As higher education looks at reinvention, it isn't just the "collaborative nature" between community colleges and 4-years. We have to look at the policies and processes that stymie meaningful change within higher education broadly. Mergers are one possibility and a new trend that we should watch closely, but they do not miraculously improve enrollment and student success. Nor do they automatically improve the financial situations of the merging institutions (as proven with the mergers of PennWest and Commonwealth University in Pennsylvania).
In New Hampshire, a Mandate to Collaborate
The state’s public universities are hemorrhaging students. A new law requires community colleges and four-year institutions to work together to stanch the bleeding. https://bit.ly/4fy8CJ9
Know Your Rights: Students in Higher Education & the First Amendment
“Students at colleges and universities play a vital role in shaping social movements. This guide explains your legal rights to organize, protest, and express opinions on personal and public matters while enrolled at a college or university in New York.”
https://lnkd.in/eSC-se95
Day 39: As part of my U.S. Constitution class, I’ve been analyzing Fisher v. University of Texas, a case that examines the use of race in college admissions through the lens of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case centers on Abigail Fisher, who challenged the University of Texas’ admissions policy, prompting courts to apply strict scrutiny—a legal standard requiring policies to be narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest.
While the Supreme Court initially found procedural errors in the lower court’s ruling, the case ultimately returned as Fisher II, where the University’s policy was upheld. Studying this case has provided valuable insights into how constitutional principles intersect with education policies.
As I finish this class, I look forward to examining other landmark cases involving the Equal Protection Clause to further understand its impact on different areas of law.
Join us December 3, 1:00 - 3:00 PM Eastern for "Adjudicating Free Expression Disciplinary Cases at American Colleges: Considerations for Student Conduct Professionals"!
2024 offered many opportunities for American colleges and universities to consider its approaches and responses to free expression events on campus; most notably, perhaps, is weighing the line between constitutionally protected expression and conduct prohibited under the code of conduct. While there have been a wealth of Webinars and training that have focused on education around the First Amendment as well as campus response to protest events, this Webinar addresses a gap in the literature which is the direct adjudication of code violation reports stemming from campus free expression events.
To register: https://buff.ly/3AOmEHb
Director of Grant Writing & Innovation | Grant Writing, Innovation, Inclusive Excellence, Organizational Change, Educational Leadership, Philanthropy, Corporate and Foundations Relations, Equity.
Great article in Newsweek by Jeremy Young on the educational censorship in higher education and the role of university presidents in advocating for institutional autonomy of public institutions. In fact, the American Association of State Colleges & Universities 2024 Public Policy Agenda called for Policy Actions to "Preserve and protect academic freedom and institutional autonomy at public universities" and to "Encourage policymakers to recognize issues of institutional/system governance, equity, and academic quality in all policies associated with the state role in higher education financing."
Jeremy Young described how "jawboning" threatening presidents with funding cuts unless the "voluntarily" close their DEI office or implement restrictions. We saw this firsthand in KY when policy actors engaged in such political tactics thus bypassing the formal legislative process. And such tactics are being proposed on the Federal level. Futhermore, policy actors are using university system boards to achieve the same results as in NC and GA.
As the 2020 Magna Charta Universitatum, a statement signed by nearly a thousand universities around the globe, put it: "Intellectual and moral autonomy is the hallmark of any university and a precondition for the fulfillment of its responsibilities to society. That independence needs to be recognized and protected by governments and society at large, and defended vigorously by institutions themselves."
It is key to point out what implementation looks like in the early adaptor states:
"As PEN America's latest report explained, new laws enacted this year are very different from those in 2021. Rather than censoring teaching and research directly, they create the same effect by imposing ideological restrictions on every aspect of university governance—banning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices, restricting the topics of majors and minors, and more. Iowa banned DEI and restricted presidents from opining on a dizzying array of ideas. Utah closed its university cultural centers. Floridadictated the ideological content of teacher education courses. Alabama restricted Black student unions and programming for international students. And Indiana handed politically-appointed governing boards unlimited power to fire tenured faculty they deem insufficiently supportive of "viewpoint diversity.""
Director of State and Higher Education Policy at PEN America
"Come back when you've passed a law—and be prepared to defend it in court." I'm in Newsweek this morning, exhorting college presidents to stand resolute against jawboning and government pressure to ban ideas on campus. https://lnkd.in/ermQx3k6
SNAPSHOT OF LEAGAL EDUCATION FROM LEADING TEXAS COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES:
Considering the cost for Law school education should achievement not factor into costs. What should be an acceptable failure rate? How can one account for St Mary's results? South Texas College of law has certainly led the institutions once more.
I would like to present somewhat of a critical topic as it pertains to charter schools for those involved in #educationlaw and #educationpolicy. In many states, it is provided that some limitations placed on public school districts are not placed on charter schools via state statute. I refer to them as organizational constraints, with the desired purpose to allow for innovation in education. Could it be possible to contrive a legal argument in stating that these organizational constraints violate the either (1) the respective state constitution in providing an adequate education or (2) that such differences violate the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment?
Join us in August for a session to help school leaders to prepare for the academic year ahead, hosted by Tabitha Cave, Yvonne Spencer and Victoria Guest.
The webinar, for school leaders in Independent Schools, Academies and Maintained Schools, will provide an overview of changes to key education law and guidance applying from September 2024 and cover further changes we can expect from the new government.
Book your place below.
#backtoschool#educationlaw#postelection#KCSIE#EYFS