One of the nation’s most selective institutions is sounding the alarm about grade inflation. According to a new report, A’s account for about 60 percent of all grades awarded in 2025 at Harvard College, which houses the university’s undergraduate program. That’s a big jump from 2005, when less than a quarter of grades were A’s. The report has provoked a frenzied response, validating for critics the notion that “elite” colleges aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, and that Gen Z students are delicate snowflakes who can’t handle tough grading. The truth, of course, is more complicated. But the report provides a fascinating portrait of how Harvard views its own role as a sorter of talent, and it shines a light on universal debates over grading that extend far beyond Cambridge, Mass.Related Reading
What’s Up With Grade Inflation? (College Matters podcast)
The Great Campus Charade: Students Are Learning and Studying Less — Yet Grades Go Up (The Review)
Why Does the Trump Compact Talk About Grading? (The Chronicle)
GuestBeth McMurtrie, senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education
For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.
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29:31
Is ‘Intellectual Diversity’ a Trap?
Lately, calls for “intellectual diversity” are all the rage. From President Trump, to right-wing think tanks, to college presidents, arguments abound for adding more conservative voices to the professoriate. But are these arguments being made in good faith? How liberal are faculty, really? And what does a push for a narrowed, classics-driven curriculum mean for the canon-expanding courses that some colleges now offer on subjects as diverse as the Grateful Dead and Taylor Swift?Related Reading:
Higher Education Needs to Embrace a Diversity of Beliefs (Fox News/ Gordon Gee)
Viewpoint Diversity is a MAGA Plot (The Review / Lisa Siraganian)
How One State’s 'Intellectual Diversity' Law Has Changed Professors’ Teaching (The Chronicle)
GuestBrock Read, deputy managing editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education
For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.
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31:28
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31:28
Policing Antisemitism
The pro-Palestinian protests that erupted on many college campuses in the spring of 2024 gave rise to a surge of complaints about antisemitism at colleges across the United States. Under pressure to respond, Columbia and Harvard Universities have both in the past year adopted into policy a common definition of antisemitism, using the text as a guide in discrimination investigations. But defining the line between legitimate criticism of Israeli policy and antisemitism has long bedeviled scholars, and refereeing such cases invites concerns about free speech and academic freedom. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working definition of antisemitism, upon which Columbia and Harvard now rely, wasn’t ever intended to be a speech code and shouldn’t be used as such, says Kenneth Stern, who helped to draft the text about two decades ago. But how, then, should colleges respond to concerns about hatred and prejudice aimed at Jewish people?
Colleges Use His Antisemitism Definition to Censor. He Calls It a ‘Travesty.’ (The Chronicle)
The Great Antisemitism Debate (The Chronicle)
Why Anti-Jewish Discrimination on Campuses Might Not Violate Title VI (The Chronicle)
UC Berkeley Hands Over 160 Names to the Federal Government for ‘Potential Connection’ to Antisemitism. (The Chronicle)
GuestKenneth S. Stern, director of the Center for the Study of Hate at Bard College.
For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.
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40:45
Obama to Colleges: WTF
Barack Obama wants university leaders to stick to their guns. Appearing on the final episode of Marc Maron’s long-running WTF podcast, the former U.S. president urged college presidents to guard their academic independence, even if it means losing some federal money. Obama’s message comes at a pivotal moment, as the Trump administration pressures colleges to get on board with its sweeping higher-education agenda. The administration's “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” proposed this month, would require colleges to accept restrictions on admissions, hiring, and speech in exchange for preferred access to federal money. But what would passing Obama’s leadership test mean in practice? And who might be willing to risk standing up to Trump?Related Reading
Episode 1686: Barack Obama (WTF with Marc Maron)
Trump’s ‘Compact’ is Freaking People Out (College Matters from The Chronicle)
Obama’s Legacy: An Unlikely Hawk on Higher Ed (The Chronicle)
GuestAndy Thomason, assistant managing editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education
For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.
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30:57
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30:57
Trump’s ‘Compact’ Is Freaking People Out
After months of skirmishes with colleges, the Trump administration has proposed a treaty of sorts with nine high-profile institutions. By signing the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” participating colleges would essentially co-sign the president’s sprawling higher-education agenda. Under a draft agreement, signatories would explicitly ban considerations of race in admissions or in the awarding of scholarships, abolish departments that “belittle” conservative views, and strictly limit the percentage of international students enrolled in undergraduate programs. Many higher-education associations and analysts rushed to blast the proposal, which has been described as “horrifying” and reminiscent of a Mafia-style ultimatum. But what does this compact say about the historic relationship between the federal government and higher education, and how might that relationship be changing no matter what?Related Reading
Trump’s Proposed ‘Compact’ Asks Colleges to Show They’re ‘Pursuing Federal Priorities’ (The Chronicle)
Trump Says Signing a New ‘Compact’ Will Benefit Colleges’ Finances. It Could Also Do the Opposite. (The Chronicle)
Trump’s Imperfect Compact Is a Perfect Opportunity (The Chronicle Review)
A Deal That Would End Universities’ Independence (The Atlantic)
GuestSarah Brown, senior editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education
Higher education is at the center of the biggest stories in the country today, and College Matters is here to make sense of it all. This podcast is a production of The Chronicle of Higher Education, the nation's leading independent newsroom covering colleges.
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