Straws in the Wind - Part 371

From Inside Higher Ed: A new report* on the state of humanities scholarship made waves in higher ed circles when it was released Friday, and has since drawn criticism from professors across the humanities. Commissioned by Vanderbilt University chancellor Daniel Diermeier and Washington University in St. Louis chancellor Andrew Martin, the “State of Scholarship” report finds fault with disciplines including anthropology, philosophy and history—not for their content but for the quality of their scholarship, which the report’s authors argue is too often driven by political ideology rather than the pursuit of truth and knowledge... 

Critiques of the report are broad and varied. National Association of Scholars research director David Randall said the authors rehash decades-old arguments against relativism and don’t go far enough in their recommendations to reform the humanities. “If they’re actually serious about academic reform, they will act rather than sponsor more faculty gab-fests,” he wrote of Diermeier and Martin. Pennsylvania State University communications professor Bradford Vivian wrote on Bluesky that “a better title for the Vanderbilt report on the humanities would be [William F. Buckley Jr.’s] ‘God and Man at Yale Part II.’” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty/research/2026/06/10/professors-say-vanderbilt-report-misrepresents-their-work.

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*https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-wpfsx/wp-content/uploads/sites/51/2026/06/State-of-Scholarship_Report_Final.pdf.

Straws in the Wind - Part 198

From the Nashville Tennessean: Medley of Students and Ideas Connecting, or MOSAIC, was an annual event that offered overnight campus stays for prospective students who had already gained admission to the private Nashville school. The student-led group hosted students each spring in conjunction with Anchor Day, an annual campus visit open to all admitted students. The university's decision comes as President Donald Trump and his administration continue to pressure schools nationwide to scrap diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, efforts.

...According to its website, MOSAIC partnered with a variety of cultural organizations at Vanderbilt, including the Black Student Association, the Caribbean Students Association, the Association of Latin American Students, the Multicultural Leadership Council and the Vanderbilt Interfaith Council.

... "We regularly review our programming to ensure that we are aligned with the latest legal requirements and that we are having the biggest impact possible to attract the most talented students to Vanderbilt," an emailed Dec. 8 statement from the university read. "Following a recent review, we have decided to expand our on-campus events to all admitted students and no longer offer MOSAIC as a standalone program. This shift will allow us to ensure that every admitted student feels a sense of belonging and engagement at Anchor Days and other added yield events." ...

Full story at https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/education/2025/12/11/vanderbilt-ends-mosaic-trump-dei/87691572007/.

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From the Daily Pennsylvanian: Penn International Student and Scholar Services issued guidance to students affected by the federal government's expanded restrictions on entry into the United States in a Wednesday announcement. The Dec. 17 guidance urged potentially impacted students to avoid non-essential international travel and to consult advisors before leaving the country. The advice follows a Dec. 16 White House proclamation that widened full entry travel restrictions to include nationals from Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Syria. These countries join a list of others already subject to full restrictions, including Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. ISSS added that "individuals traveling on Palestinian Authority–issued or endorsed travel documents are subject to full entry restrictions."

According to the guidance, the restrictions will primarily affect individuals who are outside the United States and do not have a valid visa as of Jan. 1, 2026... Penn's guidance additionally identified the following countries that will face partial entry limits as a result of the new measures or earlier restrictions: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Cuba, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Venezuela, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. ISSS noted that restrictions on Turkmenistan were modified under the proclamation to permit nonimmigrant entry.

...The FAQs also advised departments to discourage non-essential international travel, anticipate potential delays in arrivals or reentries, and remain flexible with academic and employment start dates. The page instructed departments to refer all immigration-related questions directly to ISSS...

Full story at https://www.thedp.com/article/2025/12/penn-isss-international-students-travel-restrictions-trump.

Straws in the Wind - Part 139

From the Guardian: Faculty at the University of Texas at Austin fear entire academic departments may be on the chopping block after the university quietly appointed a committee charged with studying the restructuring of its liberal arts programs. The university – the largest in the public University of Texas system – has not made any announcements about cuts or restructuring, but faculty there have learned the committee was established earlier this semester and tasked with a review that they believe is focused on ethnic and regional disciplines such as African and African diaspora studies, Mexican American and Latina/o studies, as well as women’s and gender studies.

The university did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment and faculty who asked administrators about the committee said they have received no clear answers. On Thursday, UT Austin also announced a taskforce to conduct a “thorough review” of the university’s core curriculum – a set of required courses taken by all students – “to better fulfill the purpose of this curriculum and identify gaps in quality, rigor, or intellectual cohesion”, the university’s president wrote in an email. The taskforce is made up of 18 professors – none from the departments where cuts are feared. Students have circulated an image in private emails and chats mocking the fact that almost all faculty on it are white...

