Daily Lumina News 041723

More than 100 retired college and university presidents are joining a national campaign called “Champions of Higher Education” to fight against political interference and various forms of government overreach into American campuses.
Spearheaded by PEN America, the effort aims to raise public awareness and concerns about the gag orders, censorship, and other political intrusions into college classrooms that might be difficult for sitting presidents—particularly at public institutions—to voice.

What would you do if you had $800 million to build a new nonprofit to support innovation in online learning? That’s the privileged question officials at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University have been mulling over for the last two years—and late last month they announced some answers.
The result is a new nonprofit named Axim Collaborative, and its focus will be on serving learners that higher education has historically left behind.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion offices at public colleges face an uncertain future as bills designed to curtail them move through various state legislatures.
While anti-DEI legislation still hasn’t become law, the impact of the proposals is already being felt on campuses across the country.

A clearer discussion needs to happen about the costs of preparing individuals and society for what’s sure to be a challenging future, states Lumina Foundation's Jamie Merisotis in this op-ed.
To begin, policymakers need to understand that starving higher education of public funding jeopardizes the future growth of their states and the country. Higher ed leaders, too, must do their part to keep prices in check. That includes rethinking how educational experiences are delivered.

Diversity among college and university CEOs is not keeping up with the composition of their institutions’ students. Most college presidents remain older, white, and male, according to a new survey by the American Council on Education.
The study notes that the needle has moved only slightly for women and people of color in the presidency, but those shifts “remain localized and isolated—far from ushering in the necessary systemic transformation to achieve parity and equity at the highest level of postsecondary leadership.”

Talent Finance, a partnership of more than 200 organizations, is testing new ways of funding workforce talent in America.
Two of the architects of Talent Finance—Jason Tyszko of the U.S. Chamber Foundation and Peter Beard of the Greater Houston Partnership—join journalist Hari Sreenivasan in a conversation about what must happen in order to build a pool of job-ready talent.