Higher Education News
Reporting on higher education reform, tuition costs, and academic freedom. The Daily Signal includes commentary and opinion on cultural and policy debates in academia.
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- Opinion
When Educational Institutions Drift, Build New Ones
Recently, comedian Rob Schneider posted on X: “I would like to start a CONSERVATIVE TEACHERS UNION as an alternative to the WOKE EMOTIONAL LUNATICS in the @NEA Teacher’s Communist Union…” While those are not the words I would have used, the underlying point resonates: Many educators and parents feel that the nation’s largest teachers unions…Paul Runko -
- Opinion
Self-Censorship and the Silenced Generation
Are America’s college students doing to themselves what the Chinese Communist state does to its citizens? An Ivy League professor—an old-fashioned liberal who actually cares about free speech—recently warned me about what’s happening in classrooms like his. He encourages class discussion of the great books he teaches in class—but students are afraid to speak, not…Daniel McCarthy -
- Exclusive
‘HYPOCRITES’: Top Ed Official Slams Democrats for Opposing Rule to Lower College Costs
Undersecretary of Education Nicholas Kent slammed congressional Democrats for attempting to block a rule that would lower higher education costs for Americans. “Democrats are hypocrites,” Kent told The Daily Signal in an exclusive interview. “For years, they have purported to care about student debt, but now they’ve reaffirmed what we’ve all been saying, which is,…Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell -
- Opinion
Top Research University Skirts Civil Rights Laws, Pushes DEI
Carnegie Mellon University is skirting civil rights laws, making the university ripe for investigation. Pennsylvania lawmakers and the U.S. Department of Education should use CMU as an example to demonstrate that private schools are not above the law. CMU, which has had contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense totaling some $2.8 billion since 2008,…Jonathan Butcher -
- News
Did This Women’s College Violate Title IX by Admitting Men? Department of Education Is Investigating
The Department of Education opened an investigation into Smith College, probing whether the women’s college discriminated on the basis of sex by admitting men who claim to identify as transgender women. “Smith College, while still portraying itself as a women’s-only institution, admits natal men who feel like women, and on nothing more than their say-so,”…Tyler O’Neil -
- Opinion
SCORE Act Offers Permanent Fix to College Sports Disorder
College sports generate excitement and bring communities together in a unique way. They inspire pride in our schools, create lifelong memories, and enable young Americans to pursue education while excelling in sports. But the future of this prized institution is far from guaranteed and requires legislative action to permanently fix long-standing issues. New uncertainties took…Chrissy Clark -
- Opinion
Confidence in Higher Ed Is Eroding, but a University President Offers a Path to Restoration
Never before have more Americans attended college. Today, roughly 57% of Gen Z enroll in some form of postsecondary education after high school. Yet at the very moment participation has peaked, confidence in higher education is eroding. The traditional four-year degree, once a hallmark of intellectual formation and social mobility, is increasingly questioned, both for…Katherine Matt -
- News
Old Dominion University Shooter Reportedly Had Prison Sentence for Aiding ISIS Cut Short
Mohamed Jalloh, a former U.S. service member and naturalized citizen from Sierra Leone who shot and killed one person and injured two others at Virginia’s Old Dominion University on Thursday, was reportedly released by President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice in 2024 after being sentenced in 2017 to 11 years in prison for aiding ISIS….Pedro Rodriguez -
- News
He Had Near-Perfect SAT Scores. Was He Rejected in Favor of Foreign College Applicants?
