When states began opting in to Medicaid expansion after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, among the beneficiaries were the teaching hospitals that train doctors and nurses and serve a disproportionate share of low-income patients.

But if the U.S. Senate’s proposal to replace the ACA goes through, higher education groups say, those teaching institutions could take a large hit to their bottom lines because of serious Medicaid cuts. In addition, the pressures those reductions would put on state budgets likely will lead to less support of public higher education, the groups warned.

The Senate health-care bill, dubbed the Better Care Reconciliation Act, eventually would pare back the federal funding that made Medicaid expansion possible in many states. For teaching hospitals in those states, the expansion meant fewer uninsured patients and a lower budgetary burden for providing uncompensated care. Even in states that didn’t expand Medicaid in recent years, the Senate proposal would mean serious reductions to the program by awarding states funding through block grants instead of a set per-patient amount.

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Education Secretary Betsy DeVos last month told lawmakers at a congressional hearing that states and local communities were better equipped than the federal government to deal with issues of regulation, drawing condemnations and negative headlines. In front of a Senate subcommittee last week, she had noticeably changed her tune, telling senators repeatedly that any school receiving federal funding is required to follow federal law.

That assurance came with a pretty big caveat, however. Pressed by Democrats on how she would protect the rights of LGBT students, DeVos said in areas where the law is “unsettled,” which she said included issues of bias against gay people, her department would not be “issuing decrees.”

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The most educated generation in American history has something to say about the value of the U.S. education system.

Just 13% of millennials said they agree or strongly agree with that statement that “higher education today is fine how it is” in a survey released by Washington, D.C.-based think tank New America this week. What’s more, a whopping 79% said they disagree or strongly disagree with that sentiment.

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Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos stated during a speech in Salt Lake City on Tuesday that instead of reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, lawmakers should consider a “fresh start.”

Yes, Congress should consider alternatives to the Higher Education Act, which authorizes all federal higher education spending such as student loans and grants.

Enacted in 1965 under President Lyndon Johnson, the Higher Education Act has undergone countless amendments that pass problems on to future generations. As the secretary said, “Why wouldn’t we start afresh and talk about what we need in this century and beyond for educating and helping our young people learn?”

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Most Americans experience the higher-education crisis in the financial pinch of their children’s tuition bill or the burden of post-college debt. But to understand how the crisis feeds into the economic crisis facing the next generation, ask an adjunct professor why she’s struggling as hard to teach as her undergraduates struggle to graduate—and why both sides of America’s academic marketplace seem priced out of both decent jobs and an enriching learning experience.

Even at Tennessee’s Vanderbilt University, considered an Oxonian academic gem in a state that ranks among the highest in economic inequality, non-tenure-track professors are fighting to form a union—the first of its kind in the right-to-work state.

Vanderbilt’s contingent faculty filed an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board in February, seeking to unionize adjunct, part-time, and full-time non-tenure track faculty, in a proposed unit covering roughly 350 faculty members in various schools, including the Divinity and Graduate Schools. But the vote, which had been scheduled for April, was set back after the administration abruptly announced that it planned to challenge the vast majority of ballots during the vote count. The move led to the withdrawal of the original election agreement, and now, pending a further NLRB review with a different unit arrangement, the workers are awaiting a rescheduled vote.

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If the American people were asked to grade the higher education system, it likely wouldn’t receive an A.

A poll from the think tank New America finds only 25 percent of respondents said higher education “is fine how it is.” In a report on the findings, Inside Higher Ed writes Americans see “the work force and societal value of getting a college degree” but aren’t satisfied with the status quo.

From the article:

Of concern for colleges and universities, just one in four of the survey’s respondents feel higher education is functioning fine the way it is. … A contributor to the widespread belief that higher education too often does not deliver on its promise, the survey found, is that 58 percent of respondents believe colleges put their own long-term interests first instead of those of their students.

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Faculty members, students, and others at Texas A&M University at College Station are pushing back against its president’s criticism of what a philosophy professor said were his remarks taken out of context by a conservative critic.

Several graduate students have started an online petition in which they denounce a statement by the president, Michael K. Young, as “incredibly irresponsible.” By Friday morning, roughly 300 people had signed the petition in support of Tommy Curry, an associate professor of philosophy.

“As members of the Texas A&M community, Aggies, and former students, particularly those of us who identify as Aggies of color, we are deeply alarmed and saddened by President Young’s decision to not support Dr. Curry in the face of these attacks,” the petition reads. “President Young’s response has not only exacerbated the situation but has legitimized dangerous and harmful rhetoric against a black professor at Texas A&M University.”

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Student evaluations of teaching, or SET, aren’t short on critics. Many professors and other experts say they’re unreliable — they may hurt female and minority professors, for example. One recent metastudy also suggested that past analyses linking student achievement to strong evaluation scores are flawed, a mere “artifact of small-sample-sized studies and publication bias.”

Now one of the authors of that metastudy is back for more, with a new analysis suggesting that SET ratings vary by course subject, with professors of math-related fields bearing the brunt of the effect.

“Professors teaching quantitative courses are far more likely not to receive tenure, promotion and/or merit pay when their performance is evaluated against common standards,” reads the study, co-written by SET skeptic Bob Uttl, professor of psychology at Mount Royal University in Canada.

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If Betsy DeVos’s appearance at Bethune-Cookman University, a private historically black institution, was intended to cement the Trump administration’s outreach to HBCUs, it appeared to be a flop.

Boos and jeers from graduating students accompanied DeVos’s remarks throughout her commencement address. Bethune-Cookman President Edison Jackson even interrupted at one point to warn students, “If this behavior continues, your degrees will be mailed to you.”

The booing continued and DeVos raised her voice to continue her remarks while some students stood and turned their backs and others walked out with fists raised, according to reports from the commencement. Video showed administrators behind DeVos, clearly uncomfortable, conferring about what to do about the boos. DeVos generally spoke above the crowd and could be heard on audio of the event.

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When Ray Tensing, a University of Cincinnati police officer, pulled his gun during a traffic stop and fatally shot Samuel DuBose, an unarmed black man, the moment was captured on camera.

Fewer than 15 days later, in July 2015, Tensing was indicted on murder and manslaughter charges — in part because of footage from the camera slung on his chest, technology that campus police forces nationwide have rapidly embraced. The university agreed to pay DuBose’s family nearly $5 million, and Tensing awaits a retrial this month after a jury deadlocked last year.

College and university police and safety heads gave similar answers for wanting their forces to adopt body-worn cameras. They promote a sense of accountability and transparency that appeals to members of the public, especially to people of color, some of whom distrust law enforcement. And as in the DuBose case, such documentation can prove invaluable in court proceedings.

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