Concerns escalated after a new state law went into effect on 1 September, disbanding the public university system’s long-established faculty senates and giving university administrators near-absolute control over university governance matters. While university senates hold advisory roles at most schools, they are generally a primary outlet for faculty to engage in decisions concerning the university. As the law kicked in, UT Austin’s new president – the first to be appointed without faculty input – announced the establishment of a 12-person faculty advisory board entirely selected by him and “charged with advising on institutional matters and focusing on the best interests of the entire University”...

Full story at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/17/university-of-texas-cuts-liberal-arts.

From the NY Times: Seven of the nine universities that the White House initially approached about a plan to steer more federal money toward schools aligned with President Trump’s priorities have refused to endorse the proposal. On Monday evening, an eighth signaled that it had reservations about it. Only one, the University of Texas, suggested it might be open to signing on quickly.

The University of Arizona rejected the Trump administration’s compact on Monday, joining Brown University, Dartmouth College, M.I.T., the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California and the University of Virginia. Vanderbilt University did not directly express a view about the plan on Monday — the deadline the Trump administration initially gave universities for feedback — but its chancellor suggested misgivings about parts of it...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/us/politics/universities-funding-compact.html.

They must be somewhere

We're all looking for that 28-page letter from the Dept. of Justice with various demands for UCLA that the LA Times has seen.

We can now add to that the 10-point memo that has been reported in various news sources (Washington Post, NY Times, Wall St. Journal) from the Dept. of Education to nine universities on conditions for advantageous access to federal funds. No one else seems to have the actual memo. We seem to be in a period where things can be described but not seen.

From Inside Higher Ed:

...The proposal seeks an agreement with nine institutions that are being asked to commit to a 10-point memo referred to as the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”

Among the various conditions, institutions are reportedly being asked to:

• Ban consideration of race or sex in hiring and admissions processes
• Freeze tuition for a five-year period
• Limit international undergraduate enrollment to 15 percent of the student body
• Commit to institutional neutrality
• Require applicants to take standardized tests, such as the SAT or ACT
• Clamp down on grade inflation
• Ensure a “vibrant marketplace of ideas on campus” 
• Restrict employees from expressing political views on behalf of the institution
• Shut down departments that “punish, belittle” or “spark violence against conservative ideas”
• Anonymously poll students and employees on compact compliance and publish the results

Another requirement mandates that signatories “deploy their endowments to the public good,” such as by not charging tuition to students “pursuing hard science programs (with exceptions, as desired, for families of substantial means)” for universities with more than $2 million per undergraduate student in endowment assets. Universities would also be required to post more details about graduates’ earnings and refund tuition to those who drop out in their first semester...

Institutions reportedly invited to join are: Brown University, Dartmouth College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Arizona, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, University of Texas at Austin, the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/science-research-policy/2025/10/02/white-house-floats-compact-preferential.

And then there's this:

Source: https://x.com/CAgovernor/status/1973848963662172242.

Or direct to https://ia800103.us.archive.org/6/items/united-we-can-yes-on-50-united-we-can-10-3-2025/newsom%2010-3-2025%20universities%20should%20reject%20Trump%20offer.mp4.

Straws in the Wind - Part 82

From the Forward: ...Admissions officers at six universities — including Columbia — are using a new tool to assess how prospective students might navigate this increasingly charged campus political climate. Schoolhouse Dialogues, hosted on the nonprofit tutoring platform Schoolhouse founded by Sal Khan, pairs high schoolers with opposing viewpoints to discuss controversial issues one-on-one and give feedback on each other’s civility. A handful of schools will use that feedback, dubbed “civility transcripts,” in admissions.

The participating schools — several of which are engaged in high-profile disputes with the Trump administration over alleged campus antisemitism — say they are seeking applicants willing to engage in respectful civil discourse across political divides...

Six schools — Columbia University, Colby College, Johns Hopkins University, University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and Washington University in St. Louis — are allowing students to optionally submit Schoolhouse Dialogues portfolios as part of their application for the upcoming admissions cycle. Neither recordings nor transcripts of conversations are sent to admissions officers. Instead, students who choose to submit will send colleges their “dialogues portfolio,” which shows how many sessions the student has attended, what topics they discussed, their self-reflections, and the feedback they received from other students...

Not every institution has embraced the use of Dialogues in admissions. Both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Vanderbilt ultimately decided not to continue after initial trials — with Vanderbilt stating it withdrew from the program “after careful consideration and hearing some concerns.” ...

