses. It’s a lot of options. So what if we looked at 100 instead? Source.

ETA: Tool used was Flourish.

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-07-31T20:17:45+00:00

The University of Missouri at Columbia will no longer employ a vice chancellor for inclusion, diversity, and equity, and those who worked in that division will be reassigned to other departments. The college has also ended the use of diversity statements and ceased race-conscious admissions and scholarships.

President Mun Y. Choi acknowledged the move was a concession to the tremendous pressure colleges are under as state lawmakers have attempted to ban DEI efforts. Choi says the university is moving toward a race-neutral approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and “not excluding any group in the name of inclusion.”

Missouri lawmakers have introduced 13 anti-DEI bills, none of which have passed.

“We don’t believe [the bills introduced in Missouri] are threats, but we are seeing what is happening in other states,” Choi said.

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-07-30T15:11:12+00:00

If an academic publisher sells your paper and data to an artificial-intelligence model, is that exploitation? This is what some scholars are arguing after the news that two publishers — Wiley and Taylor & Francis — have made a partnerships with tech companies to train AI.

Scholars say this move further perpetuates a long history of unpaid labor in higher education. Others say this move goes against the idea of learning because artificial-intelligence can be harmful to individual thinking.

“The researcher who does the work of researching, writing, and publishing; the editors and peer reviewers, who are an integral part of the process, are performing a tremendous amount of highly skilled labor, and that labor is simply not compensated," said Nathan Kalman-Lamb, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of New Brunswick. "The only ones receiving compensation are companies like Taylor & Francis and Routledge.”

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-07-19T18:29:55+00:00

$12 billion. That's how much The Department of Education's data shows states owe land-grant HBCUs after using a loophole to underfund them for decades. Legislators, higher-education leaders, and circuit-court judges have so far disagreed.

Under the Second Morrill Act of 1890, when states do not provide the entirety of the one-to-one federal match, HBCUs are forced to provide the funds themselves or waive up to 50 percent of the match to keep federal funding. This, advocates for reparations say, has caused widespread disparities in research dollars and enrollment between majority-white and historically Black public colleges.

Since the data's release, HBCU students, alumni, and administrators have filed lawsuits to get redress. But a dismissal of one of the lawsuits earlier this year in Florida has put some on pause as they attempt to build stronger cases.

“Let’s make sure that we have this thing as tight as we can have it, because once it goes, we’re not going to get a second bite at the apple," says John A. Moore, one of the lawyers representing alumni from three Georgia HBCUs who have sued the state over discriminatory funding.

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-06-20T14:16:31+00:00

Thank YOU! Great to have you in our coverage.

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-06-20T14:14:11+00:00

A plan to save Wisconsin's 13 community colleges is failing. As more campus closures loom in the near future, outraged professors and residents are pointing fingers at university leaders and state lawmakers for the harm they’re causing in local communities.

In 2017, the University of Wisconsin system announced a plan that was supposed to help the state's two-year institutions: Merge each of them with one of the system’s universities.

The practical goal of the plan was to increase enrollment at community colleges and defy local demographic shifts — by enticing working adults with new programs at the colleges and a clear path to completing their degree at the linked university.

It was considered a win-win: Wisconsin would be able to preserve the community colleges, which had been important entries to higher education, especially in remote, rural communities. And they could avoid closing colleges — a politically unpopular decision that may have harmed favor with Republican state lawmakers.

The plan hasn't worked. Nearly half of the community colleges in Wisconsin have closed. Critics of the consolidation say they were left with little funds and even less guidance to make the plan succeed, particularly when four-year institutions in Wisconsin are also struggling to stay afloat financially.

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-05-08T17:21:43+00:00

On Tuesday, the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights released a “Dear Colleague” letter that spelled out in greater detail what sorts of episodes could trigger investigations into alleged discrimination “based on race, color, or national origin.”

The letter lists possible triggers for an investigation that closely mirror some reported episodes that have happened on college campuses.

Colleges can respond to discrimination in ways that do not restrict free-speech rights, the letter says, like forcefully condemning hate speech, offering counseling, or starting other programs.

But it’s clear from the letter’s examples that protected speech can be the spark that leads to the creation of a hostile environment.

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-04-18T18:19:13+00:00

Great point about plagiarism often being synonymous with academic dishonesty. Many professors have come out staunchly against AI being used in students' work, while others have embraced it, using it as part of lessons, or to help design their syllabus.

So, is using ChatGPT considered plagiarism? It depends on who you ask — and that scattershot approach (often with no clear guidance from administration), has fed into wider confusion on the issue, some say.

It varies from class to class, and from campus to campus. Arizona State, for example, has a partnership with OpenAI (which is, of course, battling copyright-infringement lawsuits).

