Nikole Hannah-Jones’s essay about her daughter’s education is heartbreaking because it poses a question almost every parent understands: Did I make the right choice for my child? Hannah-Jones made the choice more publicly and politically than most. A decade ago, she and her husband sent their daughter, Najya, to a predominantly Black, high-poverty public school in Brooklyn. They could afford other options.

There has been a lot written about screen time, so I should probably begin with a confession: I am averaging about eight hours a day this week, and I am not particularly proud of it. We are constantly told to put our phones down, stop scrolling, step away from social media, and spend more time looking at the people around us instead of the screens in front of us.

There is a line usually attributed to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels: “Accuse the other side of that which you are guilty.” There is no reliable evidence that Goebbels actually said those exact words. But watching American politics right now, it is difficult not to think about the political strategy captured by the line. For decades, the right has told us that liberals and the left are afraid of competition.

Is the provost at UT-Austin a right wing political operative? The University of Texas at Austin is eliminating majors in African and African Diaspora Studies, Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Race, Indigeneity, and Migration. These are not abstract academic labels. They represent the histories, intellectual traditions, and lived experiences of communities that built Texas and continue to shape the nation.

Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig joins the #RaceClass Podcast for a wide ranging conversation about familial ancestry, the Jason Arday tragedy, Tyler Austin Harper's appeal to white liberals, Jon's former to

Texas erased a 20-point fourth-quarter deficit, Ohio State lost, and somehow the internet decided that the real scandal was the brown students celebrating in the stadium. As a former UT Austin professor for eight years, where I first earned tenure, and a Michigan alumnus who is always happy to see Ohio State lose, I had more than one reason to enjoy Texas erasing a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter.

I joined Jon on the #RaceClass Podcast, and he came ready. No easy scripted questions, no softballs, and no protected territory. He asked whatever he wanted. The difficult questions came fast and heavy, and I’m glad Jon did. Of course, we had to talk about the recent controversy I found myself in the middle of on the front page of…

AI may become smarter than every human being. That does not mean we should hand it the keys to civilization. This is the latest installment in my AI Code Red series, which examines the human choices, institutional failures, and public safeguards shaping our increasingly automated future. I do not want AI to kill me. I assume you do not want AI to kill you either.

First came the Gulf of America. Then Lake America. Trump can alter the map today and AI can teach it tomorrow. Trump is now floating the idea of changing New Mexico to “New America.” He shared an altered map on Truth Social in which “Mexico” was crossed out and replaced with “America.” It would be tempting to dismiss the proposal as legally impossible, historically ignorant, or simply stupid.

NEPC Fellows who have spent their careers studying the subject have been raising serious concerns about recent efforts to characterize and criticize DEI on campus.

You can steal history in 0.04 seconds. I was a sophomore at the University of Michigan in 1994 when Colorado quarterback Kordell Stewart launched a football 64 yards through the air on the final play of the game. Michael Westbrook came down with it in the end zone, and Colorado defeated Michigan 27–26 in what became known as the “Miracle at Michigan.” I was living in a high-rise at the time, and I remember seeing people standing in stunned silence in the Big House stadium after Michigan lost.

A honeypot feels like desire fulfilled, not danger approaching. I’ve been binge-watching Lioness the past week, and I am finally caught up through Season 3. My aunt first told me about the show, and I quickly understood why she thought I would enjoy it. The politics and life lessons come fast. Some are obviously about spycraft and intelligence work: surveillance, infiltration, blackmail, and the extraordinary lengths governments will go to obtain information.

The world noticed Bad Bunny because he refused to disappear inside it. I first discovered Bad Bunny for myself in December 2019 at Fifty Eight, the downstairs oceanfront lounge at La Concha Resort. A song came through the speakers that immediately caught my attention, so I pulled out my phone, opened Shazam, and learned that it was “Vete” by someone called Bad Bunny.

If universities refuse to replace research funding lost to political discrimination, they cannot punish the scholars whose work the government erased. This week, I attended a meeting of Cardinal Courage, a nonpartisan, multigenerational coalition of Stanford alumni and allies working to defend academic freedom and resist political interference in universities. As a Stanford alumnus, I joined the conversation expecting an important discussion about institutional courage.

When Dolly Parton died, the world did not begin by counting her 10 Grammys or 55 nominations. All the remembrances began with the lives she changed. People remembered the children who received free books because her father never learned to read. They remembered the jobs she created in the mountains that raised her and the medical research she supported during a pandemic.

The classic line from the Spider-Man show was, "Lookout! Here comes the Spider-Man." And so, Spider-Man punched a white supremacist. Fist to cheese. For some exhausted by racism and intimidation, the image probably felt satisfying. But there is a problem that extends beyond superheroes and comic books. The white supremacist wants the punch. He wants to steal a page from the civil rights movement’s playbook while serving the opposite cause.

