New College of Florida students, activists and alumni pick through discarded books from the school’s Gender and Diversity Center in Sarasota, Florida (via REUTERS)

Dear Commons Community,

New College in Florida overhauled by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis sent hundreds of library books, many of which contained LGBTQ+ themes, to a landfill.

It’s the latest development in a conservative campaign that has brought national scrutiny to New College, a small liberal arts school in Sarasota. Gov. DeSantis, vowed to turn the campus into the “first public university to push back on gender indoctrination.”  As reported by USA Today.

The school’s transformation, which prompted many students and faculty members to flee to other schools, has influenced Republican efforts nationwide to reshape higher education in the party’s image.

On Tuesday, a dumpster in the parking lot of the school’s Jane Bancroft Cook Library overflowed with books and collections from the now-defunct Gender and Diversity Center. Video showed a vehicle driving away with the books before students were notified. (In the past, New College students have been given an opportunity to purchase books leaving the college’s library collection.)

Some of the discarded books included, “Nine and Counting: The Women of the Senate,” “The War of the Worlds” and “When I Knew,” a collection of stories from LGBTQ+ people recounting when they knew they were gay.

After Gannett’s report was published, New College spokesperson Nathan March sent a statement saying the story was false. The college was carrying out two separate procedures: a routine maintenance of its campus library and removing materials from the GDC because the gender studies program no longer exists.

“A library needs to regularly review and renew its collection to ensure its materials are meeting the current needs of students and faculty,” March wrote. “The images seen online of a dumpster of library materials is related to the standard weeding process.”

March referenced Florida Statute 237 as the reason each book could not be donated or sold. However, Florida law states that New College could dispose of state-funded personal property by “selling or transferring the property to any other governmental entity … private nonprofit agency … (and) through a sale open to the public.”

He also said that, because no one claimed the GDC library of books from its previous home in the Hamilton Center, the books were moved to a donation box behind the library. The donation box sits several feet from where the book-filled dumpster sat, and New College’s move-in day isn’t until Aug. 23, meaning most students are not on campus yet.

Several students also said they were never told the GDC books were available to claim.

New College of Florida students, activists and alumni pick through discarded books from the school’s Gender and Diversity Center on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024.

Amy Reid, the faculty chair and representative on the board of trustees, said when colleges throw away books, they also throw away democracy.

“Books are what matter,” she said.

Natalia Benavites, a 21-year-old fourth-year student at New College, said books in the dumpster carried the college’s seal as well as a “discard” sticker on the spine. When she asked officials whether they could donate the books, she was told that under state statute the college can’t donate books purchased with state funds.

New College of Florida students, activists and alumni pick through discarded books from the school’s Gender and Diversity Center on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024.

The college also discarded books from the Gender and Diversity Center, which was located across campus. The GDC books were purchased individually and not with state funds, Benavites said.

Why not just burn them as was done in Nazi Germany!

Tony

Courtesy of The Washington Post.

Dear Commons Community,

Former President Trump yesterday dismissed calls from those in the GOP calling for him to refocus on policy, saying he was “entitled to personal attacks” against Vice President Harris because she called me “weird.”  As reported by The Hill.

Trump held a press conference at his Bedminster, N.J., property, where he delivered remarks for close to an hour before taking questions from reporters. He was asked by multiple journalists about criticism from some Republicans that he needs to be more disciplined and lay off the personal attacks on his opponent.

“As far as the personal attacks, I’m very angry at her because of what she’s done to the country,” Trump said. “I think I’m entitled to personal attacks. I don’t have a lot of respect for her. I don’t have a lot of respect for her intelligence, and I think she’ll be a terrible president.

“And I think it’s very important that we win,” Trump continued. “And whether the personal attacks are good, bad. She certainly attacks me personally. She actually called me weird.”

Asked specifically about comments from former rival Nikki Haley that Trump’s campaign needs to shift its strategy, Trump said he appreciates her advice but that he would run his campaign “my way.”

Trump has struggled to deliver a consistent message targeting Harris, even as Republicans argue they have a strong case against her on the economy and immigration. While the former president has at times focused on the issues, he has also attacked the vice president’s biracial heritage, her laugh and her intelligence.

