Higher education

Higher education

The Trump administration's investigation into Smith College, the prestigious women's college in western Massachusetts, may have begun with something as symbolically potent and legally tenuous as an honorary degree awarded to Dr. Rachel Levine, one of the nation's highest-ranking transgender public officials and a pediatrician who previously served as Pennsylvania's physician general and health secretary.

When Birmingham-Southern College closed in 2024, local residents raised concerns about the loss of a long-standing institution with a significant footprint in one of Alabama's largest cities. Beyond the loss of the college, locals were concerned about what would become of the property. Both Alabama A&M University and Miles College expressed interest in buying the site, but those talks fell apart, leaving the fate of the 192-acre campus in limbo for two years.

The law assigns the historically Black land-grant university a new role as a polytechnic institution and exerts significant state control over its pocketbook and programming as the institution stabilizes its finances. Among other provisions, the law requires the university to get state approval for purchases over $20,000 and limits its offerings to 10 academic areas of study over the period of financial exigency.

Harvard University shared details in a new database about the people who were enslaved as well as those who owned them. Researchers with the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Initiative say they've found at least 259 Harvard university leaders, faculty, staff and board members who enslaved individuals. The initiative, which began in 2022 as a way to identify the descendants of enslaved individuals, partnered with American Ancestors, a national genealogical nonprofit, on the project.

The Criss sisters share many things together, such as a love for tennis, restaurants, and movies. But the shared honor of representing their graduating class is among their greatest achievements.

Anil Kochhar, a North Carolina State University donor, gave graduates of the school's Wilson College of Textiles a lot more than just words of wisdom when he delivered their keynote commencement address recently. The Indian American entrepreneur also announced that he would pay off any student loans taken out by the college's graduating pupils during their senior year. I hope that all of you leave today not only with a degree but with greater freedom to pursue your goals, take risks and build the lives that you've worked so hard to achieve, Kochhar said, prompting loud cheers, applause and a standing ovation from his audience.

After Caulfield said AI is the next industrial revolution, a crowd of graduates booed.

“The investigation is being conducted by the Cornell University Police Department consistent with its existing policies and procedures. This investigation will inform the Board's fact-based review of the events of that night in their entirety and aid in the Board's decision-making,” Cornell announced in a statement from an Ad Hoc Special Committee of the board.

Further and Higher Education Minister James Lawless has said universities are “gaming the system” by creating “niche” courses with high points, resulting in students with 625 points missing out due to random selection.