Yesterday, I did not expect my blog to generate a front-page story in The Chronicle of Higher Education, much less one involving an Ivy League president. But that is exactly what happened after Columbia University President Jennifer Mnookin's "slip of the thumb" accidentally liked my LinkedIn post responding to Tyler Austin Harper’s essays in The Atlantic. Before long, a…

Liberals keep reaching out asking me to read Tyler Austin Harper. Not one liberal. Not one conversation. It has happened enough the past few days that I have started wondering why. Why has Tyler become the Black writer some liberals want Black intellectuals to read? Why are these particular essays, the ones questioning DEI, affirmative action, anti-racism, and the legitimacy of how Black scholars enter elite institutions, the essays that keep getting passed along?

Today, Stanford Graduate School of Education announced that I will receive its 2026 Alumni Excellence in Education Award. The award recognizes alumni whose research, teaching, leadership, and entrepreneurship have advanced education and strengthened communities. I am deeply humbled that my former doctoral advisor, Professor Linda Darling-Hammond, nominated me and that Stanford selected me for this honor. But when I learned about the award, I did not want simply to make an announcement.

It's 2:45 am and I had to send this. Jason Arday, former Cambridge professor, is dead at forty-one. He died before the investigations publicly concluded, before the public learned the difference between accusation and finding, and before the noise had a chance to subside. Police have described his death as unexpected but not suspicious, and its cause has not been publicly established.

He told you that you were in this together. In reality, he was using you as cover. In July 2026, President Donald Trump boarded Air Force One in full view of cameras after attending a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. Once aboard, however, he reportedly exited through another door, entered an airport catering truck, and transferred to a smaller military aircraft with a few close personal aides, but no members of his Cabinet.

The voices we remember most clearly are often the ones power tried hardest to silence. I recently watched the 2015 Netflix documentary about Nina Simone. Simone was one of the most gifted artists of the twentieth century, but she refused to separate her art from the struggle for justice. She understood that music could comfort people, but it could also confront power, expose hypocrisy, and demand accountability.

There is a popular acronym for Donald Trump’s governing style: TACO—“Trump Always Chickens Out.” The idea is straightforward. Trump makes an enormous threat, markets it as nonnegotiable, watches markets or political institutions react, and eventually retreats. Then everyone declares that Trump has chickened out again. I am increasingly convinced that this explanation misses something important. Trump does not always retreat from what he wants.

Every hiring decision places power in someone’s hands. Across nearly every field, organizations are preparing to hire the colleagues and leaders who will shape their future. Job descriptions are being written, search committees are being formed, and interview questions are being developed. In higher education, this cycle becomes especially visible in the late summer and fall as faculty return to campus and institutions prepare for searches that will unfold over the coming months.

When the Trump administration issued its February 2025 Dear Colleague letter attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion in education, I responded nationally on Democracy Now! I warned that higher education had not faced political interference this serious since McCarthyism and asked whether universities would “surrender or resist.” That Dear Colleague letter went down in flames. Federal courts blocked the directive, finding serious constitutional and procedural problems.

Jingle the keys. Make them bright. Make them loud. Keep the public staring at them while documents disappear from view, casualty numbers climb, missiles fly, and powerful people avoid difficult questions. That is increasingly how America works. When accountability becomes uncomfortable, change the subject. Recent jangling keys include pink “Latina Power” clothing, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and Dr. Anthony Fauci’s decisions during the 2020 pandemic.

Should teens be taught by AI sex robots? This may seem like a ludicrous question for an article, but if you have been watching the news, it's a real thing this week. After public outcry, a New York school district just paused plans to introduce a life-like humanoid robot named Sally as an AI teaching assistant after widespread criticism from educators, parents, community members, and New York State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa.

The warning signs are no longer theoretical. Schools are closing. Colleges are preparing layoffs. Faculty buyouts are spreading. Academic programs are disappearing. Dorm beds are sitting empty. Cla…

We are living through a period when work can quickly become politicized. The pressure is especially visible in K–12 schools and higher education, but it is not confined to campuses or classrooms. Professionals in government, healthcare, law, business, philanthropy, technology, journalism, and the nonprofit sector are navigating many of the same tensions. People may find their work judged not only by its quality, accuracy, or effectiveness, but also by how it fits a political narrative.

History tells us that some of the most dangerous political violence is carried out not by individuals against one another, but by the government itself. Before I go on, I'd like to invite you to my online lecture tonight at 7 – 8:30pm EST entitled Sankofa, Shattered Trust, and the Price of Corruption in Politics and Policy. You can register…

President Donald Trump delivered an incredibly disorganized prime-time speech intended to persuade Americans that the nation’s elections are fundamentally corrupt. He invoked China, voting machines, mail ballots, noncitizens, intelligence officials, and alleged fraud in Michigan, yet the evidence he presented did not establish that votes were altered or that an election was stolen. CNN’s annotated review repeatedly separated possible cybersecurity vulnerabilities from actual proof of fraudulent ballots or manipulated election results.

