Articles and Opinions
Strings Attached: The Dangerous Bargain Between Washington and the Universities
By Kazem Kazerounian, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Connecticut
The standoff between the White House and America’s leading universities has entered new territory. Earlier this month, the Trump administration sent letters to a dozen major universities proposing what it called a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” The offer seemed generous on pa...
Opinion: Invisible but Essential: The Struggles of Adjunct Faculty and the Power of Collective Action
Name Withheld at Author’s Request...
The Brainwashing of Academia: How Ideological Homogenization Undermined Higher Education
By Julian Archer, PhD, Professor of Engineering Sciences
Foreword: In this essay I explore a deeply concerning transformation within American academia—one that has quietly shifted universities away from their core missions of objective inquiry and truth-seeking. Using the metaphor of academia as society’s intellectual mind, I argue that ideological confor...
Student Guest Column: Atrophying Academia: Effects of AI Use in College
By Name Withheld at Author’s Request: a rising sophomore at a public research university.
Identity, institutional affiliation, and conflicts of interest have been verified by the editors....
Developing News
Princeton University Art Museum Opens in Jaw-Dropping New Architect-Designed Facility
PRINCETON, NJ - November 4, 2025 Princeton University Art Museum has officially opened its ambitious new home: a 146,000-square-foot building at the heart of campus designed by Sir David Adjaye’s firm in collaboration with Cooper Robertson....
Explosion at Harvard Medical School Raises Safety Concerns on Boston Campus
BOSTON, MA - November 4, 2025 An intentionally set explosion rattled the 4th floor of the Goldenson Building on the Longwood campus of Harvard Medical School early Saturday morning, prompting a federal-state law-enforcement response and stoking concerns over security at academic research institution...
University of Alaska Faculty Unions Urge Regents to Reject Trump-Era Higher Ed Compact
ANCHORAGE, AK - November 3 2025 Faculty unions representing instructors, graduate workers, and adjuncts across the University of Alaska System (UA) have delivered a petition to the system’s Board of Regents, urging it not to sign the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education proposed by th...
George Mason University’s Adoption of IHRA Definition Draws Free-Speech Challenge
FAIRFAX, FA - October 29, 2025 George Mason University (GMU) is facing possible legal action after its removal of a student-posted video, citing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) “working definition” of antisemitism — a decision that has ignited debate over academic freedom an...
The Lighter Side
Elusive pursuit of research funding
Woke, Broke, and Tenured: A Survival Guide to Campus Politics
Congratulations, professor. You’ve made it. You have a PhD, a shared printer that jams on sight, and a title that sounds prestigious until someone asks your salary and you whisper, “...commensurate with despair.”...
The Battle of Cambridge: Trump vs. Harvard, Now With Extra Popcorn
If you thought “Godzilla vs. Kong” was an epic clash, brace yourself: former-and-maybe-future President Donald Trump has picked a fight with Harvard University, the 388-year-old grandparent of American academia. The Yard suddenly feels less like “Dead Poets Society” and more like “Money in the Bank,...
Academic Unplugged: Surviving the Hilarious Chaos of University Life
Welcome to academia - the only place where coffee is a recognized food group, sleep is a myth, and arguing passionately about footnotes is considered socially acceptable. Universities are quirky microcosms brimming with intellectual debates, caffeine overdoses, and unexplainable optimism in the face...
