JUST A DAMN MINUTE!!

As though it was not sufficient to take Woke away, and support charter schools and halt affirmative action funds–many of which have been continuing from the past (as at O.U.)–and snip at universities’ freedom of speech and lower teachers’ standards and threaten to wipe out the national Board of Education (see Trump’s plans) and move toward putting chaplains in some public schools [see Florida] but a number of colleges are closing, nationwide. Higher education was experiencing financial challenges even before the pandemic, from dwindling enrollment to rising tuition to doubts about the value of a degree. Colleges are losing room and board revenue and associated fees, and even facing lawsuits from angry families demanding tuition refunds. The core product — teaching and learning — has come under attack for dubious quality (and more recently for attacks on student’s and professors’s freedom of speech). –See at least Ohio’s manipulative actions. Higher education is indeed in crisis,

According to surveys, nearly half (45%) of US companies plan to eliminate bachelor’s degree requirements for some roles in 2024. This follows a significant trend in 2023, where 55% of companies already did away with degree requirements. According to surveys, nearly half (45%) of US companies plan to eliminate bachelor’s degree requirements for some roles in 2024. This follows a significant trend in 2023, where 55% of companies already did away with degree requirements.

About one university or college per week so far this year, on average, has announced that it will close or merge. That’s up from a little more than two a month last year, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, or SHEEO. Recently closed or planning to close colleges and universities, plus cutting back positions or merging, include: Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama, Fontbonne University in St. Louis and Eastern Gateway Community College in Ohio all announced that they would close — Birmingham-Southern in May, Fontbonne next year and Eastern Gateway by June, unless it gets a financial bailout. The private, for-profit University of Antelope Valley in California was ordered by the state in late February to shut down because of financial shortfalls. Lincoln Christian University in Illinois and Magdalen College in New Hampshire will close in May, Johnson University of Florida in June and Hodges University in Florida by August. The College of Saint Rose in New York, Cabrini University in Pennsylvania, Oak Point University in Illinois, Goddard College in Vermont and the Staten Island campus of St. John’s University will all be shuttered by the end of this semester. Notre Dame College in Ohio will also close its doors at the end of this semester, stranding for a second time students who transferred there from Alderson Broaddus University in West Virginia, which shut down just days before classes were scheduled to begin the year before. —

AND…Maybe it sounded like a good idea to some, but after Florida’s governor moved to allow chaplains in Florida’s public schools, the Satanic Temple asked to be included….(Miami Herald).

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ANNOUNCEMENT: I am seven years older than Biden. Personally, I can’t understand why he wants the job. I don’t, thank you very much.