Insights & Research Hub

Between 2019 and 2024, the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) awarded grants to 49 independent colleges and universities through the Humanities Research for the Public Good (HRPG) initiative. The grants supported three cycles of public-facing humanities projects.

On August 1–3, 2024, 20 presidents of CIC member institutions and their board chairs gathered in Washington, DC, for CIC’s first Convening of Pioneering Presidents and Board Chairs. This meeting brought together a representative group of presidents who are the “first” in their roles, such as the first woman, the first person of color, the […]

Institutional Members of the Council of Independent Colleges are increasingly offering graduate programs. A decade ago, in 2013–14, only 45 percent were classified as Carnegie Masters or Doctoral. In 2023–24, 55 percent fall in these categories. To better understand how independent colleges build, support, and sustain graduate programs and students, CIC surveyed presidents and chief […]

Two core principles of higher education—academic freedom and free expression—are under great stress. Sometimes, the stress is direct: Guest speakers are silenced by the heckler’s veto. Government actors overreach in their legitimate oversight role to prescribe or proscribe subjects and scholarly approaches and by suggesting that the mere discussion of divisive concepts could result in […]

Academic freedom and free expression are central to the work of higher education. Yet these two core principles are under great stress. Sometimes, the stress is direct. Well-intended attempts to foster diversity and inclusion and to prevent discriminatory harassment can move administrators to over-regulate speech and association. Or government actors exercise their oversight role in […]

Two core principles of higher education—academic freedom and free expression—are under great stress. Sometimes, the stress is direct: Guest speakers are silenced by the heckler’s veto. Government actors overreach in their legitimate oversight role to prescribe or proscribe subjects and scholarly approaches, and by suggesting that the mere discussion of divisive concepts could result in […]

Two core principles of higher education—academic freedom and free expression—are under great stress. Sometimes, the stress is direct: Well-intended attempts to foster diversity and inclusion sometimes tie hiring, tenure, and promotion to controversial views about equality and how to advance it. Or government actors exercise their oversight role in such a way as to suggest […]

How should reparations for past and present racial injustice be introduced, and what role can colleges and universities play in shaping proposals within their communities? These are the urgent questions five CIC colleges have been helping to answer over the past three years as partners in Crafting Democratic Futures (CDF), an initiative developed by the […]

Smaller, independent colleges and universities play a vital role in producing STEM graduates in the United States. As highlighted in the Council of Independent Colleges’ 2019 report, Strengthening the STEM Pipeline: The Contributions of Small and Mid-Sized Independent Colleges, these institutions graduate a disproportionately large number of STEM majors who go on to complete graduate […]

The Independent Transfer Pathways in North Carolina Project served as a catalyst in forging a culture of cooperation between community colleges and independent colleges and universities in North Carolina by creating a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between the two systems. The project focused on developing discipline-specific articulation agreements, exploring financial aid options, and […]

After receiving a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in 2020, CIC began to study the use of open educational resources (OER) at small to mid-sized independent colleges and universities that are CIC members, with the goal of producing a research report on the findings. This project focused on those institutions that serve […]

Two core principles of higher education—academic freedom and free expression—are undergoing a period of great stress. There is overwhelming survey research and other evidence that the intellectual climate on many college and university campuses is being constrained. Faculty are deterred from exploring certain subjects and expressing candid opinions even off campus; students are self-censoring; outside […]