Full story at https://forward.com/news/762715/columbia-university-antisemitism-schoolhouse-dialogues/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 68

From the Columbia Daily Spectator: Barnard laid off 77 full-time staff members as part of a one-time, collegewide “restructuring,” Barnard President Laura Rosenbury announced in a... community update. Faculty were not impacted by the layoffs, according to Rosenbury. The college notified staff members that they were being laid off..., Rosenbury wrote. Barnard announced the layoffs amid a debt crisis that climbed to a projected $252 million as of fiscal year 2025 against a $503 million endowment as of fiscal year 2024. Barnard’s deficit hit $26.1 million in 2024.

“This is a painful moment, as many of those leaving have helped shape the Barnard we know today,” Rosenbury wrote. “We are deeply grateful to all of our colleagues for their contributions to our community.” She emphasized that the college is not reducing “instructional services.”

Union employees who were laid off will receive the benefits outlined in their collective bargaining agreements, while nonunion employees will receive severance, two months of health insurance, and job search assistance, according to Rosenbury. She added that laid off employees will retain access to the employee assistance program, which provides short-term counseling to employees...

Full story at https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2025/07/31/barnard-lays-off-77-full-time-staff-members-in-collegewide-restructuring/.

From WKRN: Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee Knoxville have hired outside firms to investigate the status of their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs following leaked videos that reportedly show university staff admitting the programs haven’t changed despite state and federal law banning the practice. Vanderbilt University announced it had hired the firm Baker Donelson to conduct an independent investigation. The University released the following statement:

“Vanderbilt has hired the firm Baker Donelson to conduct an independent review of recent incidents involving covert recordings of university employees. Baker Donelson will be tasked with reviewing the specific circumstances related to the recordings and identifying steps the university can take to ensure all employees fully understand the university’s policies and consistently act in accordance. The university will review the findings and recommendations of the report and take any appropriate follow-up actions. As part of our protocol, staff involved will step back from regular responsibilities to allow the review to unfold. Vanderbilt is committed to being a destination for the most promising individuals from a broad range of perspectives and creating an environment where they can realize their full potential.” 

It comes after the conservative website, Townhall, obtained secret recordings of what some Republican lawmakers say are university staff at Belmont, Vanderbilt, and UT Knoxville saying the schools have not stopped their DEI programs...

Full story at https://www.wkrn.com/news/tennessee-politics/vanderbilt-ut-launch-investigations-into-dei-program-status/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 37

From Tennessee Lookout: Federal grant cuts to research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center could include funding for programs meant to improve diversity in medical research faculty and research participants, according to data released by the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency. Vanderbilt University Medical Center — a medical system giant in the southeast that handles more than 3.5 million patient visits annually — expects to lay off 650 employees due to grant and funding cuts made by the Trump Administration, the organization announced in a statement on June 20. Staffing cuts will be focused in research, administrative and support roles.

The health care system plans to reduce its operating costs by $300 million “in response to the impact of budgetary actions in Washington, D.C. related to government-sponsored research and patient care,” VUMC stated. VUMC declined to provide more specific information on the research projects and grants impacted by federal cuts, but DOGE’s database indicates funding retractions for at least two multi-year VUMC initiatives receiving support from the National Institutes of Health. The Vanderbilt Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation (Vanderbilt FIRST) program aims to recruit more women and people of minority racial or ethnic groups to the faculty...

Full story at https://tennesseelookout.com/2025/06/30/vanderbilt-university-medical-center-grant-cuts-may-include-faculty-research-diversity-initiatives/.

 

If Yale could do it...

Shapiro arrives at Yale
(Screenshot from social media)

...can UCLA? Conservative Ben Shapiro spoke at Yale on October 7th, part of a speaking tour that will come to UCLA on October 21st. The big news is that Yale event occured with any disturbance, despite the sensitivity of the date. At UCLA, the date will have no particular significance. Will there be similar calm at UCLA?

From the Yale Daily News: As groups across campus mourned the anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, Ben Shapiro spoke Monday night about campus reactions to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war at a Buckley Institute event. The event, titled “How October 7 Broke America’s College Campuses,” was organized by the Buckley Institute, an organization that touts the advancement of “intellectual diversity and free speech at Yale.” The format of the event was a conversation between Shapiro and Buckley President Trevor MacKay ’25, followed by a Q&A with the audience. Shapiro mainly spoke about the Israel-Hamas war at the event. Other topics discussed included abortion, racial politics and the war in Ukraine... 

The event had heavy security. The News counted at least three police cars stationed outside and attendees were not able to bring bags and had to be cleared by a metal detector stick to enter the event. Shapiro himself entered the stage accompanied by multiple security guards...

