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Kathryn Palmer
Inside Higher Ed
Excerpt: A $10,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services is allowing a tribal college in northern Michigan to continue offering library services during a building renovation. The IMLS, which is the largest federal funding source for U.S. museums and libraries, also awarded a historically Black university in Virginia $52,000 to digitize an archival collection about the women’s college it absorbed in 1932. And an academic researcher in Florida is counting on a $150,000 grant to help school librarians better support students who are autistic.
But as of last week, those and hundreds of other federally funded programs at museums and libraries—many housed at cash-strapped colleges and universities—are in jeopardy.
Vimal Patel
New York Times
Excerpt: The University of California said on Wednesday that it would stop requiring the use of diversity statements in hiring, a practice praised by some who said it made campuses more inclusive but criticized by others who said it did the opposite.
Nicole Barbaro Simovski, Ph.D.
Free the Inquiry
Excerpt: Diversity statements started to be commonly required for applications for university faculty positions starting in the 2010s. These statements—often one- to two-page essays detailing a candidate's commitment to advancing diversity, enquiry, and inclusion goals in their academic work—have been a fierce topic of debate. On the extremes, one side sees diversity statements as simply asking faculty candidates to demonstrate how they advance the university’s values. The other side sees them as thinly veiled ideological filters in hiring.
Jane Johnson
December 08, 2023
The comments from various representatives of the higher ed industry provide useful insights to their reactions. Some sound defensive of the three university presidents whose responses to congressional questioning are less than satisfying, but it is surely too early to predict where this episode will take us. No one really knows for sure where the dividing line is between free speech and hate speech. So right now it looks as if there may be backlash to the recent clamoring for free speech and more teeth-gnashing over hate speech. Where the middle ground may ultimately fall is anyone’s guess at this time. The 1st Amendment is a vital part of our Constitution, and it’s being severely tested at this point in our history.