Where Do America’s Colleges Go From Here? — The Atlantic

RESOLVING THE LEDGER

On August 3, Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a letter to states and higher-education leaders with instructions to, as McMahon put it, “describe to the American public your commitments to rigorous teaching, pathbreaking research, and national service—commitments that make our universities a bedrock institution of the American republic.”

A request like that would be simple enough if not for the history between the Trump administration and higher education—a relationship that can fairly be described as antagonistic. Case in point: last year’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” which critics from across the political spectrum argued effectively asked colleges to compromise academic freedom in exchange for privileged, if vague, access to federal funds. There’s also the suite of federal investigations targeting diversity programs on college campuses.

Questioning colleges is normal. There are outstanding concerns about the experience, the education, and the enterprise of higher education: How much does it cost , and is that more than families can pay ? Who gets in , and why? Are faculty members treated with dignity? What is college even for? So, although college leaders argue that a few of the concerns voiced in the document are legitimate, they also see within it the bane of Ilium .

[ Read: A deal that would end universities’ independence ]

On this week’s Radio Atlantic, I’m joined by Jack Stripling, the host of the College Matters podcast at The Chronicle of Higher Education , to consider higher education in the Trump era, and the purpose of college itself.

I also go back into the Atlantic archives to look at a debate between W. E. B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington over their theories of advancement for Black people, and how it should inform our thinking about colleges today.

The following is a transcript of the episode:

Jack Stripling: We keep talking about the politics, but when people are saying I don’t know if college is worth it , they’re usually saying I don’t know if it’s worth the money, not I don’t know if it’s worth risking meeting a liberal person.

Adam Harris: This is Radio Atlantic . I’m Adam Harris, and around the country millions of students are getting ready to head back to school, if they’re not already in class. So today, we need to think about education in uncertain times.

Now, I was always a big fan of the first day of school. In grade school, I’d pick out my clothes the night before, have them sitting and ready next to my bed. My bag was packed with everything I could possibly need, and some things I definitely didn’t. In college, every new year meant new books, new ideas, and new challenges.

But over the last several years, there has been a battle raging for the soul of higher education in America that’s divorced from those idyllic memories—a battle that has many asking what college is supposed to be and whom it is supposed to serve. Earlier this month, Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a letter to colleges asking them to respond to a series of questions. Questions about their institutions, their programs, and how they contribute to the American project. The letter gives college leaders one more thing to consider in an era marked by funding woes, by fears of enrollment stagnation and decline, technological advancements, and political pressures.

How will it all play out? And what will school leaders be thinking about throughout the next year?

Jack Stripling is the host of the College Matters podcast at The Chronicle of Higher Education and my former colleague. And he joins me now to discuss.

Let’s get to questions.

Jack, welcome to the show.

Stripling: Adam Harris, so good to catch up with you.

Harris: Absolutely, man. I want to start with this letter that went out to college leaders recently from Education Secretary Linda McMahon that was effectively the administration’s call to action, right? To prod colleges to address what they see as a sort of outstanding concerns—affordability, viewpoint, diversity, right? That is to say, more acceptable, or more acceptance of conservative views on campus, job preparation, among other things. And it’s sort of been billed as a Compact 2.0, sort of building on the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education that was criticized in 2025.

In The Chronicle , you all referred to it as either an olive branch or a gloved fist.

So, like, which one is it? How are college presidents viewing this?

Stripling: Well, I think that the backstory is important here, Adam, which you know, which is that this is an administration that has essentially been at loggerheads with higher education since day one. The Trump presidency has largely defined its domestic agenda around attacking higher education for its perceived “wokeness.”

So this was no surprise that they were going to head in this direction to some extent. They have used, as you know, different types of leverage against all sorts of universities: withholding money, threatening all sorts of things. But the one thing they did do last fall was to release this compact for higher education, which was to say Sign on to these federal priorities and we will, in exchange, give you favorable treatment for federal funding . And this was a total flop. No one really signed on to this thing. There were lots of objections to it. And I think where it really hurt this administration was college presidents saying, This isn’t even merit-based, and you’re supposed to be the merit people. You’re now saying you’re going to give favoritism to people who agree with you politically.

So there was a disconnect between two value systems of the Trump administration. So they end up going back to the drawing board and, as you say, this August 3 letter comes from Secretary Linda McMahon that’s called “a national call to action.”

It’s a little softer. It’s more coalition-y , to make a phrase here. It’s based on feedback from influential higher-ed leaders, although...

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