Entries in On Campus by Kirk Carapezza

Harvard says it will bargain with a new union representing graduate students, diverging from other prestigious colleges that have refused to enter contract negotiations. Harvard President Drew Faust says the university will negotiate with teaching and research assistants who voted last month to form a union.

Since the election of President Donald Trump in 2016, the fate of “Dreamers” has been uncertain, especially in red states like Texas, where state officials have done their best to make sure DACA is wiped off the books.

The state’s Board of Higher Education meets Tuesday to discuss the future of students at Mount Ida College, the liberal arts college in Newton set to close at the end of the month. Education officials are debating whether to help students and their parents identify colleges that are in financial trouble.

By 2020, more than five million post-9/11 military members are expected to transition to civilian life. Many will go back to college, hoping to earn a degree as adult learners. Today, only 4 percent of undergraduates in this country are veterans. To engage them, Vermont's flagship campus is turning to an unlikely, ancient Greek source: Homer.

University of Massachusetts president Marty Meehan is pushing back against skeptics who say UMass Amherst's plan to acquire Mount Ida College will undermine UMass Boston and that UMass interfered with Mount Ida's merger talks with Lasell College.

The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education is requesting more information about Mount Ida College's plan to shut down at the end of the semester and transfer its 74-acre campus in Newton to the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The number of Boston Public School graduates attending and completing college within six years has risen significantly in the past decade. But challenges persist for Black and Latino students.

A proposed merger between two small colleges in Newton is off the table. Lasell College has ended talks of merging with another struggling school, Mount Ida. The dead deal reflects how hard it is for small colleges to stay afloat in a competitive higher education marketplace.

UMass Amherst will acquire the physical assets of Mount Ida College while Mount Ida students will be offered admission to UMass Dartmouth.

Governor Charlie Baker has confirmed that the University of Massachusetts is in talks with Mount Ida College following reports that UMass may be interested in acquiring the Newton school.