American higher education is undergoing a period of genuinely historical transformation. For future historians, the period of 2023-26 will be seen as an era of major upheaval — there will be a before and an after. In short, we are living through an inflection point.
We asked 11 leading scholars and administrators to tell us what they think will be this year’s major development for higher education. Their concerns ran the gamut, including dwindling enrollments, precarious federal financing, questions of academic freedom and autonomy from the state, and the continued ascent of artificial intelligence. Amid the anxiety and insecurity, some evinced signs of hope for the revival of the humanities and Great Books curricula, and the renewal of public trust.
Here’s what they told us.
