The hottest Higher education Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways

Down the Rabbit Hole (On Purpose)

Gad’s Newsletter • 97 implied HN points • 23 Feb 26

🚌 Education Higher education

Learning has three layers: domain knowledge (the what), methods (the how), and mindsets/wisdom (the why). Facts fade and methods need practice, but mindsets and wisdom endure and shape long-term judgment.
AI will make domain knowledge and many techniques cheap and widely available, so educational time should be reinvested in mentorship, judgment, and mindset cultivation. AI can simulate scenarios to practice decision-making, but it can’t replace lived experience and human feedback.
Durable learning requires spaced retrieval, varied practice, reflection, and apprenticeship, not just one-off content delivery. Classroom detours or 'rabbit holes' are often deliberate ways to build transferable judgment and help students learn when to trust a model and when to rely on intuition.

The Department of Me: Senators Earmark $636M for Universities They Attended

OpenTheBooks Substack • 261 implied HN points • 26 Jan 26

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Higher education

Twenty-four senators requested $636 million in earmarks for colleges they attended, amounting to more than 20% of university earmarks proposed for 2026.
Republicans requested about 74% of that money, and a few senators pushed especially large awards for specific projects like medical research and new buildings.
Alma‑mater earmarks are larger on average than other university requests, and lawmakers from both parties have defended these pet projects during budget fights, drawing criticism that taxpayers are being used to favor old schools.

The UATX Brand

In My Tribe • 410 implied HN points • 03 Jan 26

🚌 Education Higher education

UATX presents itself as a traditional, non-ideological liberal arts school focused on Great Books and in-person learning, but many outsiders mainly see it as a right-wing counter-institution.
The institution is caught between three conflicting identities — a rigorous classical college, a conservative ideological project, or a political movement — and trying to be all three at once looks unsustainable.
AI advisers recommend a pivot to a 'Practical Liberal Arts' combining a Great Books core with project-based, industry-linked concentrations and transparent outcomes, but the free-tuition, donor-dependent funding model could make the school prioritize donors over students.

The Department of Education Isn’t Going Anywhere

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 190 implied HN points • 04 Feb 26

🚌 Education Higher education

Despite a presidential executive order to shut it down, the Department of Education is still operating and its budget was increased.
Congress — with Democrats and some Republicans pushing back — refused to abolish the agency and approved $79 billion in funding, more than the White House requested.
Executive orders alone can’t eliminate a federal agency, and appropriations plus political resistance kept the department intact and growing.

A Modern-Day Academic Rapprochement

Heterodox STEM • 135 implied HN points • 11 Feb 26

🚌 Education Higher education

DEI ideas that started on campus have spread into big corporations and now shape hiring and workplace culture, which critics say undermines merit-based advancement and open debate.
Corporate leaders can and do pressure universities—using partnerships and donations—to push administrators to rebuke or silence faculty who criticize DEI, creating a chilling effect on academic freedom.
University administrations often respond by issuing bland DEI statements and promoting bias training instead of defending free speech, though there is growing political and public pushback against this trend.

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Northwestern University urged to apologize for “unjust treatment” of Jane Ying Wu

Pekingnology • 105 implied HN points • 22 Feb 26

📰 News Higher education

Northwestern is accused of punishing Jane Ying Wu by limiting her work, shutting her lab, reassigning her grants, cutting her pay, and having police remove and involuntarily commit her; her estate says these actions helped lead to her taking her life and is suing the university.
More than 1,000 academics from over 300 institutions, including prominent scholars, signed a letter urging Northwestern to publicly acknowledge the harm and apologize for its treatment of Wu.
The allegations stem from an NIH investigation tied to the broader "China Initiative" that produced no charges, and Northwestern vehemently denies wrongdoing and has moved to dismiss the lawsuit.

Why Are There "Academic Marxists" Who Do Not Follow in Marx's Footsteps at All?

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 207 implied HN points • 20 Jan 26

📖 Philosophy Higher education

Very few academics today make arguments that actually follow Marx's six claims; most of those claims (teleology, stage theory, ideology-as-master-key, utopia) have weak empirical support, and only two threads still have useful traction: that relations of production must fit technology and that technological change can destabilize property orders.
What people call “academic Marxism” is often a post-1960s humanities phenomenon — a left-progressive toolkit or methodology that diverged from Marx’s political-economic aims and focuses more on cultural critique and theory than on organizing working-class politics.
Long-run social and economic change looks more like uneven, sectoral waves of creative destruction with institutional lag and complementary investments than synchronized stage-based revolutions, and humanities departments need a clear, defensible case for why we study literature rather than relying on implicit ideological frameworks.

The Exquisite Irony of Claudine Gay's Downfall

Glenn Loury • 3630 implied HN points • 09 Jan 24

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Higher education

Defenders claim that ousting Claudine Gay was more about race and ideology than academic integrity, but it still doesn't excuse plagiarism.
Being a university president may require more than being a noteworthy scholar; skills like administration and fundraising could take precedence.
The debate on affirmative action and academic standards for black students is complex, with implications for diversity, standards, and systemic corruption.

The Night a Shooter Came to My Campus

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 472 implied HN points • 15 Dec 25

🚌 Education Higher education

A shooter came to a college campus and two classmates were killed.
Students were barricaded in dorms during a lockdown, leaving survivors traumatized and struggling to find words.
The day began as a normal Saturday with a packed campus Chabad lunch and final exams underway, showing how quickly ordinary life was shattered.

Canada the Theocracy: How a “Secular” Nation Adopted a State Religion

Heterodox STEM • 241 implied HN points • 11 Jan 26

🎭️ Culture Higher education

Canada is portrayed as having turned social justice into a de facto state religion, with rituals, moral policing, and enforced orthodoxy that resemble the features of a theocracy.
This ideological dominance is said to undermine meritocracy and institutions, harming education, hiring, and long-term prosperity — with examples like non-merit admissions, DEI hiring rules, weak growth projections, and housing shortages.
The proposed remedy is to restore a genuinely secular state that confines government to core functions (safety, borders, institutions) and preserves space for diverse beliefs, debate, and merit-based decision making.

Pre-Class Assignment for Tuesday: 2026-01-27 :: Econ 196 :: Productivity & Technology

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 69 implied HN points • 10 Feb 26

🚌 Education Higher education

The demographic transition radically changed population trajectories: a small change in long-run growth rates produces huge differences in population over centuries, so modern population levels are far higher than they would have been under the old growth regime.
Using capability-specific measures—like photons or lumen-hours for lighting—shows that technological improvements have raised practical living standards far more than conventional real-output or real-wage measures imply.
Measuring prosperity requires both these capability-based metrics and attention to distribution, environment, and nonmarket welfare, and hands-on quantitative exercises (e.g., Python arithmetic) are a powerful way to teach what technology and growth actually mean.

What Did We Expect Would Happen?

The Honest Broker Newsletter • 2365 implied HN points • 18 Jun 25

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Higher education

Over the years, science has become very political in the U.S., with both major parties using it to gain power. This shift means scientists and universities are often seen as part of the political fight instead of neutral sources of knowledge.
Democrats have begun to support science more because it helps their wealthy, educated voters, while Republicans have moved away from it, positioning it as elitist. This division creates a big gap in how each side views scientific authority.
Many scientists have chosen sides in these political battles, which hurts the public's trust in science. The original idea that science benefits everyone, regardless of their political views, has been largely forgotten.

Donald Trump vs. Academia: A War on Science or a Loss of Trust?

Heterodox STEM • 355 implied HN points • 16 Dec 25

🚌 Education Higher education

Public trust in science depends more on shared values and perceived neutrality than on education, and when topics become politicized people often assume scientists are biased and stop trusting them.
Academia has become ideologically one-sided and built large administrative structures like diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that many see as promoting activism over open inquiry and silencing dissent.
Some scientists are pushing back by speaking out, cutting ties with politicized institutions or publishers, and calling for reform or new institutions because they fear silence will erode the integrity of science.

Kristi Noem vs. Harvard: What Their Language Reveals.

Breaking the News • 2616 implied HN points • 26 May 25

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Higher education

Kristi Noem sent a harsh letter to Harvard, canceling its international student visas and making extreme demands. This showed a rude and controlling attitude.
Harvard responded with a detailed legal complaint that emphasized its rights and academic independence. Their defense highlighted that the government's actions were unfair and retaliatory.
A judge quickly ruled in favor of Harvard, granting a temporary order to protect the university from Noem's demands. This showed the importance of following lawful processes in governance.

Quantitative Long-Run Global Economic History: Econ 196: Seminar: Special Topics in Economics (Spring 2026)

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 123 implied HN points • 21 Jan 26

🚌 Education Higher education

The course is a quantitative, long-run tour of global economic history covering everything from early humans and the rise of agriculture to industrialization, globalization, and modern attention/info/biotech economies, with a focus on causes of growth, inequality, and institutions.
The pedagogy stresses hands-on data-science methods—sampling, estimation, forecasting, simulation, and counterfactual modeling—designed to let both humanists and quants learn to model parts of the world economy without prior coding experience.
There are firm expectations: mandatory pre-class readings and a short assignment answering five questions (including on using AI/LLMs), and prompt submission is required to shape the next class session.

