STANFORD ALUMNI
FOR FREE SPEECH AND
CRITICAL THINKING

 

October 12, 2026 ​

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America’s Colleges and Universities Are Running Out of Public Trust; They Need to Make Serious Changes

 

Excerpts (links in the original):

 

“Gallup has released new data showing a dramatic decline in public support of American higher education. For example, in 2013, 70 percent of respondents said having a college education was ‘very important.’ By 2026, that had dramatically plummeted to 31 percent. Meanwhile, the proportion that said a college education was ‘unimportant’ had tripled. While collegiate support varied -- Republicans and males are less supportive than Democrats and females -- the decline was big among all groups. ...

 

“The public is the Sugar Daddy of higher education, and when it becomes disenchanted, higher education is in huge trouble. Some in higher education anticipate that big Democratic gains in the coming election will lead to big boosts in governmental support next year, but I am skeptical. ...

 

“By any reasonable accounting, productivity fell as colleges allowed administrative apparatchiks to grow numerically and increasingly dilute universities’ true academic raison d’etre. A recent Boston Globe article by Professor Barry Lam [as linked in our Newsletter last week] shows that at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, since the mid-1980s, the number of faculty grew about nine percent while the number of administrators grew 189 percent. Student work effort declined dramatically with massive grade inflation. Students were learning less but were charged higher tuition.

 

“All of this is happening amidst several other challenges for the universities.

 

“A worldwide demographic revolution is decreasing the pool of future students. Rising prestige among foreign universities is dramatically reducing America’s global reputational leadership and leading to fewer high-tuition-paying foreign enrollments. Artificial intelligence is causing fright and even upheaval on some campuses. Are machines replacing the need for college-trained men and women? Is the demand for plumbers, welders, and home health care providers rising relative to that for college-trained accountants, economists, and engineers?...

 

“First, they will drastically reduce administrative staff -- probably by 20-40 percent on most campuses. They will get rid of low-enrollment programs that exist to please and excite faculty rather than extend the frontiers of knowledge. Outside academia, does anyone want ‘gender studies’ majors? The Journal of Last Resort and its multiple equivalents might die. Most professors should teach at least three classes each semester and work 10-11 months annually like other professionals. The long-term decline in the importance of academic tenure will likely continue, and it should. Schools need to revert to job one: teaching and research. And they need to divest themselves of the financial liabilities associated with ball-throwing and kicking contests. They might get out of things they are not particularly good at, like feeding and housing students. They need to realize that Ph.D. students should graduate in three or four years, not the five to eight years common now. Law school instruction probably should typically last two, not three, years. The bachelor’s degree should be obtainable in three, not four years, including some internship ('real world') component. More money should be spent maintaining existing buildings and less on building new ones.” ...

 

Full op-ed by Ohio University Prof. Emeritus Richard Vedder at Minding the Campus.

 

As Elite Colleges Race to Offer Free Tuition, Benefits Remain Concentrated at the Top

 

Excerpts (links in the original):

 

“A growing number of the nation's wealthiest private universities are promising free tuition to families earning as much as $250,000 a year. The shift is being driven by competition for students, public pressure over prices that now approach $100,000 a year and, for a few small schools, a new federal tax on endowments.

 

“Thirty-three colleges now advertise free tuition to families earning $100,000 or more, according to an analysis by financial aid expert Mark Kantrowitz for The College Investor. Princeton University and the University of Chicago top the list at $250,000. ...

 

“Federal tax policy also plays a role. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed in July 2025, raised the excise tax on the richest endowments from 1.4% to as much as 8% but exempted private colleges with fewer than 3,000 tuition-paying students.

 

“Princeton appears to have crossed below that line. The Daily Princetonian reported in May that a university investment official told a private alumni gathering the endowment was exempt. A university spokesperson told the paper Princeton complies with all tax obligations and will disclose its payments in 2028. Swarthmore College, with about 1,700 students, is also now exempt and says the change let it direct more endowment money to aid, helping fund free tuition for families earning up to $200,000 beginning in 2027-28.

