From the Desk of Melinda Cabrera

From the Desk of Melinda Cabrera

Tuition hikes at colleges and universities tend to provoke backlashes from students, parents, and education advocates, as one would expect. Among others likely to suffer their own economic fallout downstream of such policy decisions, however, the reaction is often muted.... Read More

From the Desk of Barbara Robertson

From the Desk of Barbara Robertson

Commencement speakers commonly extol the value of lifelong learning beyond the classroom. In his 1994 commencement address at Howard University, for instance, Colin Powell advised graduates that they were “entering a life of continuous study and struggle” to achieve their... Read More

From the Desk of Barbara Robertson

From the Desk of Barbara Robertson

The year 1962 seems almost impossibly distant today. For those old enough to remember it, the period was literally the better part of a lifetime ago. The rest of us know it only from history books and newsreels. Nineteen sixty-two was the year of ...

From the Desk of Barbara Robertson

From the Desk of Barbara Robertson

Most Americans view the nation’s system of colleges and universities as a kind of invulnerable redoubt. That is, they believe it is generally impervious to erosive social forces by virtue of its central – many would say indispensable – role as an eco...

From the Desk of Barbara Robertson

From the Desk of Barbara Robertson

Last month marked the 49th anniversary of Title IX’s passage by Congress. Though widely mischaracterized as a sports-equity law, Title IX in fact bars all forms of sex-based discrimination at educational institutions that receive federal funding. One potent data point... Read More

From the Desk of Barbara Robertson

From the Desk of Barbara Robertson

The U.S. economy is rebounding sharply from its lockdown-induced malaise, but it may be years before some sectors fully recover, if at all. Among those that survive, some will emerge from the pandemic fundamentally changed. The nation’s postsecondary...