Open Campus has created a new way to extend the coaching, training, and expertise it provides local newsrooms covering higher education: the Higher Ed Under Pressure project.
The goal of the project is to seed and support more local coverage of the ways that the Trump administration is pressuring, scrutinizing, and trying to reshape higher education institutions. So far, the administration has proposed drastic cuts to biomedical research grants, threatened to revoke federal funding for universities with diversity-focused programs, and issued myriad executive orders affecting the sector.
Some of those actions are now stalled in court, but they are creating confusion and uncertainty on campuses across America. It’s vital that local reporters track what’s unfolding and explain clearly what is at stake in their communities. Strong, independent reporting cuts through both university PR and political spin.
Our Local Network is already doing this work. Our reporters covered the end of a diversity initiative in New York City, Alzheimer’s research in jeopardy in Indianapolis, and climate-change research that’s at risk in Puerto Rico. We hope to jumpstart more coverage like this, in more places, through the Higher Ed Under Pressure project.
Local newsrooms, editors, and reporters who sign up for Higher Ed Under Pressure will receive high-level story coaching, data analysis, and policy explainers from our team of higher-ed journalists. Plus, they’ll be connected to a group of peers pursuing similar stories. We’re providing these resources to newsrooms at no cost, in the hopes they lead to more coverage of this pivotal moment.
So far, nearly 30 newsrooms have signed up for this support.
The Higher Ed Under Pressure project builds on the work Open Campus already does with its 17 partner newsrooms, supporting 20 dedicated higher-ed beat reporters in communities from El Paso to Indianapolis, Cleveland to Jackson.
Local newsrooms can learn more and sign up here.
About Open Campus
Open Campus is a nonprofit news organization that ensures communities have the independent information they need about higher ed. By placing expert reporters in local newsrooms across the country, we help people understand and influence the institutions that shape their future opportunities.