A New Frontier: U.S. Academia Under President Trump

Amy Laitinen was quoted in Times Higher Education about education policy under the Trump administration:

On the campaign trail, Trump said that “political correctness…has transformed our institutions of higher education from ones that fostered spirited debate to a place of extreme censorship”, and pledged to “end the political correctness”. Amy Laitinen, director of higher education at thinktank New America, hopes the Trump administration does not choose the “crazy culture wars route” in its approach to higher education – although she adds that this route is “great for Republicans because it motivates their base”.

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But Amy Laitinen, director of higher education at thinktank New America and a former higher education policy adviser in the Obama White House, warns that deregulation could equate to the federal government saying that the “small amount of transparency or accountability [introduced,] we’re going to pull back”.

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Laitinen says: “As we’re thinking about new models of education, could we see the expansion of federal financial aid [for students] going to things like Trump University?”

She says of the Republican position on deregulation and new providers: “If you all of a sudden start dumping billions and billions of dollars into a new sector and you don’t have any outcome requirements, what is to stop students from being harmed? The answer is nothing.”