 

“For many schools, the guarantees may cost less than they appear. Phillip Levine, nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said ‘many or most’ students covered by the programs were likely already eligible for enough financial aid to attend tuition-free. ‘The major impact that these policies have is better communication for financial aid that they already offer,’ he said. ‘The financial cost of implementing these policies is not large.’"...

 

Full article at EDU Ledger. 

 

Harvard Professors Clash in Panel Event Over Whether University Has Done Enough to Promote Open Inquiry

 

Excerpts (links in the original):

 

“Harvard faculty members were divided on whether freedom of speech in classrooms remains a problem at the University in an ‘Open Inquiry’ panel discussion at the 15th annual Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching conference [a week ago].

 

“Government professor Ryan D. Enos, one of seven panelists, sparked debate after he said that he believed open inquiry was not ‘much of a problem’ at Harvard, despite having previously raised concerns about conservatives’ ability to share their views on campus.

 

“‘I have thought that’s a problem, and I still think it’s a problem,’ he said. ‘But I also think it’s something that we perhaps don’t give ourselves enough credit for.’

 

“But Enos faced pushback from multiple faculty members in the audience, including Economics professor Jason Furman ’92 -- who argued that ‘we need to be harder on ourselves internally while defending ourselves externally’ -- and raised concerns about persistent ideological slant in Harvard’s classrooms. ...

 

“Friday’s panel prompted faculty to reflect on issues the University has placed a renewed emphasis on in recent years.

 

“In spring 2024, Harvard convened an ‘Open Inquiry and Constructive Dialogue’ working group to discuss how to support the free exchange of ideas on campus after the University drew broad criticism for its response to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

 

“In the years since, the University has thrown its weight behind initiatives that support ‘open inquiry’ and ‘intellectual vitality.’ It has also begun a push to diversify the ideological background of its faculty, asking donors for $10 million gifts to endow new professorships in pursuit of ‘viewpoint diversity.’” ...

 

Full article at Harvard Crimson. 

 

Update on the Princeton Numbers

 

Our September 21 Newsletter had excerpts from an article showing significant differences in the political contributions of the Princeton faculty. The company that did the study has now slightly updated its numbers. From Princetonians for Free Speech: “The original faculty contribution percentages were 98% Democratic, 2% independent, and 0% Republican. The updated numbers are 96.4% Democratic, 1.44% independent, and 2.16% Republican. Iron Light has updated the study to reflect the new findings.”

 

Other Articles of Interest

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Universities Are Studying Their Problems, But Can They Fix Them?

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Full op-ed at AEI: “Not knowing what to do, they are proceeding to do what they know best: Set up commissions to issue reports.... But in universities, there are built-in obstacles to reform. Faculty leaders have tenure and cannot be fired; they expect to outlast deans and presidents; it is difficult to eliminate positions or departments without inviting lawsuits; every decision can be appealed or reviewed; academics like to talk and issue reports, but are reluctant to act; there are donors, legislators, and alumni to deal with. As in government, it is far easier to add positions than to eliminate them....

 

"New pressures from outside the academy have provoked this long-deferred reckoning with the overlapping crises of the American university. These reports, which in the past would have gathered dust in university libraries, may generate real action under these new conditions, and may reshape those institutions for the first time since they took their current form in the wake of the 1960s.” See also Stanford Concerns and Back to Basics at Stanford.

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Higher Ed Is Still Muddling Through AI

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Full op-ed by UNC Prof. Mark McNeilly at James Martin Center: “While many institutions have used the time since ChatGPT to focus more on academic integrity than strategic transformation, there is still time left on the clock. The roadmap above provides a practical path to get there. It’s now up to universities to take the next steps.”

 

Stanford RAs Withdraw Union Petition 

Full article at Stanford Daily.

 

Why We Care -- Samples of Current Teaching, Research and Other Activities at Stanford

 

Click on each article for direct access; selections are from Stanford Report and other Stanford websites.

 

New Student Gathering Spaces Unveiled

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Stanford Professor Shares 2026 Nobel Prize in Economics with Columbia Professor 

 

Stanford Professor Shares 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine with Two Professors from German Universities.

 

New Research Shows Promise for a Lymphedema Drug

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