Lisa Kurian Philip

'I just wanted to see a change,' Chicago youth reflect on their experience as  peacekeepers • The TRiiBE Dozens of youth peacekeepers completed a Peacekeeper training this summer. They marked its end with a graduation and hip-hop celebration.

NEW — Dozens of Black and brown youth graduated from summer Peacekeeper training led by GoodKids MadCity.

“I just want to be a person for the youth and be somebody they can look up to, they can talk to and learn from,” GKMC member Reece Johnson said.

thetriibe.com/2025/08/i-ju...

Looking back on the past couple of horrible years I do greatly appreciate the simple moral clarity of Bill Burr when he had that infuriating sit down with Bill Maher and they talked about the campus Gaza war protests and Burr simply said “I’m on the side of the kids.” He didn’t need to …

Big changes are coming to student loan repayment. Here’s how to prepare. More than 1.6 million people in Illinois owe federal student debt. The Trump administration is trying to speed up their repayment.

More than 1.6 million people in Illinois owe federal student debt. The Trump administration is trying to speed up their repayment. Here are some steps you can take to prepare.

@wbez.org @opencampus.org
www.wbez.org/education/20...

Their student-run birth control service was banned on campus. They're still delivering. “Womb Service,” a contraceptive delivery network, lost its status as a student group suddenly last month. It's still going.

Psyched to have this story about the Womb Service at DePaul featured by @19thnews.org! Big thanks to @opencampus.org's Colleen Murphy for pitching it ❤️

19thnews.org/2025/07/depa...
#reproductiverights #journalism #college #education @wbez.org

I recommend checking out the group's Instagram account: @depaul.ppga

Student group banned by DePaul continues to run covert birth control delivery service University officials recently suspended the group from campus because of its affiliation with Planned Parenthood. Student leaders accuse DePaul of kowtowing to President Donald Trump.

Meet the "Womb Service," a group of DePaul University students who supply birth control to classmates. The Catholic school has long banned the distribution of contraceptives on campus. Womb Service volunteers say the policy is dangerous.

@wbez.org @opencampus.org

www.wbez.org/health-medic...

Helping hand or scam? A different approach to paying back student loans is under scrutiny. These loans, called income share agreements, could become more popular as President Donald Trump’s administration claws back federal loans and grants.

"This type of student loan, called an income share agreement, could become more appealing in the next few years as President Donald Trump and conservative lawmakers claw back access to federal student loans and grants. . . ."

www.wbez.org/education/20...

@wbez.org @lkpwrites.bsky.social

Some universities are making more modest adjustments for now, and approaches vary even within single systems. Public university trustees in Tennessee will soon vote on a proposal to raise in-state tuition by 3 percent at outposts in Chattanooga, Martin and Pulaski. The state’s flagship university in Knoxville, however, is not looking to increase tuition, though it is seeking a slight bump in mandatory fees.

I don't like the New York Times referring to regional public universities with their own presidents as "outposts." That comes across as very dismissive of the workhorses of higher education.

University of Chicago professor Alireza Doostdar speaks about Israel's destruction of all of Gaza's universities during a series of teach-ins at Federal Plaza.

College educators from around Chicago are gathering in Federal Plaza for a series of teach-ins about Palestine.

Pictured is UChicago professor Alireza Doostdar who talked about Gazans setting up makeshift classrooms in tents and other spaces following the destruction of all universities there.

I'm wondering if the time and attention spent by the Administration on Harvard and Columbia may better allocated toward postsecondary education and success for students who attend other institutions.

University of Illinois braces for visa revocations for Chinese students The school's flagship campus, which has the second largest number of international students of all public universities in the country, could be hit hard by Trump's plan to revoke Chinese student visas...

“There’s a core racism there that is applied to Asians more broadly. It perpetuates a stereotype that Asian Americans don’t belong here,” Kovac said.

www.wbez.org/politics/202...

Shah Rukh Khan's Met Gala diss wasn't his worst encounter with Americans Humbling as it may have been to be demoted to the lower rungs of the celebrity hierarchy, a D-list diss at the Met Gala beats being mistaken for a terrorist. Khan, a Muslim, was racially profiled and ...

"Humbling as it may have been to be demoted to the lower rungs of the celebrity hierarchy, a D-list diss at the Met Gala beats being mistaken for a terrorist."

@rummanahussain.bsky.social crushing it as always

chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2...

Chicagoans with student debt stressed as Trump, GOP cut back relief Biden canceled more student debt than any other president. Trump is taking things in the opposite direction.

Chicagoans with student debt stressed as Trump, GOP cut back relief:

“There are people who are hurting right now, and they want to better themselves, and I think the government should play a role in helping people progress and having some kind of support system.”

www.wbez.org/education/20...

Badar Khan Suri's words earlier this week, from ICE detention:

“My only ‘crimes’ making me a ‘national security threat’ are my marriage to a United States citizen of Palestinian origin and my support for the Palestinian cause.”

