Midway through the year, two significant upheavals in higher education occurred as the conservative-majority Supreme Court ruled against student loan relief and affirmative action in the college application process.
Midway through the year, two significant upheavals in higher education occurred as the conservative-majority Supreme Court ruled against student loan relief and affirmative action in the college application process.
The United States experienced a tumultuous year in education marked by the introduction of new technologies, campus upheavals, the reconsideration of affirmative action policies, and challenges in the student loan landscape.
These challenges are not destined to fade into the past, as higher education grapples with directives on diversity and protests tied to Israel’s conflict in Gaza.
Additionally, the ongoing evolution of AI is poised to disrupt education across various grade levels, while the Biden administration endeavors to provide loan forgiveness wherever possible.
Loan forgiveness
Midway through the year, two significant upheavals in higher education occurred as the conservative-majority Supreme Court ruled against student loan relief and affirmative action in the college application process.
The Supreme Court nullified Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan, which aimed to provide a minimum of $10,000 to each borrower with student loan debt.
While most borrowers had to resume payments this fall, the administration managed to provide targeted loan forgiveness to specific groups of borrowers.
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona stated “The Biden-Harris Administration has taken unprecedented action to fix the broken student loan system and deliver record amounts of student debt relief,” noting that the administration has forgiven $132 billion in student loans to date.
The Department of Education is developing a new student debt relief plan to replace the one invalidated by the high court, but it is expected to be less universal and directed only towards specific groups.
Colleges are grappling with a court ruling that prohibits the direct consideration of race or ethnicity in determining which applicants should be accepted.
In lawsuits against Harvard and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) regarding their admission practices, the justices determined that both schools violated the 14th Amendment.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the decision, “Both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful endpoints.”
The ruling prompted many schools to release statements reaffirming their commitment to campus diversity, though they did not specify the actions they would take following the decision.
Antisemitism in college campuses
In response to the Hamas attack on Israel towards the end of the year, protests emerged both in support of Israel and against Israel’s retaliation in Gaza.
With a rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia on campuses since Oct. 7, the House conducted multiple hearings, with one gaining international attention — featuring testimony from the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
During the hearing, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) asked all three presidents if calls for genocide against Jewish people would constitute harassment on their campuses, to which each responded that it would depend on the context.
Although First Amendment advocates noted that the responses were technically correct, they generated significant backlash.
The president of UPenn resigned, and the House announced investigations into the learning environments and disciplinary policies of all three schools.
AI in education
In 2023, artificial intelligence in schools gained unprecedented traction, initially causing panic among school leadership. Several districts banned the popular ChatGPT at the beginning of the year.
In the subsequent months, educators and policy experts collaborated to comprehend this technology and explore its potential benefits for students and teachers.
Despite some schools rescinding their bans, educators continue to grapple with the challenge of detecting cheating with AI. They are also focused on ensuring that this technology, expected to become commonplace in the workplace, is taught appropriately to the next generation.
The Department of Education released guidelines to assist schools in navigating the integration of AI, providing seven recommendations on how teachers can effectively incorporate AI for the benefit of both educators and students.
