Daily Lumina News 013024

For a privileged few, success at an elite school can open doors to service in the halls of Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the inner sanctum of the White House. These graduates often land coveted positions at Fortune 500 companies, investment banks, and tech startups.
That’s why policymakers should be wary of proposals limiting access to federal student loans to students from low- and middle-income families who go to elite colleges, writes Lumina Foundation's Michelle Asha Cooper in this perspective piece.

Three years after the pandemic’s peak, its lingering effects continue to impede the full revival of student organizations—a vital factor underpinning retention, graduation, and belonging.
Faced with the challenge of rebuilding what was once the beating heart of campus involvement, some colleges are rethinking their approaches to engagement in big ways. The cost of student disconnection is too high to ignore.

When ChatGPT burst into the world at the end of 2022, the prevailing feelings in higher education circles included fear of students cheating and concern about how the technology might diminish learning.
Then came hope that maybe educators could find a way to use the technology in their favor and enhance students’ learning. Now the first partnership between a higher education institution and OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is adding a new flurry of questions.

Yudi Vargas Lewis is a first-generation college graduate with a passion for supporting student success. As the executive director of Hispanic-serving institution initiatives, Lewis is responsible for working across Weber State University and its outside partners to promote enrollment, retention, and graduation of the school's Hispanic and Latino student population.
In this interview, Lewis talks about her work to support Weber State’s goal of becoming an emerging HSI, community engagement, and her perspective on paying it forward to the next generation.

Walter Wendler, president of West Texas A&M University, thinks universities have become too ideologically focused. He wants to correct that perceived imbalance with "Panhandle values" and promote them among the campus community.
State conservative leaders are cheering Wendler's plans to sow a different vision for public higher education. But not everyone is on board.

Utah lawmakers have approved final changes to a sweeping bill that will effectively eliminate public colleges’ diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, one of the last key steps before it heads to Gov. Spencer Cox’s desk.
Utah’s proposal is one of the most wide-reaching pieces of anti-DEI legislation in the country, resembling laws passed in Florida and Texas last year that banned DEI efforts at public colleges. All three states have Republican trifectas, with Utah Republicans controlling both chambers of the Legislature and the governor’s mansion since 1985.