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What We're Watching:

Continued Skepticism Around College Degree Value


Nonpartisan research organization Public Agenda released a study finding that pessimistic perceptions around the value of a college degree have continued to grow in recent years. The study included a national survey and focus groups conducted in 2022, as well as consolidated findings from previous surveys on the subject. 

Summary of Findings:
  • The belief that higher education can benefit working adults is nonpartisan. However, the consensus on higher education’s benefit to the economy and our democracy was weaker. 
  • While recognizing its potential benefits, many Americans view college as expensive, time-consuming, and largely stuck in the past. 
  • There is strong cross-partisan support for finding ways to make public higher education more affordable. 
  • There is cross-partisan and cross-racial support for investments in improving college access, affordability, and degree completion for Black and Latino students. 
  • The public is significantly more willing to invest in higher education when there is a clear understanding of what they are paying for. 
Recent Notable Coverage:

Standing Up for Tennessee Educators


Last week, WTVF Nashville leaked portions of a video showing a conversation between Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn, during which Arnn said, “teachers are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country.” The Michigan leader’s comments have continued to draw backlash from university presidents, K-12 districts, and teacher-education organizations after Gov. Lee allegedly sidestepped questions about the incident in recent interviews. 

Conversation Themes:
Quick Reads:

Trending topics by % increase

Campus Safety:
  • July 09 | Jacksonville.com | 745 Engagements:Jacksonville University women's track and cross country coach Ron Grigg has resigned, according to a vague statement issued Saturday by athletic director Alex Ricker-Gilbert citing "concerning information shared online" about Grigg's treatment of student-athletes.”
     
  • July 12 | Star Tribune | 210 Engagements: “A group of about 100 University of Minnesota parents and Dinkytown residents begged a panel of police and Minneapolis leaders Monday for a solution to a rise in violent crime near campus.”
Academic Misconduct: 
  • July 13 | Inside Higher Ed | 80 Engagements: "U.S. News & World Report has “unranked” 10 colleges for errors in the material they provided for rankings [...] Columbia University, which already announced that it is skipping the next rankings as it investigates allegations that its data were, on several points, false."
Mental Health: 
  • July 13 | Los Angeles Times | 789 Engagements: "The two years of the COVID-19 pandemic have touched nearly everyone’s lives in some way, but members of Gen Z have been hit particularly hard. Loss of normalcy and routine during a time of immense development has contributed to increasing rates of mental illness in adolescents, said psychologist Tamika Damond, who runs a private practice, Believe Psychology Group."
     
  • July 12 | Twitter l Credit Repair Specialist | 32 Retweets: "Jamarcus Russell talks about his experiences at LSU compared to the NFL. Confirming the tape incident and explaining his mental health at the time:" 
Admissions: 

Trending topics by total volume

Cost of Attendance: 
COVID-19: 
  • July 07 | The Economist | 4.6K Engagements: “The development of covid-19 vaccines was a scientific triumph. Converting it into medical benefits has required getting shots into the arms of as many people as possible, a process fraught with political and logistical hurdles. Nonetheless, a new study finds that jabs cut the disease’s death toll by 63% during their first year.”
  • July 06 | Forbes | 3.8K Engagements: “An “all-in-one” vaccine currently in development could protect people from future Covid-19 variants, as well as SARS, MERS and new strains of other coronaviruses from other animals, a study by researchers at the California Institute of Technology found.”
Campus Safety: 
  • July 06 | ABC 8 News | 85 Engagements: “Two fraternities at the University of Virginia have reportedly been removed from the institution’s Greek Life as a result of hazing investigations. Both Phi Gamma Delta and Kappa Alpha were found to be responsible for multiple incidents of hazing misconduct, according to the University of Virginia’s Hazing Misconduct Report.”
Sexual Misconduct: 
  • July 13 | Twitter l Tristan Snell | 3.1K Retweets: "When there's a sexual predator and a victim, Jim Jordan always sides with the predator. He did at Ohio State, and now in calling the 10-year-old Ohio rape victim a liar (and then cowardly deleting his tweets after). Ohio's kids will not be safe until Jim Jordan is out of office."

Trending universities/colleges by % increase

Dartmouth: ▲Research
  • July 10 | Twitter | Dinesh D'Souza | 72 Retweets: “Let’s compare your education and credentials to mine. Ivy League graduate from Dartmouth, policy analyst at the Reagan White House, research scholar at AEI and the Hoover Institution at Stanford, author of more than a dozen highly-acclaimed bestselling books. Now you go!”
UC Santa Cruz: ▲Research 
  • July 12 | NVIDIA | 153 Engagements: "Data from what Biden described as the “miraculous telescope” are also being soaked up by a new generation of GPU-accelerated AI created at the University of California, Santa Cruz.”
Pepperdine: ▲Athletics
UC Berkeley: ▲Expert Testimony ▲Prominent Alumni

Trending universities/colleges by total volume

Yale: ▲Prominent Alumni ▲Research 
  • July 06 | Twitter | Max Boot | 107 Retweets: "DeSantis reminds me not of Trump but of Nixon. A Yale teammates said he was “smart” but also “the biggest d---k we knew.” A former House colleague said: “He’s a little reclusive, a bit of an odd duck … but he’s just incredibly disciplined.”
Harvard: ▲Expert Testimony ▲Research 
  • July 07 | Twitter | Brian J. Karm | 54 Retweets: “NOW: The IRS will investigate whether the Trump Administration illegally targeted James Comey and Andrew McCabe with rare, intensive IRS audits. According to Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe, this would be a serious crime
  • July 07  | Twitter  | Jonathan Turley  | 48 Retweets: "A Harvard poll reaffirms earlier polling that shows most Americans embrace views closer to Mississippi than Michigan on abortion. Indeed, while many denounced that Mississippi law setting a 15-week limit, 72 percent of those polled support that limit."

USC: ▲Donor Relations ▲Athletics 
  • July 09 | Forbes | 323 engagements: “The University of Southern California (USC) has received a $15 million gift for its Department of History from Elizabeth Van Hunnick, an alumna of USC. The university described the donation as the largest single gift ever for any of its humanities departments."
  • July 13 | Twitter | Hayes Fawcett | 41 Retweets: “BREAKING: Four-Star Edge Braylan Shelby is down to 2️⃣ Schools! The 6’5 235 Edge from Friendswood, TX will choose between Texas and USC.”

Ohio State: ▲Athletics
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