Zach Schermele
@ZachSchermele
education reporter @USATODAY | tips? send to [email protected] | 🏳️🌈 | retweets ≠ endorsements
chronicle.com/article/in-a-k… Harvard University squared off against the Trump administration Monday in a Boston courthouse, the first big test in its legal battle to restore more than $2 billion in canceled federal research grants and avoid sweeping oversight by the government.
NEW from me: In an agreement with the Trump administration, Columbia agreed to review its international admissions. How foreign students became a political chip in the government’s effort to overhaul American higher education. chronicle.com/article/tucked…
In new agreement with Trump administration, Columbia University to pay $200 million fine usatoday.com/story/news/pol…
Columbia University announces resolution with federal government: president.columbia.edu/news/resolutio…
NEW: @usedgov has released school-level student loan nonpayment rates. At over 1,000 schools, more than 30% of borrowers are severely delinquent. If these trends persist and borrowers default on their loans, these schools could lose access to federal funding.
NEW: @UNC_System's Board of Governors has directed campuses to form new committees to scrutinize compliance w/ system DEI policies. Each committee’s work will continue until the BOG "deems its specific oversight no longer needed." @TheAssemblyNC theassemblync.com/education/high…
The past 10 years have been tumultuous for higher education, Tyler Austin Harper argues. He recommends eight books that look with clear eyes at the goals, accomplishments, and failures of American universities. theatlantic.com/books/archive/…
"Local. Trusted. Defunded." That's what the big digital sign outside GBH's building in Boston says now. Like other PBS/NPR stations, GBH is starting a new fund-raising push: "We're not backing down" despite the federal funding loss, "but we can't do it without you..."
Former USA TODAY editor David Mazzarella, who helped give paper its hard news edge, dies usatoday.com/story/news/nat… via @usatoday
Yes. Writing is not a second thing that happens after thinking. The act of writing is an act of thinking. Writing *is* thinking. Students, academics, and anyone else who outsources their writing to LLMs will find their screens full of words and their minds emptied of thought.
"We have a newspaper that's printed once a week, so without the radio station, we're kind of in the blind here, locally." NPR's Frank Langfitt's richly observed story on Allegheny Mountain Radio - which relies heavily on federal $. (Not an NPR station) npr.org/2025/07/20/nx-…
Following passage of OBBB, @usedgov announces they'll soon begin reducing federal student loan access for part-time students. Students often work multiple jobs or care for children, and reduced borrowing could severely threaten their basic needs security. fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-cent…
This is a perilous moment for public media — but the resolve is stronger than ever. If you value independent journalism, educational programming, and trusted local coverage, please support your local PBS or NPR station.
BREAKING: $9 billion rescission package gets final passage in the House 216-213. This was close. Did not vote: Three members - 2 Rs, 1 D No votes: 2 Rs.
Thank you for the good thoughts for PBS and esp. @NewsHour. It means the world. We're as determined to ever. Ways to support: 1. EASY one - let's build. Folo me - @LisaDNews. Folo @NewsHour RT this.
New: I teamed up with @elenalingshao and @nytgraphics to map more than 100 public TV and radio stations that are at risk of closing as a result of tonight's vote: nytimes.com/interactive/20… This is a time bomb that will go off in the fall, when the last federal grants run out.
The great @ErinBurnett had me on @CNN to talk about NPR. One of the revelations: many of the lawmakers who claim NPR is biased have been guests on NPR, and have been able to tell their own stories in their own words. vimeo.com/1102363466/e1f…
Varsity Blues mastermind Rick Singer can advise aspiring college students, but only if he prominently displays the following disclosure on his website per a district judge. No sign of Singer or the disclosure on the home page of his new biz, ID Future Stars as of this morning: