Lumina Foundation is committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025. | Kathryn Palmer, Inside Higher Ed SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn Although most colleges and universities in Los Angeles escaped serious damage to their physical structures from the recent wildfires, leaders there say they face a long road ahead as hundreds of students and faculty try to rebuild their lives. Beyond efforts to meet their communities’ most pressing needs, college officials are trying to figure out how to get through a semester already scarred by one of the most destructive fires in California history. The priority emerging for most institutions is moving forward with flexibility and compassion. | Michael Burke, EdSource SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn Rudy Garcia was excited when he learned that his local community college, Moorpark in Ventura County, planned to offer a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity and network operations. A father of four and the only source of income for his family, Garcia believed that getting the degree would help him advance in his career. But in the two years since Moorpark first announced the bachelor's degree proposal, the college has yet to receive final approval. | Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, New America SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn In 2020, the University of Arizona acquired Ashford University, an online for-profit college that a California court later found guilty of having deceived students about job prospects, transfer opportunities, and degree costs. University of Arizona leaders immediately set out to rebrand Ashford as the University of Arizona Global Campus, with a focus on providing adult learners with affordable college credentials to prepare them for careers in a rapidly evolving global economy. But beneath the rebranding efforts, problems remain. | Marcus Bright, Diverse Issues in Higher Education SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn While many people often celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for his soaring oratory and visionary leadership, the grit he and many others displayed in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s is equally significant. That grittiness is worthy of study and emulation and offers vital lessons for contemporary struggles for progress, including contending against attacks on expanding access and opportunity in higher education, writes author and educator Marcus Bright in this perspective piece. | Katherine Mangan, The Chronicle of Higher Education SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn Gov. Patrick Morrisey, the new Republican governor of West Virginia, used his first full day in office to issue several aggressive executive orders, including one ending all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at state-run institutions. The DEI order, both sweeping and sudden, comes at a time when Republican lawmakers, buoyed by support from President Donald J. Trump, are gearing up for another round of bans and restrictions on colleges’ diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. | Charlotte West, Teen Vogue SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn A chance encounter with Colie "Shaka" Long in a Georgetown University theology class forever changed Noa Offman's life. Long, who was on a Zoom call from the D.C. Jail, told the class about being sentenced to life without the possibility of parole as a teenager, his experience with solitary confinement, and how he became a mentor for young men in prison. Offman's experience is just one example of the ripple effects that prison education programs can have on college campuses and their ability to challenge preconceptions, influence career paths, and inspire activism. | Keenan Thomas, Knoxville News Sentinel | Douglas Soule, Naples Daily News |
Jacob Holmes, Alabama Political Reporter | Kevin Richert, Idaho Education News | Ian Karbal, Pennsylvania Capital-Star |
Jon King, Michigan Advance |
Rebecca C. Lewis, City & State New York | Melissa Maynard, The Pew Charitable Trusts |
McKenna Horsley, Kentucky Lantern | Sara Weissman, Inside Higher Ed |
Tiffany Camhi, Oregon Public Broadcasting | Angela Dennis, Diverse Issues in Higher Education |
Arthur Jones II, ABC News | Illumination by Modern Campus | The College President's Playbook | |