Policy & Research

The Education Department has chosen to dismiss the higher education community’s previously expressed concerns about the new reporting requirements for foreign gifts and contracts, releasing a new reporting portal on June 22. The first deadline under the new system is July 31.

Teaching during the pandemic is demonstrating that the challenges from COVID-19 go beyond the drastic health and economic consequences we are confronting—they are also social. The primary lesson is simple: in a time of physical distancing, social solidarity is more important than ever.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many faculty and campus leaders have begun working together in new ways, unlocking a new capacity for collaboration and innovation that we did not know we had. How can we keep this sense of common purpose after the crisis passes?

Moving towards equity takes care, patience, transparency, and community. In this post, Cecilia Rios-Aguilar, professor and associate dean of equity, diversity, and inclusion at the University of California, Los Angeles’ Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, builds upon this notion to take a look at how doing diversity, equity, and inclusion work on campus parallels the time, care, and nurturing associated with parenting.

Conversations around diversity have led to important questioned around what it means to be an inclusive leader. Noelle Witherspoon Arnold, associate dean for equity, diversity, inclusion and global engagement at The Ohio State University College of Education and Human Ecology, proposes a new model for inclusive leadership and discusses what it takes to create a supportive educational experience for all students.

Institutional commitment to diversity should expand beyond increasing the enrollment of underrepresented students and students of color to creating inclusive campuses. Stephanie Sanders, lecturer and diversity, equity, and inclusion officer at the University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, shares strategies on how to she has worked to create inclusive spaces, particularly for students of color, at a predominantly white institution.