The former president’s press conference was his second in as many weeks as he seeks to put a dent in Harris’s momentum since she replaced President Biden as the Democratic nominee in late July.

Polling published Wednesday from the nonpartisan Cook Political Report showed Harris leading Trump in five out of seven battleground states likely to decide November’s election: Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Trump led Harris in Nevada, while the two candidates were tied in Georgia.

…

Some of Trump’s closest allies have taken to the airwaves to publicly urge the former president to recalibrate his message in the face of a new political landscape against a younger opponent who has rejuvenated Democratic voters.

Peter Navarro, a former Trump White House trade adviser, said this week the former president’s current formula of holding rallies “is simply not sufficiently focused on the very stark policy differences — policy differences — between him and Kamala Harris that will swing voters in key battleground states.”

Kellyanne Conway, who led Trump’s successful 2016 campaign and served as a top White House adviser, said on Fox Business Network that Trump’s path to victory would require “fewer insults, more insights and that policy contrast.”

Prior to taking questions, Trump spoke for about 45 minutes, reading from a book and delivering remarks that started off calling out Harris over the economy, inflation and the Biden administration’s record. Trump was flanked by tables filled with groceries, including cereal, coffee and condiments to illustrate his argument that the price of basic goods was too high for many Americans.

But Trump quickly veered into various other topics that included the border, how windmills kill birds, crime in big cities, the quality of electric trucks and his relationships with various foreign leaders, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

He is “weird.”

Tony

Minouche Shafik

Dear Commons Community,

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik resigned yesterday, four months after the university’s handling of campus protests over Israel’s war in Gaza drew criticism from pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian sides alike.

Shafik, who cited the toll the campus turmoil took on her family, becomes the third president of an Ivy League university to step down in the wake of campus protests over Gaza.

She said she made the announcement now so new leadership could be in place before the new term begins on Sept. 3, when student protesters have vowed to resume protests.  As reported by Reuters.

“It has… been a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community. This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community,” Shafik said in a statement.

The university announced Katrina Armstrong, dean of Columbia’s medical school, would serve as interim president. Armstrong said in a statement she was “acutely aware of the trials the University has faced over the past year.”

Columbia was rocked in April and May as protesters occupied parts of the New York City campus in opposition to Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza, resulting in hundreds of arrests. The demonstrators denounced Shafik for calling police onto campus to halt the demonstrations, while pro-Israel supporters castigated her for failing to crack down sufficiently.

Students with Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a group behind the protests, welcomed the resignation but said it should not become a distraction from their efforts to have Columbia divest from companies that support Israel’s military and its occupation of Palestinian territories.

“We hope that Columbia will finally appoint a president that will hear the students and faculty rather than appeasing Congress and donors,” said Mahmoud Khalil, one of the group’s lead negotiators with the school’s administration.

Republican U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik, a critic of university leaders in congressional hearings over Gaza protests nationwide, called Shafik’s resignation “overdue” on X because of what she called failure to protect Jewish students.

Two other Ivy League presidents have resigned after facing congressional critics. Liz Magill of the University of Pennsylvania stepped down in December 2023 and Claudine Gay of Harvard quit a month later.

Shafik, an Egyptian-born economist who holds British and U.S. nationality, was previously deputy governor of the Bank of England, president of the London School of Economics and deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund.

After leading Columbia for little more than a year, Shafik said she would return to the British House of Lords and chair a review of the government’s approach to international development.

Her position at Columbia was undermined when pro-Palestinian protesters set up dozens of tents on the main lawn.

On April 18 she took the unusual step of asking New York police to enter campus, angering rights groups, students and faculty, after encampments were not cleared voluntarily.

More than 100 people were arrested and the tents removed, but within days the encampment was back in place. The university called police back in on April 30, when they arrested 300 people at and near Columbia and the City College of New York. Some protesters were injured in the arrests.

Good luck in her new position!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

COVID cases are on the rise this summer as the COVID-19 FLiRT variants spread.

