Education
Biden Forgives Almost $40 Billion in Student Loans
The spate of forgiveness reconciles administrative errors when carrying out changes to income-driven repayment plans.
Texas A&M's Treatment of Journalism Director Raises Academic Freedom Concerns
Political appointees should have no role in faculty hiring decisions.
Can Biden Still Forgive Student Debt?
Biden wants to use the Higher Education Act of 1965 to forgive student loans. But that plan has major issues.
Legacy Preferences, Citizenship, Migration, and the Implications of a Constitutional Ban on Hereditary Privilege
Some scholars and commentators argue that legacy preferences at public universities are unconstitutional because they are a form of hereditary privilege. If so, the same is likely true of the far more consequential hereditary privilege of citizenship that severely restricts the right to live and work in the United States.
Affirmative Action Is Racist and Therefore Wrong
If activists want to help young people, they should start before college.
Confidence in Higher Education Reaches New Low
According to Gallup, those with a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in higher education has declined 21 points since 2015.
Biden's Changes to Income-Based Student Loan Repayment Could Cost Billions
Biden plans to slash minimum monthly payments to just 5 percent of borrowers' income.
After Legal Threats, Uvalde School District Lifts Ban on Parent Who Criticized Police Hire
Adam Martinez was banned from school property after he criticized the district's decision to hire an officer deemed "ineligible for rehire" by the local sheriff's office.
'Mamas for DeSantis' Is Proof: The DeSantis Campaign Is Too Online
Casey DeSantis' "Mamas for DeSantis" ad goes all in on the culture war instead of focusing on Ron DeSantis' strong record on school choice and COVID policy.
NYC Lawyer Dmitriy Shakhnevich Interviews Me on Wide Range of Law and Policy Issues
Topics covered include affirmative action, legacy preferences, the student loan forgiveness decision, refugee policy, indictments against Trump, Vladimir Putin, political ignorance, and more.
My New Washington Examiner Article on the Supreme Court's Ruling on Racial Preferences in College Admissions
The article assesses strengths and weaknesses of the Court's decision, and what it will take to implement Chief Justice Roberts' admonition that "[e]liminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it."
What it Will Take to Make Government Color-Blind
Achieving this goal will require a lot more than banning racial preferences in college admissions. That includes some measures that will make the political right uncomfortable, as well as the left.
A Loss for Academic Freedom in the Fourth Circuit
Is "intramural" professorial speech protected by the First Amendment?
This 80-Year-Old Supreme Court Case Offers Hope for Teachers Who Think DEI Has Gone Too Far
Teachers are citing West Virginia v. Barnette to protect their right not to be compelled to say something they disagree with.
Pennsylvania's Democratic Governor Is Threatening To Veto His Own School Voucher Plan
Josh Shapiro campaigned on a promise to increase funding for schools and expand school choice. Only one of those two things made it into the state budget.
Is This the End of the Ivy League Nepo Baby?
A new complaint argues that legacy admissions violate the Civil Rights Act.
Did the Supreme Court Roll Back Gay Rights and Civil Rights?
Join Reason on YouTube and Facebook Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern for a live discussion of the Court's recent rulings on affirmative action and same-sex wedding services.
Three Cheers for the Supreme Court
Plus: A listener question on the potential efficacy of congressional term limits.
UCLA Declined To Hire a Professor After Students Denounced His Mild DEI Criticism
"We are adamant that the hiring committee...not extend a job offer to Dr. Yoel Inbar," reads the petition.
Despite SCOTUS Smackdown, Biden Will Still Extract Billions From Taxpayers for Student Loans
Biden's proposed income-driven repayment plan could still cost taxpayers billions. And it will likely raise tuition too.
The Case for Abolishing Legacy Preferences in College Admissions
They probably aren't illegal under current law. But they are nonetheless wrong for many of the same reasons as racial preferences.
Joe Biden's Incoherent Student Loan Logic
Plus: Fewer cops, less crime; free beer; and more....
The Irony of Department of Education v. Brown - the Other Student Loan Forgiveness Case Decided by the Supreme Court Yesterday
The Court unanimously ruled the plaintiffs in that case lacked standing. But they might end up getting what they wanted more fully than anyone else involved in the legal battle over student loan forgiveness.
My CNN Article on "Why the Supreme Court Got it Right on Student Loans"
The article goes over the main reasons why the Court's decision was justified.
Biden Says He Will try to do Student Loan Forgiveness Under the Higher Education Act of 1965
The administration will try this pathway as an alternative to the HEROES Act of 2003, which pathway was shut down by today's Supreme Court decision.
Justice Barrett's Textualist Defense of the Major Questions Doctrine
In today's student loan decision, Justice Barrett offers a textualist rationale for this controversial rule. I have made similar arguments myself.
Supreme Court Rules Against Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Plan
The Court ruled the plan is illegal, and that at least one plaintiff (the state of Missouri) has standing.
Thoughts on the Supreme Court's Ruling in the Harvard and UNC Racial Preferences Cases
A preliminary assessment of today's decisions. The majority rightly struck a blow against the use of racial preferences for purposes of advancing "diversity" in education. But there are some flaws in its reasoning.
Of Course Legacy Admissions Should Follow Affirmative Action to the Grave
There is no reason for public universities to grant preferential treatment to the scions of their alumni.
Supreme Court on Affirmative Action: 'Eliminating Racial Discrimination Means Eliminating All of It'
In a 6–3 decision, the Court ruled that race-based affirmative action in college admissions violates the 14th Amendment.
Fearmongering Won't Solve Climate Change
Global warming is an issue. But there are other pressing problems that deserve the world's attention.
New Test Data Show That COVID School Closures Rapidly Accelerated U.S. Learning Losses
Nearly two years after most children returned to the classroom, educational losses continue to grow.
Can a Florida School District Ban a Children's Book About Gay Penguins?
The answer's more complicated than you might think.
Can Republicans Fix Student Debt?
Unlike Democrats, Senate and House Republicans have released proposals that would actually tackle the root causes of increasing student loan debt.
How America's Growing Diversity Weakens the Case for Racial Preferences in Education
Affirmative action becomes harder to defend when it entails discrimination against a variety of racial and ethnic minority groups.
Online Learning During COVID-19 Linked With Lower Test Scores
A new study has found that the more schools kept kids online, the worse their pass rates on state standardized tests were.
Did NYC Schools Retaliate Against Parents Who Asked Too Many Questions?
Parents of disabled children say the schools filed false neglect reports against them.
Firing a Professor for 'Left-Wing' Views Is Unconstitutional
But Chris Rufo bragged about breaking the law anyway.
The SPLC Is Massively Overcounting 'Hate' Groups—and It's Not Just Moms for Liberty
At this rate, the Southern Poverty Law Center's notorious hate map might eventually describe everyone as an extremist.
Academic Freedom Alliance Statement on Mayo Clinic
Doctor sanctioned for comments to journalists about transgender athletes
The Student Loan Pause Has Made Borrowers Worse Off
A new working paper finds that borrowers whose loan payments were paused actually had more debt at the end of 2021 than those whose loans were never paused.
How School Choice Can Mitigate Harmful Culture War Policies in Public Education
Current culture wars are just one more manifestation of the reality that public education routinely devolves into indoctrination and imposition of majoritarian ideology on dissenters. But school choice can help mitigate that problem.
Should Libertarians Be Noncombatants in the Pride Wars?
Plus: A listener question considers the pros and cons of the libertarian focus on political processes rather than political results.
