Three Developments Every Higher Ed Faculty Member Should Be Watching in 2026

A New Federal Accountability Regime for Higher Education

After failing spectacularly with its proposed Compact for Academic Excellence in the fall, now the administration is leaning on what it can control most directly: Title IV eligibility through a new accountability framework tied to student earnings, program-level outcomes, and workforce alignment. These rules will govern which programs remain eligible for federal financial aid and will push institutions to reorganize academic priorities around narrow economic metrics.

Why this matters: This framework expands federal leverage over what universities teach and which programs survive. It risks marginalizing the humanities and social sciences, weakening shared governance by shifting authority to compliance offices and external metrics, and accelerating the corporatization of the academic mission. The is far more than technical regulatory change — it is part of a broader trend toward external political and economic control over academic life.

Escalating State-Level Attacks on Academic Freedom and Curriculum

(a) Across the country, state governments are continuing to pass laws and impose policies that restrict what can be taught, how race and gender can be discussed, which programs may exist, and how faculty speech is regulated. These efforts are increasingly coordinated across states and are being advanced through both legislation and governing boards.

A major new report from PEN America documents how government censorship and ideological controls are spreading across U.S. higher education, with large numbers of students now enrolled in states that have enacted formal restrictions on instruction or academic speech.

Why this matters: These attacks directly undermine academic freedom and free inquiry, bypass or weaken faculty governance, and place faculty and staff at professional risk for teaching core disciplinary content. Faculty are being forced to uphold academic standards while operating under political censorship regimes. This makes cross-campus and cross-state solidarity essential, not optional.

Read the PEN America report: America’s Censored Campuses 2025: Expanding the Web of Control

PEN has also launched a companion blog series, Snapshots of Censorship, featuring faculty stories from the front lines of these attacks.

(b) A new consortium of higher ed organizations started last fall has banded together to create the Emergency Campaign to Support Higher Education, and has crafted the Pledge to Put Students First.  

Why this matters: The Pledge to Put Students First is a tool to unify our campuses and increase debate and engagement among students, parents, alumni, faculty, education workers, and community members who believe in the promise of post-secondary education as a pathway to a better life and a foundation for a free society. We encourage organizations to sign the pledge, for Student Government Associations, Faculty Senates, and Boards of Trustees to introduce resolutions in support of it, and for university leaders to add their names. There’s a version for organizations here, and for college leaders here. Once a critical mass of organizations and institutions has joined, the Emergency Campaign will publicly share the list of signatories. STHE is proud to be part of this coalition, and was proud to sign this pledge.

A Major Legal Victory for Academic Freedom

And there is real good news. In January, the Department of Education abandoned its appeal in the lawsuit challenging its controversial “Dear Colleague Letter” — a guidance that had been used to threaten federal funding and intimidate campuses over DEI-related practices. With the appeal dropped, the court’s ruling striking down the letter is now final. That threat is gone. The federal government can no longer use that guidance to pressure universities or dictate campus policy. This is a major victory for academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and the constitutional rights of educators and students — and a powerful reminder that organized resistance works.