Democracy Works15 Dec 2025

Troubling times for higher education and democracy

We end this season where we started — a conversation about higher education and democracy. This time, Michael Berkman, McCourtney Institute for Democracy director and professor of political science at Penn State, sits down with Brad Vivian, professor of communication arts and sciences at Penn State and author of Campus Misinformation: The Real Threat to Free Speech in American Higher Education.

Berkman and Vivian discuss the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, a proposal issued to several universities by the Trump administration earlier this fall. The compact offers benefits like increased access to federal grants and contracts and priority handling of student visas in exchange for changes in admission practices, a commitment to institutional neutrality, and other demands. Vivan outlines how the compact goes against many of the core values in higher education and what make universities an essential part of American democracy.

Beyond the compact, Berkman and Vivian also talk about how education might be a contributing factor in America's growing political divide and how university faculty and leadership should think about this divide.

This is our final episode of the year. We will be back with new episodes in January. From our entire team, happy holidays and we'll see you in 2026!

Mentioned in this episode:

Why I'm Excited About the White House's Proposal for a Higher Ed Compact - Danielle Allen
Polarized by Degrees: How the Diploma Divide and the Culture War Transformed American Politics - Matt Grossmann and David A. Hopkins

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