higher ed

The director of the National Science Foundation was in Boston Monday, speaking out about potential cuts to science and research funding.

Well, it's official. Amherst College has chosen a new mascot. The private school in Western Massachusetts announced its first official mascot on Monday. The Mammoths will replace the unofficial mascot, Lord Jeff.

On campus, many cybersecurity threats are introduced by students, professors, administrators, prompting some universities to look beyond protections on the technical side and focus on educating their user communities on safer computing habits.

A protest at Vermont’s Middlebury College against conservative author Charlies Murray, who was invited to speak, quickly got out of hand last week—ending with one person in the emergency room. The incident comes weeks after another controversial conservative—former Breitbart Editor Milo Yiannopoulos—sparked protests at the University of California at Berkley.

Harvard University is taking additional steps to confront its past ties to slavery. The university on Friday hosted a conference exploring the historical ties between slavery and universities founded in the Colonial Era.

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos delivered her most extensive comments to date on higher education Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland, criticizing professors and deans for indoctrinating students.

Marijuana-use and binge drinking have long been major problems on college campuses - something administrators prefer to hide or sweep under the rug. Now, one local university in northern New England is using the latest neuroscience to combat that culture - and perhaps change its reputation as a party school.

Massachusetts education leaders are launching what they say is a major early college initiative. Currently, only about 2 percent of the state's high school students take college courses.

Under a six-month pilot, University of Massachusetts Lowell students and faculty will be able to ride all Lowell Regional Transit Authority buses and some Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority buses for free.

Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo wants to waive tuition for in-state college students. Her plan would offer two years tuition-free regardless of family income. Raimondo says higher education must be more affordable and accessible and she wants Rhode Island's public colleges to be among the first to go tuition-free and subsidize all mandatory fees.