Amid a rise in anti-diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) legislation, students may face more challenges with fewer avenues of support. In a recent BestColleges survey of 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students, 1 in 3 report witnessing or experiencing more discrimination against marginalized groups this year. Simultaneously, about 1 in 10 college students (12%) report DEI office closures at their schools. DEI offices, which increasingly face closures and cuts in federal funding, have the primary responsibility of protecting the interests of students from underrepresented groups. Just under half of students (48%) say they would consider transferring if their college were to abolish DEI initiatives. Another 52% of students say if a college they were considering had abolished DEI initiatives, it would have impacted their decision to enroll.
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by Jane Nam, Best Colleges.
Posted: November 6th, 2024, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Compared with 2008, at the height of the Great Recession, students by 2022 paid a larger share of their higher education costs while states’ proportion decreased significantly. Those two shifts are the largest in the SHEEO’s study. Students’ share of the total peaked in the last decade at 41.8% in 2013, after which the figure remained above 40% until 2020. Even with the subsequent decline, it still remained 2.7 percentage points above 2008 levels in 2022. The share from states, on the other hand, was nearly 10 percentage points lower in 2022 than it was in 2008.
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by Ben Unglesbee, Higher Ed Dive.
Posted: November 5th, 2024, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
A federal judge has permitted pro-Palestine student activists at UC Berkeley to present their arguments in a lawsuit filed against the school alleging antisemitism. Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, a Jewish advocacy group, filed the lawsuit in late 2023 for what it calls the “longstanding, unchecked spread of antisemitism” on campus, Daily Cal reports. The group argues UC Berkeley failed to protect students and faculty against antisemitic discrimination and harassment because it did not stop demonstrations or clear a pro-Palestine encampment that called for Israeli divestments. UC Berkeley has argued that interfering with the protests would have violated its students’ constitutional rights. In June, the university filed a motion in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California to dismiss the case. A decision is pending.
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by Amy Rock, Campus Safety Magazine.
Posted: November 4th, 2024, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Unfortunately, everything from rising student debt to campus culture wars to high noncompletion rates has fueled a narrative suggesting that college may be overrated. And as happens so often in American life, this misperception has had the most damaging impact on low-income young people who stand to gain the most from postsecondary education. After all, an enormous body of economic evidence shows the strong earnings advantage college graduates hold over their peers with only a high school diploma—both immediately after graduation and for decades afterward.
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by Ben Wildavsky and Richard Whitmire , Inside Higher Ed.
Posted: November 4th, 2024, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Per the letter, there are “several critical issues with these rate increases,” including that they are “too high,” “unnecessary,” “unethical” and lack transparency: Too high: These increases far exceed annual inflation and follow massive, unprecedented premium hikes in 2024, where one health plan saw premium increases of almost 200%. Unnecessary: The UC is one of the wealthiest university systems in the country, bringing in billions of dollars every year. It pays its health center directors as much as $2 million per year, while many UC workers struggle to get by in an increasingly expensive state. Unethical: UC is increasing rates by more than it needs right now in order to avoid State rate caps that will go into effect next year. Lack of transparency: UC’s healthcare premiums are negotiated and set in secret with no direct input or participation by the employees most impacted by these decisions. When UC negotiates UC Health premiums, it is negotiating with itself, and there is no consumer protection.
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by Monica Stark, The Davis Enterprise.
Posted: November 2nd, 2024, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
The Republican-led U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce criticized UCLA and other elite universities, including Harvard and Columbia, for “dramatic failures in confronting antisemitism.” The report — which drew upon emails between UCLA police, UCLA administrators, UC President Michael V. Drake and UC regents — followed explosive committee hearings in the last year that contributed to the resignations of presidents of Harvard, Columbia, Rutgers and the University of Pennsylvania… Members of the House minority have called the hearings an attempt by the chamber’s Republicans to use campus unrest for political gain, pointing out that equal attention has not been given to anti-Muslim or anti-Arab hatred, which have also increased since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
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by Jaweed Kaleem and Libor Jany, The Los Angeles Times.
Posted: November 1st, 2024, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
United States District Court Judge James Donato granted permissive intervention to a group of six UC Berkeley students involved in pro-Palestinian advocacy efforts on campus on Oct. 25. This makes them defendant-intervenors with UC Berkeley in a lawsuit filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law alleging that campus failed to fight antisemitism. The court’s decision in allowing these six students to intervene will allow them to present additional defenses that “UC Berkeley may not raise,” according to the judge’s order.
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by Melody Seraydarian, The Daily Californian.
Posted: October 29th, 2024, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
The 2024-25 California State Budget outlines the state’s intent to cut the UC system’s state general fund by approximately 8% beginning in fiscal year 2025-26. According to the budget, the cut is part of a multi-year strategy to address a $46.8 billion state deficit. While the state has yet to adopt a budget for fiscal 2025-26, this year’s budget includes future planning adjustments aimed at placing the state on a “fiscally responsible long-term path,” the budget states.
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by Alexa Vasquez, The Daily Californian.
Posted: October 29th, 2024, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
A recent survey of Jewish and Israeli community members at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that two-thirds of students, faculty and staff reported antisemitism as a problem, and nearly three-quarters believed it was treated less seriously than other forms of hate. The report, which was commissioned by UCLA interim chancellor Darnell Hunt and conducted by the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias, highlights a rise in antisemitic incidents on campus since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, sparking an ongoing war in Gaza.
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by Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed.
Posted: October 24th, 2024, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
As protests unfolded at scores of college campuses last spring, students were not the only ones punished for participating. Faculty members also faced consequences for supporting the students in their protests or for expressing views that were construed as antisemitic or, less commonly, for pro-Israel activism. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has intensified what many faculty members and their allies believe is part of a growing assault on the ideals of academic freedom, a principle that most American colleges and universities hold dear.
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by Anemona Hartocollis, The New York Times.
Posted: October 23rd, 2024, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