According to the most recent estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released on August 3rd, 27.8% of cases are the KP.3.1.1 strain and 20.1% of current infections are KP.3. Both of these variants stem from the FLiRT family of the coronavirus. Another variant that is not a descendant of FLiRT, named LB.1, makes up an estimated 16% of COVID-19 cases at the moment.  As reported by Good Housekeeping and CBS News.

“The FLiRT variant appeared in March,” says Tammy Lundstrom, M.D., J.D., the senior vice president at Trinity Health who led their COVID-19 response. “Throughout the COVID-19 era, new strains have continued to arise. Like other strains, it appears highly transmissible, but it does not appear more virulent at this point.”

While it’s great that COVID-19 cases don’t seem to be as dangerous as they used to be, it still causes unpleasant symptoms which can be severe for people with certain risk factors. Unfortunately, just 22.5% of American adults had received the most recent COVID-19 vaccine as of May 11, 2024 (when the latest data was released). Could this be contributing to the summer surge we’re experiencing? We turned to experts to learn more about the newest variants, important COVID-19 symptoms to be aware of and how to protect yourself and your loved ones.

What are the FLiRT and LB.1 variants?

As fun as the name sounds, FLiRT is not the official designation for the dominant COVID-19 variant. That is actually a cheeky nickname for a whole family of different variants (any that start with KP). “The FLiRT variants came to the forefront at the end of April,” says Nikhil K. Bhayani, M.D., FIDSA, an infectious disease specialist and assistant professor at the Burnett School of Medicine at Texas Christian University.

KP.2, KP.2.3, KP.3 and KP.3.1.1 are official names of the FLiRT variants that are circulating right now. While FLiRT took over JN.1 as the dominant variant, it’s actually a descendant of JN.1. Essentially, the “parent” variant (JN.1) was unseated by several “child” variants. Various variations of JN.1 are still swirling in some capacity, but they make up a smaller percentage of COVID-19 cases. LB.1, another variant that has been circulating this summer, is not a member of the FLiRT family, but another descendant of JN.1.

Is there a summer surge?

Yes, the wastewater viral activity for COVID-19 — how the CDC tracks trends in infectious disease circulating in a community — is currently listed as “very high,” according to the most recent CDC data. However, a summer surge is not unique to FLiRT.

“Throughout the COVID-19 era, we have seen a rise in infections during summer,” says Dr. Lundstrom. Two reasons for this, according to the CDC, are that people tend to do more traveling during the summer and also congregate indoors with air conditioners on when it’s very hot outside.

What are the symptoms?

The good news is that the FLiRT and LB.1 strains of the coronavirus don’t seem to spark any surprise symptoms. “The symptoms are similar to other COVID-19 strains,” says Dr. Lundstrom. The CDC updated its list of possible symptoms on June 25th, and those include:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• New loss of taste or smell
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

“Like similar recent strains, the incidence of loss of taste and smell are not prominent,” adds Lundstrom.

How long do symptoms last?

It really depends on the person. Typically, people with mild cases will experience symptoms for 5-10 days, however, many may start to feel better sooner than that. According to the CDC, most people with long COVID will start to feel better after three months, although it can last years. It’s best to speak to your doctor if any of your symptoms are lingering.

Is there a new vaccine?

Our experts said that vaccines still provide good protection against COVID-19, “especially against severe illness and hospitalization,” says Dr. Lundstrom. However, a study published in April found that KP.2 is proving to have “the most significant resistance” to the 2023-24 COVID-19 booster, and that this “increased immune resistance ability of KP.2 partially contributes to the higher” prevalence of infections “than previous variants, including JN.1.”

At the end of June, the CDC recommended that everyone ages 6 months and older receive the updated 2024-25 COVID-19 vaccine, which was tweaked based on the most dominant variants circulating this year. The most updated COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be rolled out this fall. “The World Health Organization is recommending the upcoming COVID booster to be based on the predominant lineage for the year,” adds Dr. Bhayani.

However, the CDC and our experts still recommend the current vaccine to protect yourself before the 2024-25 booster is made available in the fall. “Adults over the age of 65 should get the last COVID-19 vaccine available,” says Bhayani. Dr. Lundstrom suggests that older adults “should be vaccinated four months after their last vaccination” and those with compromised immune systems “should get vaccinated two months after their last dose.”