Fun, Not Fear: Rebuilding University Assessment for the Machine-Learning Era, & Going Beyond to Modes of Research-Analytical Practice

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 222 implied HN points • 29 Dec 25

🚌 Education Higher education

Use outside-the-class work plus short face-to-face interviews or check-ins to assess students, because oral exams stress-test real understanding and make grading fair even when students have powerful ML tools at hand.
Teach students to use modern advanced machine-learning models as intellectual force multipliers by training them in the seven labors—survey, identify live issues, hone questions, research, analyze, store, and persuade—and by emphasizing provenance, triangulation, and small analytic scaffolds so tools accelerate thinking without replacing it.
Recenter higher education on play and craft: make learning fun and practical by practicing prompting, debugging, oral explanation, and producing reusable artifacts, and budget the extra instructor time needed to do this well.

Is Abigail Spanberger Seeking to Escalate or to De-Escalate Youngkin & Trump's Culture War?

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 130 implied HN points • 17 Jan 26

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Higher education

University trustees should act as a buffer that protects academic independence, not as transmission belts for political agendas, because merit-based assessment and research integrity depend on it.
The governor asked several board members to resign amid concerns that political pressure and donor involvement had steered the board’s actions and compromised its neutrality.
A rushed firing and hurried appointment of university leadership raised legal and procedural questions and risked undermining proper governance and academic freedom.

Universities Are Woefully Under-Resourced For AI Research. They’re Fighting To Change That.

Big Technology • 5129 implied HN points • 22 Nov 24

🕹 Technology Higher education

Universities are struggling to keep up with AI research due to a lack of resources like powerful GPUs and data centers. They can't compete with big tech companies who have millions of these resources.
Most AI research breakthroughs are now coming from private industry, with universities lagging behind. This is causing talented researchers to prefer jobs in the private sector instead.
Some universities are trying to address this issue by forming coalitions and advocating for government support to create shared AI research resources. This could help level the playing field and foster important academic advancements.

Childhood and Education #12: College Admissions

Don't Worry About the Vase • 1433 implied HN points • 30 Jul 25

🚌 Education Higher education

College admissions are often about who can play the game better, rather than just academic achievements. This makes the process feel unfair to many students who meet traditional qualifications.
Writing a college application essay is very different from simply sharing your true self. Many students feel pressured to write what they think admissions officers want to hear, sometimes leading to dishonesty.
The current admissions system rewards conformity and doesn't always recognize exceptional talent. Some students spend their high school years gaming the system instead of focusing on genuine achievements.

Zachary Patterson: University ‘decolonization’ is a threat to academic freedom

Heterodox STEM • 384 implied HN points • 23 Nov 25

🚌 Education Higher education

Universities are adopting decolonization plans that aim to decentre Eurocentric knowledge and cultivate a stated “critical consciousness” across programs, drawing on critical theory and post‑colonial ideas.
Academic freedom and political neutrality are important for universities to act as truth‑seeking institutions, and when a university takes political positions it can make faculty feel less free to teach, research, or comment on opposing views.
Decolonization efforts are presented as rooted in thinkers like Paulo Freire and Frantz Fanon and are portrayed as a neo‑Marxist or radical political approach that could impose an agenda on curriculum, risk public trust, and jeopardize funding.

HOISTED FROM THE ARCHIVES: John Holbo on the Horrible Atrocity of Defending Good Causes Badly!

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 192 implied HN points • 28 Dec 25

🎭️ Culture Higher education

Noticing microaggressions, using people’s chosen pronouns, and acknowledging white privilege aren’t just trendy buzzwords—these practices address real harms and deserve empathy and thought.
Even when a cause is right, defending it badly or with clumsy arguments makes it look foolish or threatening, so critics should engage the actual context and stakes instead of caricaturing opponents.
People’s life stories and career frustrations shape how they react to accusations of privilege, so calling someone ‘privileged’ without nuance can provoke resentment and shut down useful conversation.

How to Get Rid of a Tenured Professor

The Honest Broker Newsletter • 4249 implied HN points • 16 Dec 24

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Higher education

Universities are becoming more politicized, making it harder for professors to speak freely. Many faculty feel they can't express their opinions without fear of backlash or discipline.
Tenured professors can face significant challenges, including administrative pressure and hostile work environments. This can happen despite their experience and achievements.
Academic freedom is at risk when universities prioritize political agendas over teaching and research. When that's the case, it often leads to a lack of support for diverse viewpoints.

