A Memo to Reform-Minded Campus Leaders

We’re past the furious early salvos of Trump vs. Higher Ed. Fifteen months into Trump 2.0, the early clashes have settled into a Cool War punctuated by more modest skirmishes between the administration and brand-name universities. As the research freezes have thawed and the settlements have slowed, higher ed’s stunned disorientation is subsiding (even as red-state legislation, ongoing federal investigations, student-lending reform, and the overhaul of accreditation mean that things are very far from settled). The pace and tenor of change is less intense now than a year ago. This means that campus leaders have less political cover (it’s tougher...