Higher education’s perfect storm is becoming a tsunami
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The war between Israel and Hamas has divided college campuses like no other issue in recent memory. Student walk-outs, vigils and protests, along with sharp increases in antisemitism and Islamophobia, have left many students feeling unsafe, have outraged parents and have prompted harsh public criticism of what many see as tepid responses from university leaders.
Student arrests at Dartmouth, violence at Tulane, threats to destroy the kosher dining hall at Cornell, dueling faculty letters at Columbia, donor revolts at the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, and elsewhere, doxing campaigns against student activists, employer warnings, and rescissions of job offers are fueling the fire.
The latest in a series of crises, the Israel-Hamas war is turning a perfect storm for colleges and universities into a tsunami. In polls taken before October, only 36 percent of Americans said they have confidence in higher education, down from 57 percent in 2015. A majority think higher education isn’t worth the time and money; two years ago, almost 60 percent thought it was. Student debt totals $1.75 trillion, up 75 percent in the last 10 years. Most Americans think higher education is unaffordable and is going in the wrong direction.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/higher-education-s-perfect-storm-is-becoming-a-tsunami/ar-AA1jNvdu?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=9a90d8c4d166414fa4b90f0ee9ec52dc&ei=32