The Education of Higher Education

6 snips

Dec 7, 2025

Guest

James Harris

Carmen Twillie Ambar, President of Oberlin College, emphasizes the need for dialogue in addressing campus tensions. Sian Leah Beilock, Dartmouth's President, shares insights on encouraging students to engage with diverse perspectives. Ron Daniels from Johns Hopkins highlights the impact of university-researched advancements. John B. King discusses community college's role in workforce preparedness, while Daniel Diermeier explains Vanderbilt's innovative AI skills curriculum. Together, they tackle pressing issues like accessibility, social mobility, and the future of education amidst rising challenges.

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ANECDOTE

Calming Campus Tensions Through Dialogue

Carmen Twillie Ambar described sitting with Oberlin students after October 7th and asking whether chants were dog whistles they couldn't hear.
After that conversation those chants subsided and disappeared from campus behavior.

INSIGHT

Universities Seed Long-Term Innovation

Jonathan Levin emphasized universities as the foundation of innovation and long-term idea development.
He noted academic research and federal funding enabled key AI breakthroughs decades before industry scaled them.

ANECDOTE

Personal Health Benefits From Academic Research

Ron Daniels recounted how diabetes innovations across disciplines transformed a once-fatal disease into a manageable condition.
He used his own insulin-pump dependence to illustrate the practical impact of university-driven research.

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Watch all of the day’s interviews:

The Trump administration’s funding threats aren’t the only issue colleges and universities are facing. There’s also rising antisemitism on campus, and challenges in managing student free speech and demonstrations. What is the future of research without government grants and funding? How will the courts adjudicate these issues? The Justice Department is also taking specific aim at multiple universities over international student visas, claims of antisemitism, anti-D.E.I. investigations, and trans athletes and Title IX policy. Americans now have $1.8 trillion in cumulative student debt. Administrative costs continue to rise. Are Americans’ value systems changing toward education, and how?

And the bigger question: What do universities’ leaders believe the education they provide is for? What and how are universities contributing to society today? Is there a crisis of faith in our educational system? Universities can be rigid systems. Are they capable of responding to valid criticisms? What do they believe needs to change, and how are they working toward those ends?

And as we examine the future of work — and A.I. in particular on the cusp of transforming the entry-level work force — what does the work force of the next generation look like, and how are universities preparing their students?

Panelists: Carmen Twillie Ambar, president of Oberlin College and Conservatory; Sian Leah Beilock, president of Dartmouth; Ron Daniels, president of Johns Hopkins University; Daniel Diermeier, chancellor of Vanderbilt University; James Harris, president of the University of San Diego; John B. King, chancellor of the State University of New York and former U.S. secretary of education; Jonathan Levin, president of Stanford University

Moderator: Jodi Kantor, investigative reporter at The New York Times

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.