by Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scientist UPDATED 4:10PM EST, OCTOBER 16, 2025 Since writing this piece and publishing the morning of October 16, 2025, both Brown University and Penn University have also pushed back on the Trump Compact. That brings them in line with MIT and Dartmouth and leaves four other institutions mulling the Administration’s offer over. Expect more dominoes to … Continue reading Will Anyone Stand Up for America?
by Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scientist This morning a new jobs report showed a sluggish economy by way of the lowest addition of jobs in recent memory which is tied to an increase in unemployment rates. This comes during a week where concerning news came out of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies … Continue reading House Slashes Education Funding This Week
by Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scientist There has been a lot of hub-bub about the cuts to the US Department of Education, and, as of yesterday, we can call it the complete annihilation of the Department (or, as AFT’s Randi Weingarten says: “We’ll see you in court”). Understand that these issues are completely politically driven, and no one could envision these … Continue reading Is this the end of the US Department of Education?
The proverbial axe fell yesterday in DC with a cut of approximately 1,900 US Department of Education staff, equivalent to almost half the entire staff of the department. Officially, around 1,300 were fired; 600 had already taken buyouts. The Administration promised that cuts won’t impact Pell Grants, student loans, and other sensitive program operations. But there is plenty of damage that is being done. Continue reading The Fall and Rise of the US Department of Education
by Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scientist I preface this piece by acknowledging that I am an equal-opportunity political critic. While I lean left and am a registered Democrat, I have also taken on the Biden Administration in recent years as well as both Dems and GOP members. Politics is a contact sport. Here is the deal. Every four years, voters have the … Continue reading A Time for Action
The Swail Letter on Higher Education 