Academia at a Crossroads

The challenges for university presidents keep coming, from Middle East protests to standardized testing and admissions debates, to complaints over classroom content and pedagogical methods. The American public has little faith in college administrators right now, according to polling, and it’s often unclear how institutions can move forward and assuage the critics. Not to mention how to best educate our future leaders and citizens. A panel of wide-ranging experts on college life tackles these issues head on at the 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival, sharing examples from their schools and answering audience questions. Two college presidents, Dr. Sian Beilock of Dartmouth and L. Song Richardson, formerly of Colorado College, bring the perspective of leadership to the conversation. Theo Baker, a Stanford University student and investigative journalist known for exposing falsifications in the former Stanford president’s research, speaks to the student experience at a well-resourced institution. And the CEO of U.S. News and World Report, Eric Gertler, explains how the higher education watchdog publication is observing the landscape. Financial Times editorial board member and columnist, and provost of Kings College, Cambridge University in the UK, Gillian Romaine Tett, moderates the discussion.