Shapiro’s visit to Yale is part of a wider speaking tour with the Young America’s Foundation. After the Buckley event, he is scheduled to speak at the University of California, Los Angeles, Cornell University and Vanderbilt University. 

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2024/10/08/ben-shapiro-talks-campus-protests-at-oct-7-buckley-event/.

Shifting Into Neutral: It's a Thing! - Part 2

 

We previously posted about Berkeley and the U of Minnesota recently deciding to go "neutral" with regard to political and world events. UCLA has now joined the list. Here is a listing of (some) others:

Claremont McKenna College

University of North Carolina System

Vanderbilt University  

University of Wyoming

Columbia University

Utah State University

College of the Holy Cross

Harvard University

Syracuse University

Stanford University

Purdue University

Clark University

Johns Hopkins University

Emerson College

University of Southern California

University of Texas System

University of Colorado Boulder

University of Alabama System

Washington State University

University of Pennsylvania

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Source: https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/adoptions-official-position-institutional-neutrality.

No Triggers: The Empire Strikes Back - Part 2

We noted on Friday that there seems to be push-back developing in higher ed, and maybe in the New York Times, regarding speech limitations. The "saga" - as the poster image says - seems to be continuing.* Excerpts from a column by David French in the NY Times: 

...Let’s take Stanford University, for example. In the days and weeks since law students shouted down and disrupted a speech by a federal judge, the center has taken a stand. The dean of Stanford Law School, Jenny Martinez, penned a powerful, 10-page memorandum that mandated a half-day of instruction on free speech and legal norms, [and] reaffirmed the school’s dedication to the Stanford Statement on Academic Freedom...

Then there’s Cornell University. In March, the school’s undergraduate student assembly unanimously approved a resolution calling for trigger warnings in syllabuses to warn students of “graphic traumatic content” in course content. Cornell’s president, Martha E. Pollack, promptly vetoed it...

The faculty at Harvard University is also stepping up. In an opinion essay in The Boston Globe, Harvard’s Steven Pinker and Bertha Madras announced the creation of the Council on Academic Freedom, a coalition of 50 faculty members and several other Harvard employees “devoted to free inquiry, intellectual diversity and civil discourse.” ...

Vanderbilt University will announce the expansion of the American branch of the Future of Free Speech Project, an initiative run by the Danish think tank Justitia, which will include an international focus on free expression...

And we cannot forget the University of Chicago. Since 2014, it’s arguably been the single most influential academic institution in the United States supporting academic freedom. Its statement on free speech declares the “university’s fundamental commitment is to the principle that debate or deliberation may not be suppressed because the ideas put forth are thought by some or even by most members of the university community to be offensive, unwise, immoral or wrongheaded.” A version of the Chicago statement has been adopted by almost 100 colleges, universities and state university systems, including Princeton University, Johns Hopkins University and the North Carolina and Wisconsin state university systems...

Full column at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/16/opinion/free-speech-campus-universities-promising-news.html.

At least some of this interest in speech and academic freedom seems to be a reaction of university leadership to political antipathy towards higher ed that has developed in some states and more general skepticism about the value of college degrees.

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*http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2023/04/no-triggers-empire-strikes-back.html.

Disappointment at Vanderbilt?

What would Cornelius Vanderbilt say?

Vanderbilt University released a study estimating the cost of complying with federal regulations. One suspects - although the university is very cautious in describing the study* - that the idea was to show how costly compliance was and to suggest, therefore, that if there was concern about tuition, the feds could be blamed. If that was the intent, the study doesn't really show that.

The study indicates that the compliance cost comes to 11% of the university's (non-medical) budget.** Note that presumably some of functions required by the feds are activities the university might do anyway so the incremental effect of federal requirements would be less than 11%. But even if we take the 11% as the incremental cost, it appears that the total can be divided into 17% of research spending and 4% of other non-research spending. So if the entire non-research amount were passed into tuition, and if tuition covered the entire operating cost (which it doesn't), tuition is around 4% higher than it otherwise would be. One assumes that the 17% is covered by the research funding that the grants provide.

Of course, none of this means that every requirement of the feds is justified and that there is no waste in compliance costs.
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*The university just says "We conducted this assessment because, until now, data about the cost of complying with these regulations has largely been missing from conversations on this topic. We wanted to fully understand the role that complying with these regulations plays in the overall cost of higher education and research." See http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2015/07/assessment-estimates-cost-of-federal-regulation-compliance-at-vanderbilt/
**http://news.vanderbilt.edu/files/2015-VU-CRC-Slides.pdf