Articles and Opinions
Strings Attached: The Dangerous Bargain Between Washington and the\rUniversities
By Kazem Kazerounian, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Connecticut
The standoff between the White House and America’s leading universities has entered new territory. Earlier this month, the Trump administration sent letters to a dozen major universities proposing what it called a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” The offer seemed generous on pa...
Opinion: Invisible but Essential: The Struggles of Adjunct Faculty and the Power of Collective Action
Name Withheld at Author’s Request...
The Brainwashing of Academia: How Ideological Homogenization Undermined Higher Education
By Julian Archer, PhD, Professor of Engineering Sciences
Foreword: In this essay I explore a deeply concerning transformation within American academia—one that has quietly shifted universities away from their core missions of objective inquiry and truth-seeking. Using the metaphor of academia as society’s intellectual mind, I argue that ideological confor...
Student Guest Column: Atrophying Academia: Effects of AI Use in College
By Name Withheld at Author’s Request: a rising sophomore at a public research university.
Identity, institutional affiliation, and conflicts of interest have been verified by the editors....
Developing News
Ron Shaich Pledges Landmark $20 Million for Clark University’s Strategic Transformation
WORCESTER, MA - October 21, 2025 Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, has received a historic $20 million gift from alumnus and trustee Ron Shaich, founder of Panera Bread, in support of the school’s ambitious transformation plan amid enrollment and financial pressures....
University of Arizona Rejects Trump Administration’s “University Compact” Amid Growing Academic Backlash
TUSCON, AZ - October 21, 2025 The University of Arizona has become the latest institution to reject the Trump administration’s proposed Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, a controversial policy linking federal funding to new ideological and admissions standards....
Elite U.S. Universities Push Back on Trump Administration’s Funding “Compact”
TUSCON, AZ - October 21, 2025 The Donald Trump administration has proposed a sweeping policy, dubbed the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, offering preferential federal funding to a select group of U.S. universities in exchange for adherence to a set of ideological and operationa...
University of Utah Proposes Free Tuition for Many In-State Students via “For Utah” Program
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - October 14, 2025 The University of Utah is introducing a new scholarship initiative called “For Utah”, which aims to cover full tuition and mandatory fees for eligible in-state students who qualify for the Pell Grant....
The Lighter Side
Day in the life of a TA
Woke, Broke, and Tenured: A Survival Guide to Campus Politics
Congratulations, professor. You’ve made it. You have a PhD, a shared printer that jams on sight, and a title that sounds prestigious until someone asks your salary and you whisper, “...commensurate with despair.”...
The Battle of Cambridge: Trump vs. Harvard, Now With Extra Popcorn
If you thought “Godzilla vs. Kong” was an epic clash, brace yourself: former-and-maybe-future President Donald Trump has picked a fight with Harvard University, the 388-year-old grandparent of American academia. The Yard suddenly feels less like “Dead Poets Society” and more like “Money in the Bank,...
Academic Unplugged: Surviving the Hilarious Chaos of University Life
Welcome to academia - the only place where coffee is a recognized food group, sleep is a myth, and arguing passionately about footnotes is considered socially acceptable. Universities are quirky microcosms brimming with intellectual debates, caffeine overdoses, and unexplainable optimism in the face...