Who are America’s public universities really for? A growing backlash argues that domestic students—many with near-perfect test scores—are being edged out in favor of full-pay international enrollments. Steve Cortes’ new documentary, “The Foreign Student Crisis Destroying American College Admissions,” focuses on the University of Illinois where more than 6,000 Chinese nationals are enrolled at this…Reagan Campbell -
- News
US Charges 26 People With Rigging College, Chinese Basketball Games
NEW YORK, Jan. 15 (Reuters)—Pennsylvania federal prosecutors on Thursday announced charges against 26 people for allegedly rigging bets on college and Chinese professional basketball games, the latest case to accuse athletes of cheating at legalized sports betting that has exploded in popularity in the U.S. A 70-page indictment names more than a dozen former National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball players, a…Jack Queen -
- News
Rubio Addresses If He’ll End Program Brown University Shooter Used to Enter the United States
The Trump administration plans to fix the diversity visa program and then resume it, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told The Daily Signal Friday. After the alleged shooter of students at Brown University and an MIT professor was found to have entered the country using a diversity visa, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem paused the…Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell -
- News
Brown University and MIT Shooter Entered US on Diversity Visa
The suspect in the Brown University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor shootings entered the U.S. through an immigrant visa program, according to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Now, the secretary is pausing the program. “The Brown University shooter, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente entered the United States through the diversity lottery immigrant visa program (DV1) in 2017 and was…Virginia Allen -
- News
BREAKING: Suspect in Brown University Killing Found Dead, Also Suspected of MIT Murder
The suspect in last weekend’s fatal shooting at Brown University has been found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a storage unit he rented in Salem, New Hampshire, Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez announced Thursday night. The suspect has been identified as Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, a Portuguese national. U.S. Attorney for…Daily Signal Staff -
- News
Conservative Student Dead Following Shooting at Brown University
The vice president of College Republicans at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, was shot and killed over the weekend. Ella Cook, a sophomore at the university, was attending an economics study session with a group of other students ahead of finals when a gunman entered the lecture hall and opened fire, killing Cook and another student and injuring at least nine others. Authorities have…Virginia Allen -
- News
Police to Release Man Detained Over Brown University Mass Shooting
REUTERS—The man held as a “person of interest” in the Brown University shooting that left two students dead and nine injured will be released from custody, authorities said on Sunday night. Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said earlier at a midday news conference that a man in his 20s was taken into custody in connection with Saturday’s gun violence but gave no further…Steve Gorman -
- News
Another University Considers Cutting Ties With Chinese Institution as National Security Concerns Mount
Almost a year after the University of Michigan severed ties with a Chinese institution over concerns of national security, over a dozen U.S. universities are still working with Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Now, at least one of those schools is also considering cutting ties with the Chinese university over national security concerns. The University of Hawaii at Manoa’s relationship with Shanghai Jiao Tong University is…Virginia Allen -
- Opinion
The Deadly Consequences of Campus Chants
Ideas have consequences. The ideas pushed on many college campuses have deadly consequences. Elias Rodriguez stands accused of murdering two Israeli Embassy staffers. The shooting happened recently outside the Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. The victims were Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, a young couple who were about to be engaged. The propaganda press has…Victor Joecks -
- Opinion
The Big, Beautiful Bill Targets University Endowments—As It Should
President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” passed by the House Thursday contains numerous, needed policy changes, including something that should have happened ages ago: taxes on large, private university endowments. Many universities have been engaging in numerous assaults on America’s social fabric, including targeting and unfairly gaslighting conservative students, professors, and would-be professors. They’ve also…Carrie Sheffield -
- Opinion
ORWELLIAN: Women’s College Honors Inveterate Foe of Women’s Rights
Smith College, which presents itself as a women’s college, just granted an honorary degree to a man, and not just any man, but one of the most influential campaigners against women’s rights. Yes, in a piece of fresh Orwellian insanity, a women’s college granted an honorary degree to Rachel Levine, a man who has fathered…Tyler O’Neil -
- News
80 Pro-Palestinian Protesters Arrested at Columbia University
Police responded Wednesday to a request for help from Columbia University after a large group of pro-Palestinian protesters forcibly entered a campus library and declared it a “liberation zone.” The New York Police Department made 80 arrests, but no charges had been brought as of early Thursday morning, NYPD told The Daily Signal. “I…Virginia Allen