The Education of Higher Education

Watch all of the day’s interviews:

The Trump administration’s funding threats aren’t the only issue colleges and universities are facing. There’s also rising antisemitism on campus, and challenges in managing student free speech and demonstrations. What is the future of research without government grants and funding? How will the courts adjudicate these issues? The Justice Department is also taking specific aim at multiple universities over international student visas, claims of antisemitism, anti-D.E.I. investigations, and trans athletes and Title IX policy. Americans now have $1.8 trillion in cumulative student debt. Administrative costs continue to rise. Are Americans’ value systems changing toward education, and how?

And the bigger question: What do universities’ leaders believe the education they provide is for? What and how are universities contributing to society today? Is there a crisis of faith in our educational system? Universities can be rigid systems. Are they capable of responding to valid criticisms? What do they believe needs to change, and how are they working toward those ends?

And as we examine the future of work — and A.I. in particular on the cusp of transforming the entry-level work force — what does the work force of the next generation look like, and how are universities preparing their students?

Panelists: Carmen Twillie Ambar, president of Oberlin College and Conservatory; Sian Leah Beilock, president of Dartmouth; Ron Daniels, president of Johns Hopkins University; Daniel Diermeier, chancellor of Vanderbilt University; James Harris, president of the University of San Diego; John B. King, chancellor of the State University of New York and former U.S. secretary of education; Jonathan Levin, president of Stanford University

Moderator: Jodi Kantor, investigative reporter at The New York Times

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