SMC

Santa Monica College is one of the major feeders of transfer students to UCLA and is having fiscal problems that threaten its status. As blog readers will know, there is pressure on UC and UCLA to meet transfer student enrollment targets.

From the Santa Monica Daily Press: The years-long failure to arrest Santa Monica College’s enrollment decline and fiscal crisis has endangered the school’s accreditation according to a new warning sent by the institution responsible for evaluating community colleges. The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) notified SMC Superintendent/President Kathryn Jeffery in July that the college had scored in the "at-risk" category on the commission's Composite Financial Index, based on data submitted in the college's 2026 annual fiscal report. Institutions that score at-risk are automatically placed on enhanced monitoring, a designation ACCJC uses to track member colleges' fiscal stability throughout the accreditation cycle.

...[ACCJC Vice President Melynie] Schiel's letter cited four factors behind the at-risk designation: an unresolved structural deficit, marked by expenses exceeding revenue in each of the last three reporting years, from 2022-23 through 2024-25; a significantly unfunded Other Post-Employment Benefits liability with no district contributions over that same three-year span; a 34% decline in the district's ending cash balance over three years; and multiple expired collective bargaining agreements that remained unresolved. The commission required SMC to submit an update describing the actions it is taking to address those factors, and cautioned that colleges that remain on enhanced monitoring for three consecutive years without resolving their fiscal issues could face adverse action from the commission.

The ACCJC serves as the primary accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for two-year institutions across California and the Pacific, overseeing 136 colleges as of 2024. This institutional seal of approval is the critical mechanism that grants member colleges access to federal Title IV financial aid, ensures the transferability of credits, and maintains the essential academic legitimacy required to serve their student populations...

Full story at https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-college-faces-accreditation-threat-over-financial-crisis/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 449

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: A report from the Education Department is recommending that the accrediting arm of the American Bar Association, the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, lose its federal recognition. If approved, the accrediting agency would no longer be eligible to serve as a gatekeeper of federal financial aid for the law schools it oversees.

The loss of recognition would mean that 13 free-standing law schools would have to find a new federally recognized accreditor to be eligible for federal student aid. The other 184 law schools that are accredited under the ABA could still get federal financial aid under the accreditation of the university that they are affiliated with.

That outcome could be months or even years away. The staff report will be reviewed next month by the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, an 18-member panel that makes recommendations to the education secretary on whether to grant federal recognition. After that, Nicholas Kent, the under secretary of education, will make a determination on whether to continue the accreditor’s status as a gatekeeper. The accreditor can then appeal the decision and could sue the department if it loses that appeal...

Florida and Texas have already removed a requirement that aspiring lawyers graduate from an ABA-accredited law school in order to sit for the bar exam, and several other states are considering a similar action...

Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/education-department-takes-first-step-to-revoke-recognition-of-law-schools-accreditor.

The Halt

From the Daily Bruin: UCLA paused some international students’ work authorizations after it received an Aug. 12 memo from United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a Dashew Center spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. Universities suspected of using curricular practical training programs to create employment for international students instead of reasons required for academic studies could lose their certification to enroll exchange and international students, the memo stated. CPT authorizations allow eligible students on F-1 visas to receive temporary authorization to work in a field related to their degree while attending school. 

ICE sent the memo to all universities certified to have international and exchange students through the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, an agency under ICE that tracks international students’ records. SEVP saw a rise in CPT authorizations that “do not meet regulatory requirements,” according to the memo. UCLA plans to review the federal changes and is awaiting guidance from the UC, the Dashew Center spokesperson said in an emailed statement...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/08/25/ucla-pauses-some-international-students-work-authorizations-after-ice-memo.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 192

From the Harvard Crimson: The Faculty of Arts and Sciences selected 40 more employees for layoffs across two major academic divisions and several smaller offices last week, bringing a months-long staff restructuring to a close with 165 positions eliminated. In the final round, 40 employees across the Division of Science, Division of Arts and Humanities, FAS Dean’s Office, and FAS Office of Research Administration were selected for layoffs outright, while another 73 were offered the option between a layoff and a new role.