How to protect yourself

In March, the CDC updated the Respiratory Virus Guidance as COVID-19 cases have decreased over time. “It is still an important health threat, but it is no longer the emergency that it once was, and its health impacts increasingly resemble those of other respiratory viral illnesses, including flu and RSV,” the new guidance states.

“The same precautions will help protect against the spread of most respiratory viruses: wash hands frequently, cover your mouth and nose when sneezing/coughing, stay up to date with vaccinations and stay home when ill to prevent spreading infection to others,” suggests Dr. Lundstrom. However, Dr. Bhayani reminds us that the elderly, individuals with compromised immune systems and kids “should take extra precautions, such as avoiding large crowds and wear masks if COVID-19 cases are on the rise locally.”

If you do get sick, the CDC still recommends staying at home until your symptoms are improving overall, and you have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medication). Afterward, you can resume normal activities and “use added prevention strategies over the next five days.”

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Conservative attorney George Conway is trolling Donald Trump both where he lives and where he plays by placing billboards near the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home and outside two of his favorite golf courses.

The billboards (above) remind passersby that Trump cheats ― and not just at golf.  As reported by The Huffington Post.

“Donald Trump’s reputation as a cheater and liar extends beyond the golf course into every aspect of his life,” Conway said in a news release.

The PAC said the 13 billboards have been “strategically placed” around Trump’s Bedminster golf course in New Jersey, his Doral golf course in Florida, and his Mar-a-Lago home to ensure that Trump himself sees them:

Numerous Trump golf partners have said the former president cheats, especially when playing on courses he owns.

Sportswriter Rick Reilly, who has golfed with Trump, said earlier this year that the former president cheats “like a mafia accountant.”

Reilly wrote an entire book on how Trump cheats at golf.

The Anti-Psychopath PAC said it’s hoping the billboards push Trump’s buttons.

“This campaign is designed to provoke Trump into another bout of unhinged behavior, further demonstrating his unfitness for office,” the organization said in a news release.

The billboards outside the golf courses will be up through Aug. 25, while the one near Mar-a-Lago will be up through November as part of a six-figure ad campaign.

Fore!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

An exasperated Nikki Haley urged former President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans to abandon their attacks against Kamala Harris and instead focus on her policy positions, saying Americans are too smart to buy into “things that don’t matter.”

“I want this campaign to win, but the campaign is not gonna win talking about crowd sizes,” she told Fox News Bret Baier last night. “It’s not going to win talking about what race Kamala Harris is. It’s not going to win talking about whether she’s dumb.”

Haley, who served as the ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, has had a rocky relationship with the former president since she ended her own challenge for the Republican nomination. But she endorsed him last month at the Republican National Convention, saying that while she hadn’t agreed with him “100 percent of the time,” he knew what was best for the nation.

Her comments come as the Trump campaign is increasingly frustrated with the rise of Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The pair have surged in the polls amid a wave of excitement, overcrowding arenas and bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars in donations.

Haley admitted that Harris was flying high with undecided voters attracted to her vision, something Trump has so far failed to achieve.

“What they like about Kamala is that she’s being hopeful, she’s talking about freedom, she’s talking about a way forward,” she said. “They don’t want a former president talking about the past.”

Trump has claimed, falsely, that some crowds at Harris’ rallies were generated by artificial intelligence, calling her a “cheater.” He also sparked fierce condemnation after alluding to a room of Black journalists that the vice president “happened to turn Black” to score political points.

Haley said those lines of attack would only alienate the voters Republicans needed to beat Biden in November.

“Republicans should not be surprised that we are now running against Kamala Harris, it was her all the time,” Haley said.

“We need him to win, but you’ve gotta go out and do the work, and the one thing that Republicans have to stop: Quit whining about her,” she said. “More than anything, this is not an election for just the MAGA vote. Trust me, Donald Trump has that.”

“Republicans need to be fighting for suburban women, for college educated, for independents, for moderate Republicans and conservative Democrats.”

