Author: Leila Fadel

NPR’s Leila Fadel speaks to filmmaker Ken Burns, an alumnus of Hampshire College, about the school’s plan to permanently close at the end of the fall semester. LEILA FADEL, HOST: Hampshire College in Western Massachusetts says it will close after the fall semester due to declining enrollment. The college’s mission was to radically reimagine liberal arts education. It has no majors and students design their own curriculum. The news is part of a trend. The Huron Consulting Group predicted more than a quarter of private, nonprofit, four-year colleges and universities are at risk of closing in the next decade. When…

People walk by Sather Tower on the UC Berkeley campus on March 14, 2022 in Berkeley, California. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America hide caption toggle caption Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America The University of California, Berkeley, is facing backlash after disclosing the names of 160 students, faculty, and staff to Trump administration officials as part of a federal investigation into allegations of antisemitism on campus. The university sent the documents over several months and notified those named earlier this month. Among them is Ussama Makdisi, a history professor and leading scholar of modern Arab history. “The idea is obviously, clearly…

Sarah Inama is a teacher in Idaho who had a poster in her classroom that read, “Everyone is welcome here,” along with an image of hands with varying skin tones. The poster had never drawn any attention, until recently. Kyle Green for NPR hide caption toggle caption Kyle Green for NPR For years, Sarah Inama had a poster hanging in her Idaho classroom that encouraged her 6th grade students to be kind and inclusive with one another. “Everyone is Welcome Here,” it read in bright multi-colored letters atop a row of hands with varying skin tones. The poster had never…