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Education Secretary Linda McMahon has told the nation’s colleges and universities to develop and publish reform plans by the end of the year.
In a three-page letter published Monday, McMahon’s “National Call to Action to University Presidents and Governing Boards” urged campus leaders to take on hot-button topics that have hurt higher education’s reputation among many Americans.
The topics she wants addressed include transparency and merit in admissions, tackling AI concerns, keeping college affordable, prioritizing excellence, ensuring free speech and academic freedom, and protecting schools from nefarious foreign influences.
“Before the end of 2026, I call on every postsecondary institution to describe to the American public your commitments to rigorous teaching, pathbreaking research, and national service—commitments that make our universities a bedrock institution of the American republic,” McMahon wrote (bold in the original).
“These statements of principle should be posted prominently on institutional websites,” she added, also in bold.
The education secretary then outlined seven pointed questions campus leaders should grapple with:
How will your institution ensure that admissions criteria are transparent and wholly described to prospective applicants? And how will your institution ensure admissions decisions are based on merit, achievement, and your university’s educational purpose?
How will your institution protect the free exchange of ideas, wide-ranging debate, and openminded campus discourse? And how will you guarantee that unruly and violent protestors do not harass students or disrupt classes, research, public lectures, and campus operations?
How will your institution encourage intellectual pluralism in all its academic units? How will your faculty hiring and evaluation practices support academic vitality and ensure that all relevant perspectives are taken seriously? And how will your school ensure the research enterprise is dedicated to advancing knowledge, deepening understanding, and serving the American people who fund it?
How will your institution ensure that families can access affordable, high-return, degrees? What can your school do to contain costs, improve pricing transparency, and ensure that every academic program equips students to repay their loans?
How will your institution incentivize rigor in the age of AI, combat grade inflation, and prioritize excellence in teaching and learning?
How will your school protect academic programs from foreign influence and safeguard the integrity of the research enterprise?
How will your institution answer this national call to action? How can your campus and faculty advance American security interests, deliver academic programs that meet urgent workforce needs, and contribute materially to the Nation’s prosperity?
Politico reported Monday that the Education Department “did not immediately respond to questions about what happens if the schools do or do not participate.”
“This forthright conversation with the American people is long overdue,” McMahon wrote in her memo. “And it is the essential first step toward rebuilding trust in the sector.”
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