Nine factors—in such areas as climate change, international collaboration, and health policy—should help science advocates decipher what a Trump presidency will mean for the U.S. research community. Given Republican attacks on higher ed, it could be a dark time for university research. Yet science has traditionally enjoyed bi-partisan support. And while a president gets to propose how $200 billion in research funding is spent, it’s Congress that has the final say on funding and policy. Read this article
This Nobel-Prize-winning economist argues that we are poorly prepared for three epochal changes poised to reshape the U.S. economy: an aging population, the rise of AI, and a rewiring of the global economy. These are evolving in plain sight. Yet it is not fully recognized how in combination they are likely to transform people’s lives in ways not seen in generations. With supportive government policies, universities and other
public and private entities can confront these challenges by training workers for new tasks and jobs. Read this article
Today’s campus activists eschew neutrality, urging colleges to make ideological commitments. Instead, they should learn from student radicals of the 1960s, who saw the university’s failure “not in its inability to espouse a particular political view, but in its inability to foster deliberative democracy.” They envisioned a “community of controversy” where, through humanistic learning, students organize to change society. Students today should adopt this view—the university as bridge to political power
rather than a platform for their demands. Read this article
From Columbia to Western Wyoming College, the resident assistant’s role has evolved from student-community builder to a complex position that often conflicts with enforcing institutional rules, especially with free speech and the right to protest under threat. Along with poor compensation, this has led to booming RA unionization, aimed at safeguarding their political activism and combatting student-labor exploitation. Many RAs are now working to organize all undergraduate workers, forcing universities to reassess their relationships with students Read this article
Critics of the “college for all” movement that greatly expanded access for low-income students see the national decline in freshmen as evidence that many would be better off learning a trade. Acknowledging that U.S. colleges have urgent retention problems and that young people deserve better alternatives, the authors ask why
non-degree pathways and expanded college access are viewed as an either-or choice. They urge maximizing opportunities for students with a range of backgrounds rather than steering them away from higher ed altogether. Read this article
The AKA Review is taking a short break for Thanksgiving and will resume with our next issue on December 6, 2024.
We wish you a wonderful holiday filled with warmth, gratitude, and good company!
Happy Thanksgiving!
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