Fabiola Cineas

America’s colleges and universities are embroiled in yet another debate about admissions. This time, they’re rethinking their positions on standardized testing. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, several elite colleges made the submission of SAT and ACT scores optional for applicants. Testing had become a hassle, with limited testing locations and time for students to get prepared. The anti-testing movement had long contended that standardized tests reinforce racial and economic inequality a…

The federal form used to apply for financial aid, the FAFSA, got an update this year — and so far, it’s been a mess. Many students who need money for college the most have been affected. Now the US Department of Education is scrambling to smooth out the kinks in its rollout and send out college financial aid information this month for the upcoming school year. Millions of college applicants who need grants, loans, or work-study funds complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFS…

Netflix’s Love Is Blind is reigniting conversations about whether the show’s unique dating experiment — courting sight unseen — benefits Black women. Since season six of the hit show began airing on Valentine’s Day this year, all eyes have been on Amber Desiree (AD) Smith and her bumbling journey through the pods. AD quickly became a fan favorite because she was candid about her destructive choices when it comes to love. “If I see a red flag, I’m like, ’Oh, well, I’ll just paint my nails red to…

The latest season of The Bachelor concluded with an emotional proposal and an exciting announcement: For the first time in the franchise’s more than 20-year history, there will be an Asian lead. While 26-year-old Jenn Tran’s coming tenure as the newest Bachelorette made many fans happy, the announcement has others downright furious and some feeling anxious. The anxiety about ABC’s decision has been clear online this week. When one X user wrote, “PLEASE PROTECT JENN FROM THE RACI$M of bachelor na…

A report released earlier this year from the National Clearinghouse Research Center found that higher education is finally experiencing a reversal in enrollment declines for the first time since the pandemic began. In fall 2023, there were about 176,000 more undergraduates enrolled, a 1.2 percent increase over fall 2022’s total enrollment at colleges nationwide. The trend could continue as applications continue to increase. College enrollment began retreating in certain parts of the country afte…

Campus tensions over Israel’s war on Gaza have flared up again, this time at the University of Southern California, which this week barred its valedictorian from speaking at next month’s commencement ceremony. The school cited potential campus safety risks if Asna Tabassum delivered a speech. Provost Andrew T. Guzman said in an email to students and staff on Monday that public discussion had “taken on an alarming tenor” after the school announced its choice for valedictorian. “The intensity of f…

Last week, the country watched one of the biggest escalations in campus unrest this year unfold, when dozens of New York City police officers clad in riot gear entered the grounds of Columbia University and, on the orders of university president Minouche Shafik, arrested more than 108 student protesters who had built a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on campus. The students are calling for the school to divest from companies and organizations with ties to Israel amid the ongoing war in Gaza. Though…

Friday marks the 70th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, in which the Supreme Court ruled that the “separate but equal” schools for racial minorities were inherently unequal and unconstitutional. But so many years after the watershed ruling, new research confirms a startling trend: School segregation has been getting steadily worse over the last three decades. Researchers at Stanford University and the University of Southern California found that racial segregation…

It took less than a day for the world to start rallying for George Floyd in late May 2020. The events that led to Floyd’s murder unfolded over hours, but a viral 10-minute video recording of the deadly encounter with Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was enough to send floods of people nationwide into the streets for months. In the weeks after Floyd’s killing, the number of Americans who said they believe racial discrimination is a big problem and that they support the Black Lives Matter…

The 2023–24 academic year has inarguably been one of the toughest years in recent history to be a college president. Following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel and amid Israel’s retaliatory bombardment of Gaza, campuses erupted in activism, with thousands of students, faculty, and community members mobilizing to protest an Israeli offensive that to date has killed more than 36,000. College presidents — and their response to the war and protests — have consequently come under withering scruti…