“Be courageous, because courage is contagious.”

‘It’s just devastating,’ Chicago State president says of federal cuts While schools like Harvard, Columbia and Northwestern have gotten most of the attention, regional public universities are losing grants too.

"The impact on us is real and unimaginable. We have lost five grants that had the capacity to make real changes in the lives of our students."

Great article, important to show the impact on Black serving institutions instead of only the most elite.

I'm thrilled to announce the speakers for our June 5 panel, "Resisting the Rollbacks,” on trans rights in Chicago journalism: Chijioke Williams, @vimiller.bsky.social, @byadamrhodes.bsky.social & me.

Join us at Medill’s downtown campus for this FREE event

RSVP: www.eventbrite.com/e/1354173753...

Day of hopping around the city today meeting peeps, from Austin to the Loop to the North Side, capped off with this Speakeasy discussion at the Book Cellar in Lincoln Square on Trump's assault on higher education

#chicago #journalism @wbez.org @opencampus.org

My running fave

Da pope? Chicagoans sound off on the new pontiff Robert Prevost was born and raised in the Chicago area. He’s taken the name Leo XIV.

Coming back from caring for a sick kid to all the Chicago pope memes is DA best.

www.wbez.org/reset-with-s...

You mean to tell me that Chicago gets to claim Michael Jordan, the first Black President AND the first American Pope? Good lord you ain't going to be able to tell them NOTHING.

DePaul president faces off against GOP members of Congress Conservative lawmakers who questioned DePaul President Robert Manuel were accused of using antisemitism claims to chill free speech.

DePaul junior Henna Ayesh: We watched our president 'testify proudly that he has...silenced us as Palestinian students for the sake of protecting other students. He could have protected freedom of speech…[Instead] he gave into exactly what that committee wanted to hear.'
www.wbez.org/education/20...

jk make that 5:20pm CT!

Screenshot from article that reads: “Nothing changes from letter to letter,” said Dominique Baker, an associate professor of education at the University of Delaware. “The No. 1 takeaway from all of these communications with institutions is that the administration is interested in threatening, blackmailing and using whatever power it has in order to force institutions to adhere to what the administration wants.”

Screenshot from article that reads: But Baker believes the legality of the situation doesn’t matter to Trump and suggested the freeze on new funding for Harvard was already in place well before Monday’s letter. “What changed from Friday to today? You can look at reporting from other outlets. You can talk to people off the record at agencies. They were already told they’re not allowed to give grants to Harvard,” she said. “Even if the letter got retracted tomorrow, I don’t think the policy would change.”

Screenshot of the article that reads: As a result, Baker hopes that college and university leaders will learn that negotiating with Trump is “a fool’s errand.” But some institutions, she predicted, will still sacrifice their ideals in order to try and keep their heads down. “There are still boards of institutions that believe that if they just give the administration something, it will leave them alone,” she said. “[But] generally, I find that those people are not scholars of history who understand what happens when you capitulate or collaborate with authoritarian takeovers of countries.”

My thoughts on that pitiful excuse of a letter from the Sec of ED to Harvard. I care about the naked power grab and authoritarianism way more than the bad writing. They also included my regular request that boards not be cowards.

www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

DePaul president faces off against GOP members of Congress Conservative lawmakers who questioned DePaul President Robert Manuel were accused of using antisemitism claims to chill free speech.

going on @wbez.org to talk about this in a few minutes

As always am repping @opencampus.org too!

www.wbez.org/education/20...

Dem Congresswoman Summer Lee of Pennsylvania says students have the constitutional right to criticize Israel and to protest, and that both of those rights are under attack

Israeli attacks kill more than 60 as Gaza blockade accelerates starvation Separate attacks targeting a restaurant and a school in Gaza City kill dozens.

As these GOP members of Congress grill university presidents over how they're punishing pro-Palestinian demonstrators, the people of Gaza are starving as a result of a months-long blockade by Israel.

www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/...

The Dems have used much of their allotted time to call for restoring the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights, which is responsible for making sure universities are responding to discrimination. Trump officials have shut down 7 of 12 of its regional offices and fired nearly half its staff.

GOP congressional candidate called Islam ‘dangerous’ and the work of Satan | CNN Politics The Republican candidate running in a competitive House race in North Carolina has a history of making anti-Muslim comments, a CNN KFile review finds.

NC GOP Congressman Mark Harris, who questioned DePaul's president over his response to alleged antisemitism during the hearing today, once said Jews and Muslims should accept Jesus Christ as their savior. He also called Islam the work of Satan.

www.cnn.com/2018/11/02/p...

DePaul president Robert Manuel sent in Chicago Police to forcibly tear the encampment down without agreeing to any of the protesters' demands

I'm watching the hearing and GOP member of Congress from IL Mary Miller, who once quoted Hitler on the steps of the Capitol, is taking DePaul's president to task for his response to the Palestinian solidarity encampment on his campus