Thousands of colleges could be subject to a new federal rule mandating Covid-19 vaccination or testing for large private-sector employers, the Biden administration announced on Thursday. The Department of Labor’s emergency, temporary rule will require all employees of businesses with 100 or more workers to be vaccinated or to be tested weekly. That mandate will cover more … Continue reading
Filed under Campus Life …
What Is the Point of College?
… [A]s higher education expands its reach, it’s increasingly hard to say what college is like and what college is for. In the United States, where I now teach, more than 17 million undergraduates will be enrolling in classes this fall. They will be passing through institutions small and large, public and private, two-year and … Continue reading
How One University Uses a ‘Mental-Health Kiosk’ to Reach Students
Drexel University has become the first American college to deploy a “mental-health kiosk” on campus. The sleek iPad-like device is stationed in the heavily trafficked student Recreation Center and is just one of several Drexel programs designed to support students’ mental health. The hope is that omnipresent touch-screen technology might make that first call for … Continue reading
20 Colleges and Universities Launch Innovative Orientation Activities to Retain STEM Students
As this academic year begins, 20 higher education institutions are welcoming their incoming students in a unique way as part of a national STEM initiative called #uifresh (University Innovation Freshmen). Through this initiative, participating institutions are exposing incoming freshmen to design thinking, entrepreneurship, and innovation in order to attract and retain more students in STEM … Continue reading
Higher Education is (Slowly) Catching Up With the Social Media World
Although social networks and the world of social media have been in existence for more than a decade now, it has taken a long time for our educational system to catch up with the way that people currently communicate with each other. Instead, high education has been pecking at the subject, unsure of what to … Continue reading
Academic Freedom is Under Threat Across The World
Academic freedom needs to be defended from government, commercial and religious pressure. A simple enough statement. Surely stating the bleedin’ obvious? Does it really need to be said, and aren’t those battles already won? Well, it turns out that yes, it does, and no, they aren’t. Those threats appear to be looming large in states … Continue reading
Obama Administration Further Dials Back College Rating Plan
The Obama administration has pulled the ratings from its once ambitious college-ratings plan, saying it intends to present new information about the performance of U.S. colleges and universities to empower consumers but won’t judge the schools themselves. The announcement, which came in a blog post Thursday by U.S. Deputy Under Secretary of Education Jamienne Studley, … Continue reading
What the Landmark Ruling on Gay Marriage Means for Higher Education
…Christian colleges across the nation — many of which forbid same-sex relationships among students and faculty members — said they faced an uncertain future, with the decision potentially affecting their tax-exempt status, accreditation, student-housing policies, and ability to admit and hire people based on religious convictions. This month more than 70 educational institutions, including evangelical … Continue reading
How High School Students Use Instagram to Help Pick a College
When Jackson Barnett, 19, began applying to colleges, he realized he was going to have a problem. Not only was it difficult for the son of two high school teachers to afford applying to many colleges, but the Alabama teen didn’t have the resources to tour the various East Coast and Midwest schools he was … Continue reading
U.A.E. Incident Raises Questions for Colleges That Open Campuses in Restrictive Countries
A New York University professor stopped on his way to conduct research in the United Arab Emirates said he wasn’t completely surprised when he learned, while trying to board a plane at Kennedy International Airport this week, that he’d been barred from entering the country. He had, after all, publicly criticized the exploitation of migrant … Continue reading
Professor Van Ry 