Daily Lumina News 062220

Should colleges and universities open in-person in the fall? Higher education institutions are under intense pressure to announce their plans for the upcoming semester—a high-stakes decision that pits the safety of remote learning against students’ clear desire for an in-person experience.
Professors, presidents, administrators, graduate students, and a rising freshman weigh in on the most consequential question facing higher education today.

Leaders of seven community college-based organizations recently addressed an array of issues pertaining to the pandemic and equity.
Two topics seemed to permeate through most of the discussion: Ensuring students have the technology needed to continue with remote learning and including faculty in plans to help students succeed in the new college environment.

Osvaldo Sandoval-Leon is an assistant professor at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. He's also a DREAMer. Thanks to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, he has been able to live and work legally in the United States since 2012.
In this essay, Sandoval-Leon reflects on the Supreme Court’s ruling to temporarily preserve DACA and why the real work to create a permanent solution must now begin.

The economic downturn caused by COVID-19 has been unsparing in its impact on the U.S. workforce and once again highlights the critical importance of post-high school education.
On July 1, in a special webinar, Lumina Foundation's Courtney Brown and Jeff Strohl of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce will discuss newly available data on the powerful promise of short-term credentials in providing a pathway to good jobs.