She added that the GOP has long known that Harris would rise to replace Biden if the president ended his own reelection campaign and it was time to stop “complaining” that she was the Democratic nominee.

“Republicans should not be surprised that we are now running against Kamala Harris,” Haley said. “It was her all the time.”

I saw the interview last night and I could not help but thinking that the presidential election should be between Harris and Haley.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The United Auto Workers Union said yesterday it has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board against Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk over attempts to threaten and intimidate workers.

The action came after Musk and Trump held a two-hour conversation on social media platform X on Monday night, during which the two discussed workers walking off the job to go on strike.

“You’re the greatest cutter,” Trump said during the conversation. “I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in, you just say: ‘You want to quit?’ They go on strike – I won’t mention the name of the company – but they go on strike. And you say: ‘That’s okay, you’re all gone.'”

Under federal law, workers cannot be fired for going on strike, and threatening to do so is illegal under the National Labor Relations Act, the UAW said in a statement.

The UAW has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in her bid for U.S. president. She met with union officials and workers last week near Detroit.  As reported by Reuters.

“Both Trump and Musk want working class people to sit down and shut up, and they laugh about it openly. It’s disgusting, illegal, and totally predictable from these two clowns,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement on Tuesday.

The NLRB has limited power to punish unlawful labor practices. In cases involving illegal threats, the board can order employers to cease and desist from such conduct and to post notices in the workplace informing workers of their rights. Unions can also use favorable rulings from the NLRB to engage workers they are trying to organize.

Fain filed separate complaints against Musk and Trump with the NLRB, claiming both men had made statements suggesting they “would fire employees engaged in protected concerted activity, including striking.” The complaints did not provide further detail.

The Harris and Trump campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Musk also did not respond to a request for comment.

The UAW led a six-week strike against Detroit’s Big Three automakers last autumn, in which workers at Ford Motor, General Motors and Jeep maker Stellantis walked picket lines across the country.

The union won record contracts, which included a 25% general wage increase over the life of the agreement, along with cost-of-living adjustments. The wins equated to substantial labor expenses for the Detroit carmakers, auto executives said, an added challenge as they race to slim costs to stay competitive with Tesla.

Musk, who has endorsed Trump for president, has had numerous run-ins with the labor board. His rocket company SpaceX is currently challenging the entire structure of the agency in a pair of pending lawsuits. Those cases stemmed from NLRB complaints accusing SpaceX of firing engineers who were critical of Musk and forcing employees to sign severance agreements with unlawful terms.

In March, a U.S. appeals court upheld an NLRB decision that said Musk illegally threatened Tesla employees by tweeting in 2018: “Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union … But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?”

The electric vehicle maker is separately facing allegations from the board that it illegally discouraged unionizing at a Buffalo, New York, assembly plant. Last year, an appeals court threw out a labor board decision that said Tesla broke the law by barring factory workers from wearing UAW T-shirts.

Trump and Musk are two of a kind.  Billionaires who have no regard for the working men and women of our country!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

I did not even consider tuning into this event.  Here are five takeaways courtesy of  The Huffington Post.

Tony

————————————————

Former President Donald Trump went on a two-hour tear of lies, exaggerations and fearmongering in a conversation yesterday with billionaire Elon Musk on the X social media platform.

The chat between the two men, one the Republican nominee for president and the other the world’s richest man, is Trump’s latest effort to appeal to voters as Vice President Kamala Harris has continued to gain ground in the early days of her Democratic presidential bid. Musk, who has endorsed Trump, said the event was meant to let people “get a feel” for what the former president is like when he’s having a casual conversation.

“It’s hard to catch a vibe when people don’t talk in a normal way,” Musk said.

Here are five notable moments from their conversation.

Trump repeated his lies about a migrant crisis on the southern border.

The former president shared familiar attacks against migrants who cross the U.S. border with Mexico, describing many of them as “rapists,” “murderers” and “criminals” while claiming countries such as Venezuela were emptying their jails to ship people to the United States.

There is no evidence to support those claims. In fact, recent research shows that immigrants are much less likely to be incarcerated than people who were born in the U.S. Other studies show that undocumented migration does not increase violent crime.

