Savor the Debate

Turmoil in higher education

Higher education has been a target of the Republican Party for decades, but recent years, including COVID-19 and the response to Israel’s actions in Gaza, has accelerated the animosity. It’s apparent today at the federal level, but it has trickled down to the state level, too, where investigations into Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are under scrutiny at more than 60 public and private universities. Laying off half the staff of the U.S. Department of Education will impact student loan holders and those seeking to obtain them. Calling for the end of the SAVE plan will eventually send student loan premiums skyrocketing. Eliminating U.S. AID resulted in billions of funding cuts to research universities. The same is true of the National Institutes of Health. There’s a historical reason, after all, the America’s best hospitals stand alongside a research university. Research and care going hand-in-hand, and it’s why people from all over the world in need of care seek to come to America to receive it. Oh, and American university scholars dominate the Nobel prizes each year.