“There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.” Happy birthday to Gore Vidal (1925-2012)
Larry Ladd
@larryladd.bsky.social
Helping colleges, universities, and other not-for-profit organizations become more successful.
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” Happy birthday to Mohandas Gandhi.
Pathways programs like this one are good for students and good for the institutions that create them.
CCRI and URI announce new RN-to-BS program
The Community College of Rhode Island and the University of Rhode Island announced a new, fully remote registered nurse to Bachelor of Science program.
turnto10.com
"Black, Native American & Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students were more likely than other groups to stop out before completing a credential; with more than half of associate and certificate completers and one-third of bachelor’s degree completers from these groups stopping out at least once."
Who Pays the Price When College Students Stop Out?
New research shows that stopping out lengthens the path to a credential—and that the burden falls unevenly across racial and income groups.
theeduledger.com
"Everyone gets a trophy!" A tour of college websites shows that even the weakest colleges can and do spin their rankings to make themselves look spectacular.
How Colleges Spin Rankings Outcomes
Every outcome in the U.S. News rankings seemed to be good news this year according to a wave of press releases that touted how well colleges performed—even in cases where they slipped.
insidehighered.com
"The aim should be to change the social environments in which sexual violence is ignored, if not enabled. That responsibility belongs to us — and especially to male students." editorial from The Harvard Crimson.
It Takes a Campus To Change a Culture | The Harvard Crimson
It’s easy to merely believe sexual assault is wrong, balking at the horror of the news from Cornell. But actual change requires refusing to treat misogyny, coercion, or predatory conduct as simply par...
thecrimson.com
“A long-term vision beyond one generation is necessary to build truly sustainable enterprises.” theconversation.com/what-gandhi-...
What Gandhi believed is the purpose of a corporation
Although Gandhi is best known for expelling the British from India and inspiring the likes of King and Mandela, he also wrote a lot about the behavior of good business leaders.
theconversation.com
“Men are wise in proportion, not to their experience, but to their capacity for experience.” -George Bernard Shaw
“By leadership we mean the art of getting someone else to do something that you want done because he wants to do it." - Dwight D. Eisenhower
Students who have some college but never completed their degrees remain one of the biggest opportunities for colleges and universities. There are 43 million of them!
Morgan State Expands Focus on Adult Learners Through $800,000 Scholarship Grant
The Baltimore HBCU has expanded degree-completion pathways, flexible programs and financial support for students returning to college after time away.
theeduledger.com
There's financial sustainability and then there's environmental sustainability. Congratulations to Oberlin College on its long path to implementing a campus-wide geothermal system!
Oberlin project shows path to implementing geothermal system
The college used climate bonds to finance a geothermal heating and cooling system on its campus.
highereddive.com
“There is always more goodness in the world than there appears to be, because goodness is of its very nature modest and retiring.” -Happy birthday to Evelyn Beatrice Hall (1868-1956)
The fading of computer science as a popular major is just more evidence that a college education should be "learning how to keep learning" more than about any particular major or specialty.
As the coding boom fades, computer science grads focus on AI skills in choppy job market
It's a difficult job market for new graduates, especially in fields like software development where artificial intelligence is shouldering more of the work.
apnews.com
Yet another way that the system is rigged in favor of unearned privilege. For success in an academic career, "the disadvantage of being a first-generation college graduate could be even greater than the disadvantages associated with being female or nonwhite."
The Working Class Face a ‘Class Ceiling’ in Elite Occupations
Being female or a person of color has long been seen as a disadvantage in hiring and promotion. A new study of college professors shows that class may loom as large.
nytimes.com
Alumni of the "elite" universities remain loyal to them, the political attacks notwithstanding. One indicator is ongoing financial support.
