Where Do America’s Colleges Go From Here?

Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Overcast | Pocket Casts On August 3, Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a letter to states and higher-education leaders with instructions to, as McMahon put it, “describe to the American public your commitments to rigorous teaching, pathbreaking research, and national service—commitments that make our universities a bedrock institution of the American republic.” A request like that would be simple enough if not for the history between the Trump administration and higher education—a relationship that can fairly be described as antagonistic.

Case in point: last year’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” which critics from across the political spectrum argued effectively asked colleges to compromise academic freedom in exchange for privileged, if vague, access to federal funds.

There’s also the suite of federal investigations targeting diversity programs on college campuses.

Questioning colleges is normal.

There are outstanding concerns about the experience, the education, and the enterprise of higher education: How much does it cost , and is that more than families can pay ? Who gets in , and why? Are faculty members treated with dignity? What is college even for? So, although college leaders argue that a few of the concerns voiced in the document are legitimate, they also see within it the bane of Ilium .

Read: A deal that would end universities’ independence On this week’s Radio Atlantic, I’m joined by Jack Stripling, the host of the College Matters podcast at The Chronicle of Higher Education , to consider higher education in the Trump era, and the purpose of college itself.

I also go back into the Atlantic archives to look at a debate between W.

E.

B.

Du Bois and Booker T.

Washington over their theories of advancement for Black people, and how it should inform our thinking about colleges today.

The following is a transcript of the episode: Jack Stripling: We keep talking about the politics, but when people are saying I don’t know if college is worth it , they’re usually saying I don’t know if it’s worth the money, not I don’t know if it’s worth risking meeting a liberal person.

Adam Harris: This is Radio Atlantic .

I’m Adam Harris, and around the country millions of students are getting ready to head back to school, if they’re not already in class.