Trump also attempted to link the surge in migration to Harris, echoing Republican claims that she was the Biden administration’s “border czar.” She was tasked with investigating the root causes of the immigration wave, but claims about an all-encompassing role are exaggerations.

Trump bragged about his relationships with Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.

At one point, Musk congratulated Trump for his “epic tweets” during his administration, including when the former president called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “rocket man.”

“I know Putin, I know President Xi, I know Kim Jong Un of North Korea. I know every one of them,” Trump said. “I’m not saying anything good or bad. They’re at the top of their game. They’re tough, they’re smart, they’re vicious, and they’re going to protect their country. Whether they love their country, they probably do. It’s just a different form of love, but they’re going to protect their country.”

Trump was the first president to meet with Kim, a decision critics said lended legitimacy to Kim’s authoritarian regime on an international stage.

Musk said critics shouldn’t ‘vilify’ the oil and gas industry.

Musk, whose mammoth fortune is largely tied to his electric vehicle company, said the world should “lean in the direction of sustainability” but not vilify fossil fuels because they’re needed to keep the world moving.

“I’m pro-environment, but I’m not against, I don’t think we should vilify the oil and gas industry,” Musk said.

Trump, for his part, made fun of those concerned about climate change and touted his efforts to open up a critical wildlife refuge in Alaska to oil and gas exploration during his administration. (President Joe Biden rolled back those plans.)

Trump is still obsessed with crowd sizes.

Trump repeatedly mentioned the sizes of his various audiences throughout the conversation. At one point he claimed that “60 million” people were listening to the livestream on Monday night, even though the count on X indicated 1.3 million listeners at its peak.

He also described the July 13 assassination attempt at a rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, saying he had a “massive crowd” there. The size of the event, he said, made him worry how many people could have been killed. A bystander was fatally shot.

Trump sounded odd for a large portion of the call.

The former president sounded like he was slurring his words for a large portion of the conversation, although it’s unclear if the audio was to blame. Video of Trump speaking that was shared by an X employee appeared to show similar issues.

Dear Commons Community,

A judge ruled yesterday that independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. falsely claimed a New York residence on nominating petitions, invalidating the documents he needs to appear on the ballot in the state.

The ruling from Justice Christina Ryba after a short trial in state court is expected to be appealed. If upheld, it could open the door to challenges in other states where Kennedy used the address in New York City’s northern suburbs to gather signatures.

The lawsuit backed by a Democrat-aligned political action committee claims Kennedy’s state nominating petition falsely listed a residence in well-to-do Katonah, while he actually has lived in the Los Angeles area since 2014, when he married “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actor Cheryl Hines.

Kennedy argued during the trial that he has lifelong ties to New York and intends to move back.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The Associated Press analyzes the state of American higher education this morning focusing on the dire situation that many colleges are facing in a period of declining enrollment and fiscal austerity. It is a painful story that is playing itself out in one college after another. There is also little sunshine for many small colleges both private and public that are heavily invested in undergraduate programs and are tuition-driven.

Below is the entire article.

Tony

——————————————–

The Associated Press

“US colleges are cutting majors and slashing programs after years of putting it off”

By  Heather Hollingsworth

Updated 12:01 AM EDT, August 11, 2024

Christina Westman dreamed of working with Parkinson’s disease and stroke patients as a music therapist when she started studying at St. Cloud State University.

But her schooling was upended in May when administrators at the Minnesota college announced a plan to eliminate its music department as it slashes 42 degree programs and 50 minors.

It’s part of a wave of program cuts in recent months, as U.S. colleges large and small try to make ends meet. Among their budget challenges: Federal COVID relief money is now gone, operational costs are rising and fewer high school graduates are going straight to college.

The cuts mean more than just savings, or even job losses. Often, they create turmoil for students who chose a campus because of certain degree programs and then wrote checks or signed up for student loans.

“For me, it’s really been anxiety-ridden,” said Westman, 23, as she began the effort that ultimately led her to transfer to Augsburg University in Minneapolis. “It’s just the fear of the unknown.”