Claudine Gay's Dishonorable Discharge

Glenn Loury • 1884 implied HN points • 16 Jan 24

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Higher education

The charges of plagiarism against Claudine Gay were serious enough to merit her removal, despite other motivations behind the campaign against her.
The appointment of high-ranking officials, especially in historical positions like Harvard President, should prioritize qualifications over symbolic representation.
Habitual plagiarism can undermine a leader's credibility and position, regardless of race, and institutions should uphold standards of integrity and merit.

Behind the $221 Million Columbia Antisemitism Deal

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1293 implied HN points • 25 Jul 25

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Higher education

Columbia University is paying $21 million to settle claims of antisemitism on campus. Many Jewish faculty, staff, and students can get payouts because of this issue.
The settlement is the largest of its kind by the EEOC and highlights serious problems that Jewish people faced at Columbia, like feeling unsafe and being discriminated against.
There's uncertainty about whether this deal will lead to real changes at Columbia to prevent antisemitism in the future. People are concerned if these actions will change the campus environment for the better.

Exclusive: Princeton Student Accused of Assault at Pro-Palestine Protest Sues for ‘Incredible Betrayal’

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1080 implied HN points • 30 Jul 25

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Higher education

A Princeton student, David Piegaro, was involved in a chaotic pro-Palestine protest and claims he was wrongfully accused of assault after being shoved down the stairs by a safety officer.
After he was arrested at the protest, Piegaro was found not guilty of all charges by a judge who believed his actions were not reckless.
Piegaro has now filed a lawsuit against Princeton University and the officer, arguing his rights were violated and that he was treated unfairly compared to other students involved in the same incident.

Burn Down the Admissions System

Persuasion • 2358 implied HN points • 30 Jun 23

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Higher education

The end of affirmative action could lead to a crucial change in the flawed admissions system.
Elite colleges might exploit loopholes to maintain unjust practices like legacy admissions, donor preferences, and subjective personal statements.
The personal statement component of admissions can perpetuate privilege, as it is subjective and prone to manipulation, undermining the fairness of the system.

Affirmative Action's Demise and Higher Education

Glenn’s Substack • 2260 implied HN points • 29 Jun 23

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Higher education

The Supreme Court ruling against Harvard and UNC impacts diversity and affirmative action practices in higher education.
The Court previously deferred to universities on the compelling interest of diversity, but now requires limits within the constitution.
Higher education's declining reputation may lead to less favorable treatment in the judiciary system.

Protests and Civil Disobedience in Totalitarian Regimes and in Democracies

Heterodox STEM • 227 implied HN points • 09 Dec 25

🚌 Education Higher education

Protests under totalitarian regimes are often the only way to expose injustice and carry severe personal risk, while in democracies protest is protected but should be exercised without disrupting core civic and institutional processes.
The 2024 campus protests were described as deliberately disruptive and at times intimidating or violent, with vandalism and little accountability for participants and insufficient enforcement by university administrations.
Universities should protect learning and research by enforcing clear time, place, and manner rules, applying consistent, content-neutral sanctions for violations, and educating students in democratic civic engagement to avoid outside intervention.

On Earning Trust: The Case for the Social Sciences

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 199 implied HN points • 13 Dec 25

🚌 Education Higher education

Universities must earn public trust by being institutionally trustworthy: fix internal monocultures and focus teaching on real, demonstrable skills that give students access to useful knowledge.
The true ‘super‑intelligence’ is the five‑millennia corpus of human ideas, and modern text‑processing systems are valuable mainly as translators or front ends to curated knowledge rather than infallible oracles.
Education should train people to connect to, interpret, and extend the collective human mind by teaching durable methods, literacies, Popperian testability, and epistemic humility while updating practical skills for new media.

Resisting the Politicization of Science

Heterodox STEM • 199 implied HN points • 14 Dec 25

🔬 Science Higher education

Science must stay independent from politics and ideology, with research, publication, and recognition judged by scientific merit rather than identity or political alignment.
Threats to scientific independence come from multiple directions—both activist pressures within academia and political or governmental interference can undermine research integrity.
Researchers and institutions should defend norms like rigorous peer review, open inquiry, unbiased evaluation, and autonomy in funding and education to preserve science’s reliability and universality.

Affirmative Action Thoughts in an Inelegant List Format

Freddie deBoer • 12964 implied HN points • 29 Jun 23

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Higher education

Race-conscious admissions in universities are okay under reparations for slavery, not just for diversity.
The existing system discriminates against Asian applicants and elite colleges are a small part of higher education.
Affirmative action deepens inequality within the Black community and the purpose of education has contradictory goals.

