Author: Editor

Pennsylvania leaders fill federal gaps in sexual violence preventionThe year 2016 marked a dramatic shift in how federal education officials discussed and enforced polices to prevent and address sexual violence on college campuses and punish perpetrators. The Obama administration had spent about five years bringing attention to the pervasive sexual violence occurring on American campuses and threatening to sanction colleges that did not respond to reports of assault in a manner focused on protecting and believing victims. Those efforts were upended when Donald Trump was elected and appointed Betsy DeVos secretary of education. DeVos, whose views on campus sexual misconduct ran counter to the work of advocates for victims, quickly began to dismantle the policies of the Obama administration....

The 2021 college commencement speech for our timesThank you for inviting me back to Boston to be with you on this glorious day and in this spectacular setting. Fenway is a hallowed arena of achievement and joy and common purpose. Those are the very subjects I want to discuss today. But first things first. Deepest congratulations to all of the graduates on your achievements. As your achievements are recognized in this ceremony, you can look back with justifiable pride — because you have worked hard to reach this day. And you can look forward — with hopeful anticipation toward a fulfilling life. Congratulations as well to all the family and friends who are here, physically or in spirit, to celebrate with you. Throughout your years at Suffolk University, they have been by your side, supportin...

Amid Objections to Automated Proctoring, One Company Abandons the PracticeThe use of remote proctoring has surged as colleges shifted to remote instruction during the pandemic. But not everyone is on board with the practice. Many students and even some schools have pushed back against the practice, especially objecting to automated services that rely on algorithms that watch students via their webcam and look for suspicious patterns of behavior—sending clips of questionable moments to professors for later review. The problem, critics say, is that the systems often lead to false-positives, add stress to the test-taking process and invade privacy. Darker skin tones can prove especially tricky for algorithms. This week one large provider of proctoring services, ProctorU, took the unusual step...