Month: September 2026

By Prof Kazem Kazerounian, University of Connecticut Higher education in the United States is in crisis. Not just a crisis of funding, administration, or even ideological battles—though all of these are real and pressing—but a deeper existential crisis about what…

By Academic Observer Editorial Board In a move that has reverberated through American higher education, the federal government has frozen over $2.3 billion in research grants administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF). This decision has disrupted thousands of projects,…

By Pete Rottier In a stunning and cowardly capitulation, many of America’s colleges and universities have erased any mention of diversity, equity, and inclusion from their mission statements, department pages, and even their grant proposals. Once proud institutions — built…

By Raphael Cohen-Almagor, Chair in Politics, Founding Director of the Middle East Study Centre (MESC), University of Hull; and Fellow at The Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2024-2025), and President of The Association for Israel…

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. Over the past few years, generative AI usage has become ubiquitous in multiple…

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…

Name Withheld at Author’s Request Identity, institutional affiliation, and conflicts of interest have been verified by the editors. The lives of adjunct professors in American universities often read like a contradiction. These are men and women who have spent years…

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…