Amid budget cuts, Princeton Annual Giving campaign raises second-highest amount in history
Princeton’s Annual Giving campaign raised $79.6 million in 2025–26, its second-highest total ever, even as alumni participation continued to decline amid broader University budget uncertainty.
dailyprincetonian.com
“A bad system will beat a good person every time.” W. Edwards Deming
My favorite is "#6. Shift from differentiating values to shared values. Differentiating values are what make people passionate about an idea, but shared values create entry points for people to join your cause," greg-satell.medium.com/10-principle...
10 Principles for Transformational Change
Any significant change always inspires fierce resistance and we need to overcome that resistance to bring change about.
greg-satell.medium.com
“Being oppressed means the absence of choices” Happy birthday to bell hooks (1952-2021). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_ho...
bell hooks - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
One hundred years ago today, Ford Motor Company became one of the first companies in America to adopt a five-day, 40-hour week for workers in its automotive factories. www.businessinsider.com/history-of-t...
Maryland considers a bill incentivizing the 4-day workweek. Here's how the 5-day workweek became so popular in the first place.
Experiments around four-day workweeks are gaining traction, with the latest push in Maryland. It signals a shift in how some view the traditional work week.
businessinsider.com
The Federal government comes to the defense of white privilege.
The colleges facing DOJ accusations of racial discrimination in admissions
The University of California, San Francisco is the latest institution to be targeted by the Trump administration over such allegations.
highereddive.com
When politicians try to directly manage internal university matters, you get a lot of controversy and grandstanding but you don't get any results.
Faculty Advisers Resign After Call for Iowa Civics Center ‘Reset’
Eleven members of the Center for Intellectual Freedom’s Advisory Council stepped down this week. It’s the latest birth pang for such entities, which are created by Republican lawmakers and boards at p...
insidehighered.com
On this day in 1962 the U.S. court of appeals ordered the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith, who became the university's first Black student.
“We are a nation in which laws, not men, are supreme.” Today in 1957 President Eisenhower addressed the nation to say he was sending Federal troops to Little Rock to enforce court desegregation orders. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzT5...
60 Years Ago: Pres. Eisenhower on Little Rock School Integration 9-24-1957
YouTube video by C-SPAN
youtube.com
The exodus of highly marketable faculty continues. Not many will go, but those that do will be among the best.
Three Harvard Researchers Leave for Canadian Universities Amid Funding Struggles | The Harvard Crimson
Three current and former Harvard researchers are heading north to Canadian universities as part of a sweeping $1.21 billion government effort to recruit top academic talent, with two citing instabilit...
thecrimson.com
“'It has no meaning unless you’re looking solely for cocktail party banter, if you’re looking to brag: ‘My child is going to a college that U.S. News says is number one,' said Larry Ladd, a college finance expert and former Harvard budget officer."
MIT claims top spot in U.S. News rankings of national colleges - The Boston Globe
This year marks the 42nd edition of the report, which evaluates about 1,700 institutions, and it arrives during a tumultuous time for many of them.
bostonglobe.com
Sarah de Rijcke, the Rector of the University of Leiden, offers six principles of academic freedom at a time when it is misunderstood and under assault. My favorite: "Protect questions that have value that cannot be shown in advance."
Six principles for supporting academic freedom in universities
Many academics are concerned about threats to independent enquiry in higher education. Here’s how it can be protected while taking legitimate concerns into account.
nature.com
“Children are not a zoo of entertainingly exotic creatures, but an array of mirrors in which the human predicament leaps out at us. ” John Updike
You may think that because you say something, people will hear it as you intended. That's often not the case. medium.com/@gregg_20584...
Why Strategy Dies In The Gap Between What Leaders Say And What Organizations Hear
Just because a meeting goes well doesn’t mean that the content was translated properly by every manager in the chain. Some in your team may…
medium.com
Harvard must be doing something right. "During the meeting, Mr. Trump repeatedly complained about his administration’s failure to bring Harvard University in particular to heel."
White House Moves to Take Control of N.I.H. Grants
Federal officials are drafting an executive order that would place grants under review by an outside panel, the latest effort to redirect billions of dollars in research spending.
nytimes.com