I just spoke with CNN about what I witnessed at the Las Vegas airport. Yet speaking the words aloud has not made the experience easier to carry. I am still dealing with the trauma and grief of watching an older Asian man being violently attacked by ICE agents for, in their words, “overstaying his visa.” I watched two federal agents tackle him as he cried out in pain.

I just had a traumatic experience. But I also witnessed courage. At the Las Vegas airport, I watched federal immigration officers attempt to take an older Asian man into custody. I do not know everything that happened before the commotion. I did not see a warrant. I cannot claim to know every legal detail. I can tell you what I saw.

A public university classroom is not a political campaign podium. A federal appeals court has just reminded Florida of that, and in doing so, reminded the country of something we should never have forgotten. This week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit struck down the higher education provisions of Florida’s “Stop WOKE” Act. Diane Ravitch rightly called it a "stunning victory" for the Constitution and First Amendment.

What does courage mean in your own life if heroism does not arrive as a choice but as a crisis that drags you forward before you feel ready? That is the question that stayed with me after Project Hail Mary. Okay, okay. I am know I am late to the review, but they just released the film on streaming last week.

The warning signs are no longer theoretical. Schools are closing. Colleges are preparing layoffs. Faculty buyouts are spreading. Academic programs are disappearing. Dorm beds are sitting empty. Classrooms are thinning out. Tax revenue is weakening. State appropriations are uncertain. Consultants are being hired and paid millions to identify “efficiencies.” Boards are quietly discussing mergers and closures. American education is entering a period of deep instability.

In American history, ‘socialism’ has been one of the most politically radioactive words in the nation’s vocabulary. Yet today, democratic socialists have become one of the most influential factions within the Democratic Party. American politics has a long history of insurgent movements that challenge the leadership of their own political parties before reshaping national debates. The comparison between the Tea Party and today’s democratic socialist movement is not one of ideology.

Have you ever trusted someone to do what they said they would... only to discover that, when it mattered most, they didn't? Now ask yourself the same question about an organization. When I was in elementary school, one of my teachers insisted on reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books to our class every afternoon during lunch. Even then, I never particularly enjoyed them.

Some films entertain us for two hours. Others quietly measure the passage of our lives. There are very few film franchises that can honestly claim they have accompanied an entire generation from childhood into parenthood, but Toy Story is one of them. I still remember watching the original Toy Story in the 1990s, and I probably watched that VHS tape on my square Sony Trinitron tube tv more times than I could ever count.

Given enough time something will eventually go wrong. For years I have been fascinated by science fiction stories in which someone discovers a way to send a message into the future.Those stories usually ask the same question. If you could messages to people who have not yet been born what would you say? I want to return to that idea at the end because I have come to believe that we are already doing exactly that.

Have you ever had someone suddenly disappear from an organization? I first saw this happen in the 1990s when I began working in the Research and Accountability Department of the Houston Independent School District after graduate school. It happened more than once. Each time it was a shock. One day someone was there. The next day they were gone. No explanation seemed to match what many of us had observed.

I received a shocking Father’s Day present today. And it is a lesson for everyone about authority. A phone call telling me that my 18-year-old daughter had been abandoned at the Toledo train station after midnight by her boss Pastor Joe Ottinger, Camp Mojaven Director and leader in the Ohio Conference of Seventh-Day Adventist. Before, I get into the post. Let me say this first.

Juneteenth is often described as a celebration of freedom. It is. But it is also a reminder that freedom, opportunity, and recognition arrive later than they should. When enslaved people in Texas learned of their freedom on June 19, 1865, the Emancipation Proclamation had already been signed more than two years earlier. Freedom had been declared and the law had changed, yet the reality had not.

A news story stopped me in my tracks this week. Following a UFC event held on White House grounds, fighter Josh Hokit used his post-fight remarks to repeat a false and offensive claim about former First Lady Michelle Obama. He stated, “And lastly, Michelle Obama is a man. Am I right, America?" The comment generated immediate controversy. UFC President Dana White weakly condemned the statement, describing it as "nonsense" while the White House declined to condemn the comment.

When the FIFA World Cup ends, everyone knows who won. In American life, everyone claims they are winning. Politicians are winning. Companies are winning. Universities are winning. Social media influencers are winning. The question is whether we still agree on what winning actually means. More importantly, who gets to decide? For most of human history, winning implied some relationship between effort and outcome.

For thousands of years, humanity has stared into the night sky searching for answers. Ancient civilizations believed knowledge descended from the heavens. Prophets warned that signs in the sky could deceive entire nations. Presidents promised disclosure and then fell silent. Military pilots reported encounters they could not explain. Congress opened hearings. Religious leaders offered interpretations. Scientists demanded evidence. Everyone seems to agree on one thing: Something is happening.

Have you ever started imagining a future that didn't exist yet? I was looking at houses in Honolulu, a city where I did not live. I had not been offered a job there. I was not even sure I would become a finalist for President of the University of Hawaii. Yet somewhere along the way I had allowed myself to imagine the possibility.