At St. Cloud State, most students will be able to finish their degrees before cuts kick in, but Westman’s music therapy major was a new one that hadn’t officially started. She has spent the past three months in a mad dash to find work in a new city and sublet her apartment in St. Cloud after she had already signed a lease. She was moving into her new apartment Friday.

For years, many colleges held off making cuts, said Larry Lee, who was acting president of St. Cloud State but left last month to lead Blackburn College in Illinois.

College enrollment declined during the pandemic, but officials hoped the figures would recover to pre-COVID levels and had used federal relief money to prop up their budgets in the meantime, he said.

“They were holding on, holding on,” Lee said, noting colleges must now face their new reality.

Higher education made up some ground last fall and in the spring semester, largely as community college enrollment began to rebound, National Student Clearinghouse Research Center data showed.

But the trend for four-year colleges remains worrisome. Even without growing concerns about the cost of college and the long-term burden of student debt, the pool of young adults is shrinking.

Birth rates fell during the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009 and never recovered. Now those smaller classes are preparing to graduate and head off to college.

“It’s very difficult math to overcome,” said Patrick Lane, vice president at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, a leading authority on student demographics.

Complicating the situation: the federal government’s chaotic overhaul of its financial aid application. Millions of students entered summer break still wondering where they were going to college this fall and how they would pay for it. With jobs still plentiful, although not as much as last year, some experts fear students won’t bother to enroll at all.

“This year going into next fall, it’s going to be bad,” said Katharine Meyer, a fellow in the Governance Studies program for the Brown Center on Education Policy at the nonprofit Brookings Institution. “I think a lot of colleges are really concerned they’re not going to make their enrollment targets.”

Many colleges like St. Cloud State already had started plowing through their budget reserves. The university’s enrollment rose to around 18,300 students in fall 2020 before steadily falling to about 10,000 students in fall 2023.

St. Cloud State’s student population has now stabilized, Lee said, but spending was far too high for the reduced number of students. The college’s budget shortfall totaled $32 million over the past two years, forcing the sweeping cuts.

Some colleges have taken more extreme steps, closing their doors. That happened at the 1,000-student Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama, the 900-student Fontbonne University in Missouri, the 350-student Wells College in New York and the 220-student Goddard College in Vermont.

Cuts, however, appear to be more commonplace. Two of North Carolina’s public universities got the green light last month to eliminate more than a dozen degree programs ranging from ancient Mediterranean studies to physics.

Arkansas State University announced last fall it was phasing out nine programs. Three of the 64 colleges in the State University of New York system have cut programs amid low enrollment and budget woes.

Other schools slashing and phasing out programs include West Virginia University, Drake University in Iowa, the University of Nebraska campus in Kearney, North Dakota State University and, on the other side of the state, Dickinson State University.

Experts say it’s just the beginning. Even schools that aren’t immediately making cuts are reviewing their degree offerings. At Pennsylvania State University, officials are looking for duplicative and under-enrolled academic programs as the number of students shrinks at its branch campuses.

Particularly affected are students in smaller programs and those in the humanities, which now graduate a smaller share of students than 15 years ago.

“It’s a humanitarian disaster for all of the faculty and staff involved, not to mention the students who want to pursue this stuff,” said Bryan Alexander, a Georgetown University senior scholar who has written on higher education. “It’s an open question to what extent colleges and universities can cut their way to sustainability.”

For Terry Vermillion, who just retired after 34 years as a music professor at St. Cloud State, the cuts are hard to watch. The nation’s music programs took a hit during the pandemic, he said, with Zoom band nothing short of “disastrous” for many public school programs.

“We were just unable to really effectively teach music online, so there’s a gap,” he said. “And, you know, we’re just starting to come out of that gap and we’re just starting to rebound a little bit. And then the cuts are coming.”

For St. Cloud State music majors such as Lilly Rhodes, the biggest fear is what will happen as the program is phased out. New students won’t be admitted to the department and her professors will look for new jobs.

“When you suspend the whole music department, it’s awfully difficult to keep ensembles alive,” she said. “There’s no musicians coming in, so when our seniors graduate, they go on, and our ensembles just keep getting smaller and smaller.

“It’s a little difficult to keep going if it’s like this,” she said.