Hey there. It's Stephen Dubner. In a few weeks, a new batch of students will arrive at the nearly 4,000 colleges across the U.S.

It has been a turbulent time for higher education.

Enrollment is up a bit over the past couple semesters but that comes after years

of decline. Colleges are closing or merging at a rate of about one a week.

And the already heated conversation about free speech on campus got even hotter during the springtime

protests around the war in Gaza.

Perhaps most important, trust in higher education has been eroding.

First, on the right side of the political spectrum, but the left is catching up.

Last week we spoke with Tanya Tetlow, the president of Fordham University in New York City,

about how she has tried to navigate the turbulence.

We have always authorized any request to protest on our campus

that students bring us.

But what we navigate with them is, you know,

you don't point bullhorns at the library

during study session.

And earlier this year we spoke with Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University, about having

hard conversations on campus.

You can't please everyone, but I don't think that's an excuse to say nothing.

Every college has had to wrestle with these recent events, but some schools, especially some of the most elite schools,

have had a particularly tough time.

It's been a very difficult year for higher education in general and it's been an especially

difficult year at Harvard.

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