the manuscript i submitted

$6.2M/yr for the endowment manager guy who gets the university a lower rate of return than the S&P 500 Certainly puts the grad union's requests in perspective www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...

My employer is hiring a senior editor for higher education! The office is based in New York but we're fully remote (I'm in comfy sweats in Maryland rn) Here's more info, DM me if you have any questions! Deadline is 5/28, please repost and share: hechingerreport.org/jobs/

Shared some thoughts about the continued attacks on medical school admissions. The DOJ seems to be going out of its way to not follow the SFFA ruling & willfully misinterpret what is allowed in holistic admissions reviews to project its own narrow interpretation that only GPAs & test scores matter.

Since this "finding" is essentially a copy and paste of the claims made against UCLA, I'm just resharing my reaction to that document. jamessmurphy.com/2026/05/07/h...

"They’re afraid of sharing a zip code with people who don’t share their tax bracket." www.bostonglobe.com/2026/05/06/b...

Our SEDA/EOP team released new trend data today! edopportunity.org/trends/ @upshot.nytimes.com has a nice lookup tool for districts (with apologies to AK, CO, ME, MT, NY, NV, & OR). I like the comparisons to similar districts and hope they encourage peer learning. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

I suspect the biggest adventure for grads in this major will be finding a job that pays a living wage.

How many of those slave owners have had descendants enrolled at Harvard thanks to legacy preferences?

Call me Ahab. www.chronicle.com/article/why-...

Well said, @bakerdphd.bsky.social. This is a great piece on the troubles with transparency in college admissions. www.chronicle.com/article/why-...

A useful reminder that medical schools are not admitting on the basis of GPA and MCAT score alone. And they SHOULDN'T be.

Really promising evidence on the early effects of California's mandatory school start times policy (which I was a big advocate for back in the day!). Glad to see this is scaling well www.nber.org/papers/w3518...

Federal Student Aid wants to hire 334 full-time employees by 2027 — a 45% increase from current levels. So, wait. DOGE didn't work??? www.politico.com/news/2026/05...

As the MA legislature sits on a bill to ban legacy in this state waiting for the session to end, members might want to read this paper about the outsized role that family lineage plays in selecting who holds power in Congress. We are a disappointment to the principles this country was founded upon.

Those of us asking our students to read and think without AI *are* the ones teaching them the skills they need to thrive in the era of AI.

Happy Birthday, David Attenborough. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o-9...

My kid just shouted from her bedroom, "Canvas is down! Canvas is down!"

An important step in restoring the integrity of the NEH and affirming the value of the humanities in our society. I am very grateful for the efforts of my colleagues, our members, our collaborators, and our legal team.

DOJ's "investigation" of UCLA's med school is a preview of what is going to happen this fall with ACTS data. jamessmurphy.com/2026/05/07/h...

So, if I'm looking at this correctly, the Department of Education used AI to break copyright law (that's a Spongebob character) to suggest that dedicated teachers take their direction from the federal government's little red book. Honestly, this will make a great APUSH DBQ one day.

For the love of all that’s holy, look at the book title. #Not.My.Teacher.Appreciation.Wk

If higher education administration and admissions offices wants a preview of what is coming at them as a result of ACTS, look no further than this "finding" by the DOJ against ULCA.

To win in November, Democrats will have to stop focusing on elitist issues like the price of gas and start talking more about things that really matter to regular Americans, like viewpoint diversity at Ivy League schools.

"Whatever y'all want to do." This is my favorite comment, so far, as I scroll through the public responses to the Ed. Dept's proposed rules for accountability in higher ed.. (AHEAD)

RIP Ted Turner, inventor of the mustache.

New– There was recently a massive wave of attention on a report from the University of California San Diego, noting a sharp increase in the number of students who required remedial math. I talked to one of the students at the center of the controversy. www.chalkbeat.org/2026/05/05/u...

Good local news from a good local news source in a state with a bad tax policy. brookline.news/voters-overw...

Yet another poll showing Dems lead with voters on education and schools (+8, it's their second best issue.) Perhaps surprisingly, this is unchanged since 2023, so it's not a Trump effect. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

I already dealt with this.

The new IPEDS component created in response to an executive order calling for a return to merit collects data on the race, sex, GPA, scores, income, & parental education for applicants. It includes no questions about legacies. Kinda tells you everything you need to know about the whole effort.

Slightly diminish a book. Beliked.

My kid just got invited to get in on the $17.25M settlement Naviance is paying for not keeping student data private. www.k12dive.com/news/what-th...

Ian, Guy, Brendan, and Joe.

This LinkedIn post about a French bulldog is one of the funniest things I've ever read www.linkedin.com/posts/richar...

The new IPEDS component created in response to an executive order calling for a return to merit collects data on the race, sex, GPA, scores, income, & parental education for applicants. It includes no questions about legacies. Kinda tells you everything you need to know about the whole effort.

FRANKLIN, TN conservative David French: “I’ve changed my perception of the lingering severity of race problems. We adopted a child from Ethiopia- maybe naive: didn’t think she’d have a different experience than our older kids. There wasn’t a school she wasn’t called the N word.”

Whoa. www.cornellsun.com/article/2026...

I am *extremely* skeptical of the argument that Democrats' positions on education matter much at all electorally. Though I of course support having a positive agenda, I also don't think the details really matter (again, electorally), just the vibes.

Welp.... 😵‍💫 www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...

Supreme Court Overturns ‘Right v. Wrong’ https://theonion.com/supreme-court-overturns-right-v-wrong-1819573211/

Civil Rights Office Resolved 1% of Cases in 2025, Report Finds It’s the fewest resolution agreements in at least 12 years, according to an analysis by Sen. Bernie Sanders’s office, including no resolutions related to sexual harassment or sexual or racial violence. https://bit.ly/3P69nAR

I'm a huge fan of the College Scorecard, but the research on it has shown that it doesn't really affect where students enroll. That's not a knock on the Scorecard's value at all, but it does raise questions about the value of ED's plan to publish ACTS data in time for this fall's admissions cycle.

What is punk rock, 1931 edition?

650 sounds like a lot.

Interesting looking webinar tomorrow. www.aaup.org/event/what-a...

OMG. 🇰🇪 Sabastian Sawe becomes the first man ever to break 2 hours in a marathon (legal conditions) in 1:59:30 at the London Marathon! Yomif Kejelcha 🇪🇹 runs 1:59:41 in his DEBUT. Jacob Kiplimo 🇺🇬 takes third in 2:00:28 All under the previous WR.

#Caturday streeeeeeeeeeeeeetch.

The first photo here is fake. A still from the same moment shows that Trump's head wasn't drooping like that. Also, he'd just adjusted his tie, which is why the guy two to the left of RFK is looking at him. Actual still at right. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ctx...