Axios - Former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the GOP's 2024 frontrunners, both promise a crackdown on colleges. It's a stark reflection of the right's growing skepticism of higher ed, Axios' Caitlin Owens reports. Republican complaints about colleges are related to broader concerns about "wokeness" and free speech.
In a video posted on his website last week, Trump pledged to "fire the radical Left accreditors" and hire new ones "who will impose real standards on colleges." Some of those standards would include "protecting free speech," "removing all Marxist diversity, equity, and inclusion bureaucrats," and "implementing college entrance and exit exams to prove that students are actually learning and getting their money's worth."
Gallup polling released this month found that Americans' confidence in higher education has fallen to 36%, compared to 57% in 2015. The sharpest reported drop in confidence was among Republicans. Only 19% of Republicans say they have "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in higher education, compared to 56% who said the same eight years ago. Among Democrats, 59% expressed confidence, a 9-point decline from 2015.
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