Meritocracy, elite overproduction, and a new ruling class

Not On Your Team, But Always Fair • 2004 implied HN points • 23 Jul 23

🚌 Education Higher education

Meritocracy can lead to a new ruling class that values academic achievements over other forms of innovation.
Higher education expansion has not necessarily led to a more skilled workforce or societal benefit.
Elite overproduction can fuel resentment and drive cultural and political tensions in society.

EXCLUSIVE: Israeli Researcher Says Stanford Shunned and Sabotaged Him After Hamas Attack

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 969 implied HN points • 10 Jul 25

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Higher education

An Israeli researcher, Shay Laps, claims he faced discrimination and sabotage at Stanford after the Hamas attack in October 2023. He believes his treatment was linked to his Jewish and Israeli background.
Laps's lawsuit alleges that his research was tampered with and that an investigation against him was falsely created. This has raised serious concerns about how antisemitism is handled at Stanford.
Despite Stanford's insistence that they addressed the allegations, they acknowledged a wider issue of antisemitism and bias on campus, especially among Jewish students and faculty.

Deep Knowledge, and Three Ways to Get There

Human Programming • 51 implied HN points • 05 Feb 26

🚌 Education Higher education

Deep knowledge combines lasting, rigorous ideas with true, detailed understanding instead of shallow, trendy consumption.
People reach deep knowledge in different ways — sustained reading and practice, formal academic training and mentorship, or interdisciplinary applied work — but all involve lots of reading, writing, and hands-on experience.
To build deep knowledge, pick subjects that feel solid and meaningful, find communities or mentors, and be willing to commit years of focused study and practical work rather than quick browsing.

Academia’s most notorious thought criminals unite to discuss controversial topics

Heterodox STEM • 192 implied HN points • 04 Dec 25

🚌 Education Higher education

A group of academics urged open, uncensored debate on taboo or controversial topics, arguing that free discussion is needed to challenge prevailing campus norms.
They criticized a strong egalitarian and cultural-relativist mindset, saying it can block honest inquiry about human differences and raise real concerns about cultural compatibility and assimilation.
Universities were described as facing a crisis of protests, weak leadership, and mission drift, prompting debate over whether outside pressure or government leverage is necessary despite potential harms to international students and STEM.

Taking Institutional Neutrality Seriously on Campus

The Honest Broker Newsletter • 1050 implied HN points • 27 May 25

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Higher education

Neutrality in universities sounds good but is hard to achieve in reality. It can lead to messy situations where it's unclear what position is acceptable or not.
Some universities have shifted towards being more politically active, which can hurt their public support. People want universities to serve all views, not just those of a few.
The way universities handle controversial topics needs strong leadership. It’s important for leaders to find a balance between being neutral and supporting necessary public health or social issues.

Universiteten välkomnar en viss sorts politisk aktivism

Rak höger med Ivar Arpi • 707 implied HN points • 01 Feb 24

🌍 World Politics Higher education

Universities are selective in addressing challenges to academic freedom, with instances of cancel culture being omitted in responses.
There is a discrepancy between how universities present academic freedom and the actual management of challenges and controversies within academic institutions.
Some universities tend to prioritize certain ideologies and political activism, creating tensions around issues like cancel culture and academic freedom.

Partisan Professors

The Honest Broker Newsletter • 2129 implied HN points • 02 Dec 24

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Higher education

Most university professors in the U.S. lean politically to the left, showing a big shift from past diversity in beliefs. This can limit students' exposure to different viewpoints.
The lack of political diversity among faculty may lead to a bias in research and teaching, which is bad for education. It can also prevent new ideas from being discussed and evaluated.
Many people believe universities have become too political, which affects public trust in these institutions. This growing gap between academia and the general public is concerning.

How Universities Went Off Track

The Honest Broker Newsletter • 2051 implied HN points • 08 Dec 24

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Higher education

Many people are losing trust in universities, especially conservatives and working-class folks. The political views of university staff are mostly leaning left, making this trust fall even more.
Changes in society are pushing universities to be more politically involved. They need to show how their research benefits society, which can lead to more advocacy instead of just education.
There is pressure within universities to support certain political ideas, which can stifle open discussions. A lot of people feel they can’t speak up if they don’t share the same views as the majority.

Oh Man — Imagine If Universities Were Politically Biased In Their Hiring

Singal-Minded • 618 implied HN points • 14 Jul 25

🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Higher education

Universities often lack conservative ideas, and there are calls for more political diversity among professors and students. This can help students see different perspectives.
However, hiring based on political views might create pressure to stick to those views. This could lead to closed-mindedness instead of open discussions.
There's evidence that universities, especially in liberal arts, have favorited liberal views in hiring. This creates challenges for those with conservative opinions trying to enter academia.