Across the country, public universities are being flooded with requests for syllabi, reading lists, course materials, and data on international students. One company is behind many of those requests - Metric Media. Part of a growing network of conservative-led groups, Metric Media says it’s enforcing civil rights laws and holding taxpayer-funded institutions accountable. But critics see something very different: a coordinated pressure campaign emboldened by the second Trump administration that threatens academic freedom and seeks to intimidate scholars. Now some universities are pushing back.

In this bonus episode of College Uncovered, GBH’s Kirk Carapezza talks with Brian Timpone, CEO and founder of Metric Media. In a rare interview, Timpone says there’s great public interest in what public universities are teaching students and he thinks America’s public colleges have lost sight of their mission.

“Some of the names of these courses, they’re almost like The Onion,” Timpone says.

Dan Kennedy, a Northeastern University journalism professor, argues that groups like Metric Media are weaponizing public records laws to pressure and silence professors. We also hear from two faculty members who’ve been targeted: Christopher Petsko, a business professor at the University of North Carolina, and Jennifer Ho, a professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado–Boulder.

And as the Trump administration threatens to withhold federal research funding unless universities sign its proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” some schools have already declined.

Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, tells us why he believes the compact would be disastrous for colleges and the country and why you should care.

“This is nothing short of a government attempt to make institutions creatures of the state,” Mitchell said. “That’s so antithetical to what higher education is and does. Higher education is about inquiry-based research, discovery-based teaching, and to deprive institutions of the ability to do that is really tantamount to just making them propaganda engines.”

The New College Compact explores the escalating battle over academic freedom, political pressure, and the future of higher education in America.

Additional links: 

Local colleges targeted amid growing campus culture wars

Zombies, Garbage And Vampires? It's Not A Nightmare, It's Your College Course Catalog

Un-Welcome to College

DEI Backlash

“College Uncovered” is made possible by Lumina Foundation.

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Credits:

Host and Producer: Kirk Carapezza 

Editors: Azita Ghahramani and Jenifer McKim

Executive Producer: Lee Hill  

Mixing and Sound Design: David Goodman & Gary Mott

Theme Song and original music: Left-Roman

Artwork: Matt Welch 

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Consulting Producer and Head of GBH Podcasts: Devin Maverick Robins

"College Uncovered" is a production of GBH News