2025 AERA Opening General Session: The Future of Higher Education in Polarized Times

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

Higher education institutions play a vital role in a multiracial democracy. The teaching missions and research produced by colleges and universities have been instrumental in broadening and deepening learning, expanding access, fostering knowledge creation and innovation, improving labor market outcomes, and enhancing civic engagement. However, higher education has also contributed to racial, social class, and other forms of stratification. Recent federal actions and state legislative bans on teaching critical race theory and related subjects have undermined academic freedom and challenged the core research of many education scholars. Amid fiscal and enrollment constraints, numerous colleges and universities are facing closures or eliminating selected departments and disciplines. This panel will explore the future of higher education, particularly schools and departments of education, in an era of political polarization where their core functions are increasingly scrutinized and under attack.

Sub Unit

• AERA Sessions

Chair

• Janelle T. Scott, University of California - Berkeley

Participants

• Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy, Northwestern University

• Shaun R. Harper, University of Southern California

• Danielle Holley, Mount Holyoke College

• OiYan A. Poon, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Sarah Willcox, Scholars at Risk