You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
Linda McMahon urged college leaders to preserve and defend civilization and model intellectual leadership.
Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images
Education Secretary Linda McMahon denounced higher education as broken in a speech Monday at Hillsdale College in Michigan, directing her remarks primarily at four-year institutions and pitching her vision for how to improve American colleges and universities.
She wants to see a system of higher education that’s rigorous and prepares students for a career, but is also dedicated to truth-seeking and committed to treating institutions as “repositories of our civilizational inheritance,” according to a transcript of her remarks. She raised concerns about colleges allegedly taking “real American history” out of the curriculum and questioned whether tax dollars should go to institutions that detract from “our nation’s strength.”
“Decline is a choice, and too many college leaders today have made that choice and failed to own up to it,” she said.
The speech comes after months of work at the Education Department to investigate colleges and cut off funding for some and gives college leaders some sense of how those moves fit into her broader vision.
McMahon’s stop at Hillsdale is part of her nationwide Returning Education to the States tour. She didn’t touch on how shutting down the Education Department would affect colleges but did spend some time highlighting how broken she thinks the system is. In particular, she took issue with the number of administrators on campuses, arguing that the system “delivers disillusionment for millions of students.”
She pointed to Gallup polls that show declining public confidence in higher education, claiming that one-third of Americans are confident in higher education. Gallup’s most recent survey, released in July, found that 42 percent have either “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence, up from 36 percent in 2024.
Ross Mugler, acting president of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, and others said McMahon’s comments “misrepresent the reality on college campuses today” and reflect an “unrealistic approach and assessment of higher education in this country.” He defended the work of college administrators, who he said are trying to do the right things to help students succeed.
“Higher ed isn’t broken; it’s adapting,” he said.
McMahon largely directed her speech to college leaders, arguing that “the crisis of higher education is first and foremost a crisis of leadership.” She called on them to work with the Trump administration to “make higher education great again.” She said she hoped higher ed leaders will read or watch her speech to learn more about the administration’s approach, which she said was simple: Institutions should prioritize personal growth, seek and serve the truth, preserve and defend civilization, and model intellectual leadership and produce future thinkers and leaders.
Those changes “can make their institutions attractive to students again,” she said. “Make them worthy of the trust the American people have placed in them. Make them—well—more like Hillsdale. We all love Hillsdale, but one school shouldn’t have a monopoly on excellence!”
Hillsdale College, a Christian institution in Michigan, has just over 1,700 students, according to the college’s website. Hillsdale doesn’t accept federal aid or grant funding, meaning it’s not subject to the Education Department’s oversight or requirements. That funding is essential for most colleges.
McMahon encouraged four-year institutions to embrace the urgency of the moment to change their practices, noting that alternatives to a bachelor’s degree “are warming up in the dugout” and some government and private sector jobs increasingly don’t require degrees. Additionally, shorter-term programs and career education are giving students more options, she said.
“The cultural and regulatory barriers that made college a default option—and the red tape blocking innovative postsecondary institutions out of the market—are starting to come down,” she said. “These trends are all good for students, but I imagine they are troubling for four-year colleges with absentee leadership and declining enrollment.”
Dan Collier, an assistant professor of higher and adult education at the University of Memphis, said the speech over all seemed disconnected from what’s happening on campuses. He particularly took issue with McMahon’s criticism that students on most campuses are receiving “an obsolete and expensive credential.”
He countered that a bachelor’s degree isn’t obsolete; those with the credential make more money over their lifetime, experience better health outcomes and have lower unemployment rates. Additionally, students continue to opt for postsecondary education. The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that enrollment for spring 2025 increased by 3.2 percent compared to the previous spring.
But McMahon does support four-year institutions generally; in her remarks, she highlighted their broader value to the country.
“America is a symbol of hope and liberty to the world,” she said. “Our institutions must prepare students to carry that mantle, to lead with clarity and conviction, and to show the world what a free society can achieve. Our university leaders can be the change agents who make this vision a reality.”
Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, said that she agreed with several of McMahon’s points, such as the need to connect curriculum to careers, to ensure students are positioned for success in work and life, and to restore trust in higher ed.
However, she worries that McMahon’s speech presented an “idealized portrait of college life that harkens back to the tweedy past when women went to college to get an Mrs. degree, little to no diversity and prestige was measured by exclusion.”
Pasquerella also argued that the Trump administration is undermining a number of goals outlined in the speech.
For instance, McMahon said that “university leaders should value free enquiry once again, and restore truth as the highest good.” To Pasquerella, the administration’s crackdown on what it calls illegal diversity, equity and inclusion and its decision to cut off grant funding for research into climate change, racial diversity and other topics are preventing the unfettered pursuit of truth on college campuses.
McMahon said she doesn’t expect change to happen overnight and acknowledged that the federal government can only do so much to reach its goals. That’s why she’s calling on university leaders to work with them.
“But if enough leaders take the initiative to make their institutions a little more like Hillsdale,” she said, “we will be heading in the right direction.”
