Located in a corner of West Texas that borders New Mexico and Mexico, the University of Texas at El Paso is one of the nation’s leading Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Eighty-four percent of UTEP’s 24,000 students are Hispanic. That's more than triple the percentage (25 percent) that the federal government uses to designate a college as an HSI.

In this interview, UTEP’s Heather Wilson talks about lowering college costs for students, the possible effects of anti-DEI legislation in Texas, and her leadership style as one of the small percentage of women presiding over a top research university.

Photo: Laure Andrillon

Artificial intelligence might be the new frontier in technology, but Toby Reed, a senior at Fremont High in Oakland, has no doubts about whether to harness its powers—at least on his college application essay.

In the first application season since generative AI tools like ChatGPT have become widely available, colleges and high schools are grappling with the ethical and practical implications of text-writing technology.

Is there a civil discourse crisis in higher education? Judging from the controversial speakers shouted down on campuses and the sessions canceled at scholarly meetings, the complicated and often combustible mix of academic freedom, free speech, and opposition to hate speech has created a landscape seemingly littered with rhetorical land mines. 

Academics, nonprofit leaders, and college administrators recently gathered to assess the state of campus discourse and the steps to improve it.