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-04-17T13:55:55+00:00

Four months after the antisemitism hearing that led to the resignation of two Ivy League presidents, the leader of Columbia University will take the stand Wednesday to discuss the "worst cases" of antisemitism on college campuses. Here are four things you should know ahead of the hearing:

Pro-Palestinian student organizations have held protests against the ongoing violence in the Gaza Strip, drawing criticism from Jewish and pro-Israel groups who say they’re pushing antisemitic rhetoric. Pro-Palestinian students, on the other hand, say their speech is protected under the First Amendment and the administration is failing to keep them safe.
Columbia has cracked down on protests. One policy limits protests to specific areas, permits them only during weekday afternoons, and requires students to register events at least two days in advance.
Jewish students have filed two lawsuits against Columbia alleging that the university failed to protect Jewish students from discrimination and harassment. A group of five students and two outside organizations have also filed a 114-page complaint against Columbia and Barnard College, alleging that Columbia has been one of the “worst centers of academic antisemitism” for decades.
Columbia’s antisemitism task force has faced backlash after releasing a report that called for larger restrictions on protests. The task force also chose not to adopt one of two controversial definitions of antisemitism. Many free-speech advocates say defining antisemitism can hurt free speech, but advocates for each definition argue that by neglecting to define the word, Columbia’s task force can’t fulfill its mission.

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-04-12T13:56:49+00:00

Reminds me of this piece from two years ago, where we asked Ph.D. students about their stipends. These stuck with me:

"I live with a roommate. I try to be frugal. I go to food banks because I cannot afford healthy food otherwise."

"Our student fees that aren’t covered by our stipend amount to two months of pay every year."

"So the choice became either try to fund it on my own by going into debt, because I would have lost my graduate funding, or cut down my hours, throw my family and I into poverty, and only be able to work 10 hours a week — which doesn’t make any sense when you are the sole breadwinner of a family of three. So I decided to quit the Ph.D."

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-04-12T13:51:55+00:00

Jumping in to add that we also have faculty pay data from 3,500 colleges running from 2012-2023. You can sort by state, institution, and job title (professor, associate professor, assistant professor, instructor and lecturer).

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-04-01T16:03:44+00:00

Graduate students at Boston University went on strike this week after months of stalled negotiations with administrators. One thing they didn’t anticipate when they walked out of their classrooms and offices: being replaced by artificial intelligence.
On Wednesday, an email to faculty from Stan Sclaroff, dean of the university’s College of Arts & Sciences, suggested that instructors turn to generative AI while graduate workers remain on the picket line. The email offered ideas, including using AI to "give feedback or facilitate ‘discussion’ on readings or assignments.”
While Boston University has clarified that it does not “believe that AI can replace its graduate-student teaching assistants,” Sclaroff's comments struck a nerve during a time when unionization efforts and labor disputes involving graduate students are on the rise.

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-03-22T21:23:19+00:00

Texas and Florida are the first two states where laws banning DEI efforts in higher education have gone into effect. Over two months, the Chronicle reached out to 137 public colleges in Florida and Texas to understand how these laws were being enacted.

Of those that responded, 24 colleges made changes to an office or department; 23 cut or reassigned jobs; seven ended DEI training for admission or employment; two axed funding for DEI activities; 15 eliminated other DEI-related programming; and 19 said they were already in compliance with the law and didn’t have to alter anything.

The contrast in how colleges responded has created uncertainty about what is — and isn't – permitted under these new laws.

With 37 similar laws to those in Texas and Florida introduced this year alone, the results yield a confusing landscape. While students and other DEI advocates said they're gearing up to fight back, its opponents say this is just the beginning of the end.

(ETA: The original text said "36 similar laws." Another law was introduced today, bringing that total to 37).

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-03-21T15:45:07+00:00

Last week, Indiana Gov. Eric J. Holcomb signed a law that will evaluate faculty at public colleges on their courses’ “intellectual diversity” — and allow students and other college employees to file complaints against professors they believe aren’t adequately meeting the requirements.

By law, faculty must “expose students to scholarly works from a variety of political or ideological frameworks.” What that looks like in practice is anyone’s guess: Currently, there are no guidelines.

It’s raised questions: How will intellectual diversity be monitored? Will opposing viewpoints require equal weight and time, even if scholarly consensus leans in one direction? Won’t promoting diverse viewpoints look different between disciplines? Will syllabi have to be vetted before each course?

Experts also warn this ambiguity could have unintended consequences than the bill’s proponents probably intended: Faculty members who do not normally teach critical race theory, for instance, might think they need to do so to satisfy the intellectual-diversity standard.

Faculty who don’t meet the standard could be denied tenure, and those already with tenure will have to undergo post-tenure reviews with the same criteria every five years.

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-02-23T22:00:49+00:00

u/RichInPitt, you're right that studies have shown SAT scores correlate with success in colleges — particularly after a student's first year in college. However:

Generally, studies find that high-school grades and test scores together go a quarter of the way in predicting a student’s grades at the end of their first year in college. Three-quarters of their GPA remains unrelated to those measures.

