\n<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON, D.C.\u2014Education under secretary Nicholas Kent opened day two of the American Council on Education\u2019s annual meeting with a clear and pointed statement\u2014American higher education needs a \u201chard reset.\u201d And much of that reset, he said, is already underway.<\/p>\n
Once a collaborative partnership funded by taxpayers to promote innovation and merit-based social mobility, higher ed has been tainted by ideologically driven universities that accept billions while \u201cresisting any meaningful accountability for results,\u201d the under secretary said. Now, \u201cthose days are over.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want a partnership with the federal government, it must be a real partnership, grounded in transparency, measurable outcomes and a commitment to students and taxpayers alike,\u201d Kent explained, adding that change is coming whether institutions like it or not. \u201cI hope that you all are ready, having made it through the five stages of grief and, most importantly, reaching the final state of acceptance.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also cited several public opinion polls showing declining trust in the value of a college degree. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo paraphrase James Kvaal\u00a0\u2026 \u2018This is not a PR problem; this is an actual problem for you,\u2019\u201d Kent said, drawing from a separate session the previous evening that was closed to the media and deemed off the record.<\/p>\n
But many college leaders in the room appeared to take issue with Kent\u2019s comments. Throughout the under secretary\u2019s speech, many shared murmurs of disagreement and at times laughed, scoffing at his remarks. A few left the room. <\/p>\n
After Kent\u2019s speech, Jon Fansmith, the council\u2019s senior vice president of government relations, took to the stage and offered a sort of rebuttal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will point out the irony with [Kent\u2019s] concluding remarks that they want to work with us,\u201d he said. \u201cWorking generally involves a partnership, not acquiescence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kent\u2019s Friday morning keynote captured the tensions between the sector and government officials over what flaws exist in American higher education and how to fix them. Very few\u2014be they lawmakers, university presidents or accrediting agencies\u2014disagree that mounting student debt, struggles to keep pace with workforce demands and threats to campus free speech are problems. Where opinions diverge is on what changes need to be made in response to these issues, who should make them and how solutions should be regulated. <\/p>\n
Actions and statements made by the administration throughout its first year suggest that in many cases, it will use executive action and regulation to force reform. <\/p>\n
Congressional Republicans fell in line with Trump\u2019s agenda by passing a sweeping spending bill that dramatically limited loan access and launched a new earnings test that could cost hundreds of thousands of students access to federal aid. Kent boasted that his department reached consensus on every provision of the bill when ironing out the details in a process called negotiated rule making, though some of the negotiators who sat at the table say that unanimous agreement was strong-armed. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, since the president\u2019s first days in office, multiple executive agencies have opened civil rights investigations and frozen billions in funding to crack down on the so-called mismanagement of accusations of antisemitism, failure to protect female athletes and illegal diversity, equity and inclusion programs. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe question isn\u2019t whether change is coming\u2014it is whether you will help lead it,\u201d Kent said during his speech. <\/p>\n
There is no denying the speed and intensity with which the administration has worked to enact the changes in last summer\u2019s reconciliation bill and bring higher education institutions to heel. Sector stakeholders remain concerned about their ability to be in compliance with the new regulations by the July 1 deadline and the consequences that might follow.<\/p>\n
Fansmith advised college leaders to stay alert and informed through the remainder of the Trump administration. While the upcoming midterm elections, economic challenges and international affairs may draw the attention of Trump and his immediate White House advisers away from higher ed, that doesn\u2019t mean the war is over, he said.<\/p>\n
Instead of Truth Social attacks on individual faculty members or wealthy universities from the president himself, the entire sector should expect a more widespread, pervasive ambush, Fansmith warned. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe president\u2019s not going to be talking about Harvard nearly as much as he did last year, but the Department of Education is going to be doing more and more to implement systemic change,\u201d he said. It will be \u201cputting the things in place that will impact 4,000 institutions rather than 50. And we saw that across all of the under secretary\u2019s proposals that he laid out.\u201d <\/p>\n
Still, just as it had the day before, the council urged institutions not to give in. Instead, Fansmith encouraged them to resist the \u201cfederal takeover.\u201d Circling back to the under secretary\u2019s remarks about grief and acceptance of change, he reminded the audience that grief is about permanent loss, while \u201cnothing that has happened in the last year is permanent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis administration wants us to move to acceptance of all of their policies\u00a0\u2026 [And] of course, we\u2019ll follow the law to the best of our ability,\u201d he said. But \u201cthe one thing I didn\u2019t hear in any of the conversations we\u2019ve had over the last couple days is acceptance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can deal with change. We always do,\u201d he added. \u201cBut we don\u2019t have to accept a view of who we are or what we do that is so misleading and misrepresentative.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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