In total, FAS eliminated 165 positions, or roughly 10 percent of the roles in the units included in the restructuring, FAS Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra and FAS Dean of Administration and Finance Warren Petrofsky announced last week... FAS issued layoff and job-change notifications in five large waves this summer, after a smaller series of decisions affecting three sets of high-level administrators. The first wave, affecting department administrators and center executive directors, took place in June. A larger wave of College layoffs followed the next week, and several changes — including the dismissal of the Writing Center’s director and the end of the Dudley Community — drew fierce opposition from students and alumni. After more limited layoffs in the FAS’ central offices, two rounds of divisional layoffs this month accounted for the majority of the job changes...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/8/21/fas-layoffs-conclude-165-positions/.

Bond - Part 3

UCOP News Release: UC Nobel Prize winners back $7.5 billion proposed investment in California research

UC Office of the President, August 28, 2026

University of California Nobel laureates Dr. Jennifer Doudna and Dr. Randy Schekman released the statements below following a deal announced today on UC-sponsored SB 895, authored by state Senator Scott Wiener. The bill would place a measure on the March 2028 state ballot to provide $7.5 billion for cutting-edge research addressing some of California’s most pressing health, environmental and technological challenges.

“California built the world’s most successful system of research universities,” said Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D., a UC Berkeley biochemist, Nobel laureate, and founder of the Innovative Genomics Institute. “SB 895 represents an important investment in the research infrastructure that will allow California to continue advancing scientific breakthroughs, improving lives, and driving innovation and growth for generations. We are grateful to Governor Newsom, Senator Wiener, and the legislature for their support of this important issue.”

“California’s strength and ingenuity depends on its ability to turn bold ideas into solutions to our most pressing problems,” said Randy Schekman, Ph.D., UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology and Nobel laureate. “That’s why we need to invest in research and continue building on our nation-leading enterprise at UC. SB 895 will help protect the people and discoveries that drive billions of dollars in economic activity and improve lives across our state, and I thank Governor Newsom, Senator Wiener, and the entire legislature for leading the way on these efforts.”

Source: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/uc-nobel-prize-winners-back-proposed-investment-california-research.

For the record, Wiener is running to replace Nancy Pelosi in Congress as she retires from her San Francisco district. She, however, has endorsed another candidate. Newsom is running for you-know-what.

Something is missing

UC-Berkeley's Academic Senate released a report: "UC Berkeley Academic Senate Task Force Report on Free Speech, Academic Freedom, and Campus Climate in Higher Education."* Inside Higher Ed summarizes it as follows:

A faculty task force at the University of California, Berkeley, determined that—in addition to policies protecting free speech and academic freedom—a campus climate “characterized by trust and good faith” is essential to achieving the university’s core mission, according to a report released Thursday.**

But, at least to yours truly, something is missing from the document. Apart from rights, privileges, and means of expression, it is a value of a university to know what you are talking about. If there was more attention to that simple value, the "climate" would be (much) improved. Herd behavior and TikTok depictions are not a route to knowing what you are talking about. 

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*https://academic-senate.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/af.fs.cc_tf_report_final.pdf.

**https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/08/21/berkeley-report-says-trusting-campus-climate-vital-mission.

Straws in the Wind - Part 448

From Inside Higher Ed: International student applications to American colleges dropped by 10 percent in the most recent application cycle—a decrease of roughly 16,000 students—according to... Common App... The figures show a major break from the upward trajectory of international applications over the past 10 years and reflect the impact of the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies. The landscape for international students in the United States has changed dramatically since the administration began revoking student visas, approving fewer new applications and limited the time international students can stay in the country. Department of Homeland Security data from the 2025–26 academic year showed an average 13 percent decrease in international student enrollment, and new projections say 112,000 fewer international students could be on U.S. campuses this fall.

The data represents applications to Common App’s 1,146 member institutions, which includes fewer than half of all public and private four-year colleges in the country...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/admissions/traditional-age/2026/08/20/applications-international-students-down-10.

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Common App report at:

https://www.commonapp.org/files/DAR/deadline-updates/2025-26/Common-App-End-of-Season-Report_25-26.pdf.