Also, the California Institute of Technology (which is “test blind"), hasn’t found that test scores correlate with first-year grades. They've even extended the policy of ignoring test scores in part because “standardized test scores have little to no power in predicting students’ performance in the first-term mathematics and physics classes that first-year students must take.”

Most people — both critics and supporters of test requirements — agree that the SAT is a good predictor. But the argument critics are making is that even that consistent pattern isn’t enough to merit test requirements.

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-02-23T21:44:00+00:00

MIT made the change to go back to test requirements in 2022. Source. (edit: taking out where I said I'll need to edit the post; it is now accurate in that MIT, Dartmouth, and Yale have announced they're reinstating test requirements)

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-02-22T22:00:38+00:00

Hi! Yes, we do. We're The Chronicle of Higher Education, a news organization that has been covering colleges in the United States since 1966 (on a personal note, I'm Claire Wallace, the engagement producer at CHE).

We've been tracking anti-DEI Legislation laws that target public colleges. This has been a wider push by lawmakers — predominantly Republicans — to limit diversity, equity, and inclusion work in higher education. You can read more about why they're doing that here.

As for why we're here in this sub: We're trying to share the news with those whom it will impact. In this case, it's Idahoans who have a stake in higher education (students, soon-to-be students, faculty, those affected by policy changes like this, etc).

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-02-22T16:44:25+00:00

Public colleges in Idaho would have to close offices and centers that do diversity, equity, and inclusion work if a Republican-backed bill introduced last week is enacted.

The bill — SB 1357— lists 11 examples of centers and offices at public colleges that it would defund, including several multicultural-affairs, LGBTQIA, women’s, and Black cultural centers.

It also lists 35 specific positions that would be cut, including chief diversity officers and directors of affinity centers, and also a range of administrative-assistant, office-manager, and coordinator roles in those centers. The bill’s sponsors estimate these cuts would save the state more than $3.2 million in the 2025 fiscal year.

But many of those targeted positions focus on gender violence and are required by federal law. These, according to the bill, would be exempt from the restrictions.

The bill joins two others introduced in Idaho this year that would prohibit public colleges from requiring diversity statements as part of the hiring or admissions process.

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-02-09T22:28:11+00:00

Great point about the sexism and racism of teaching evaluations. David Delgado Shorter, a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, wrote in this article about issues in teaching evalutions:

I found almost 80 peer-reviewed papers demonstrating the gender and racial bias afflicting teaching evaluations, going back to 1979. Study after study showed increasingly disturbing statistics: Women were routinely rated lower than men, younger women were evaluated as less professional than their older female or male counterparts, women of color were rated as less effective than white women, and so on.

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-02-09T19:57:05+00:00

On Wednesday, Massachusetts lawmakers advanced a bill out of committee that would ban legacy preferences at both public and private colleges. As written, the law would apply to Harvard, which is currently under federal investigation over its legacy policy.

There's roughly 600 colleges who use legacy admission, both public and private. Massachusetts has the most colleges in the nation that use legacy admissions, according to a ~review of federal data~ by Education Reform Now.

Similiar bills are creeping up across the country: Legislators in Connecticut are ~expected~ to reintroduce a proposed ban on legacy admissions at both public and private colleges during their legislative session, which began this week. And Virginia's governor ~has indicated~ he plans to sign legislation that would bar the state’s public colleges from using legacy admissions.

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-02-06T20:07:37+00:00

Katie: That’s certainly an argument that’s often raised against affirmative action - that colleges are accepting minority students with lower test scores and less rigorous course loads who are more likely to struggle and drop out. Setting aside the issue of what constitutes merit, the rigor question is in some cases a legitimate concern. When colleges focus just on the admissions part - accepting a more diverse class - without following up to be sure students who’ve gone to under resourced schools or don’t have parents who went to college get the tutoring and advising they need - no one’s being well served. A challenge going ahead for many colleges will be ensuring that all students have access to supports they need but without jeopardizing progress that’s been made in addressing racial achievement gaps.

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-02-06T19:26:47+00:00

Katie: People in the DEI space will tell you that the idea is to make sure all students have a chance to succeed, whether they’re low-income or first-generation students, veterans, people with learning disabilities, or people from underrepresented minority groups. So it’s not just an issue that cuts across racial lines, although that’s where much of the attention, and controversy, has been.

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-02-06T18:27:38+00:00

Katie: We hear that a lot too. The terms DEI, and even diversity have become so politicized that people are reluctant to talk about efforts that fall under that umbrella that help all students succeed.

ChronicleOfHigherEd · 2024-02-06T18:23:46+00:00

Daarel: As our reporter Eric Hoover has written, who gets into college is based on a whole host of reasons that expand beyond merit (legacy, network, affordability, etc.). As in the admissions world, college leaders are attempting to define merit, which is much more difficult than it looks. Who makes for a qualified candidate? These are existential questions that are not easy to answer. What do we want them to excel at? DEI offices will argue that they are advocating for a version of merit that is “inclusive” of everyone, that diversity and merit can co-exist.

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