DEI Must be More Than Just Saying Words

HEADLINES

The New Accountability. How accreditors are Measuring Colleges’ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts (Chronicle of Higher Education, April 3, 2023) Adding measures for diversity, equity, and inclusion means that policies and practices at colleges must be “more than just saying the words,” said Cynthia Jackson-Hammond, president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, a nonprofit organization that evaluates accreditors. The shift toward greater scrutiny, she said, is “about providing evidence that you are doing it right.”

Community Colleges are Reeling. ‘The Reckoning is Here.’ (Associated Press, April 3, 2023) With scant advising, many community college students spend time and money on courses that won’t transfer or that they don’t need. Though most intend to move on to get bachelor’s degrees, only a small fraction succeed; fewer than half earn any kind of credential. Even if they do, many employers don’t believe they’re ready for the workforce.

Americans Are Losing Faith in College Education, WSJ-NORC Poll Finds (The Wall Street Journal, March 31, 2023) The survey, conducted with NORC at the University of Chicago, a nonpartisan research organization, found that 56% of Americans think earning a four-year degree is a bad bet compared with 42% who retain faith in the credential. 

University of Maine System Maintains Pioneering Accreditation (Bangor Daily News, April 3, 2023) Five months after a team of evaluators descended on the University of Maine’s campus in Orono last October, the UMaine system’s regional accreditor — the New England Commission of Higher Education — reaffirmed its unique status as a system bound together with a single accreditation, according to a March 21 letter from the commission.