High­er edu­ca­tion faces a his­toric reck­on­ing if GOP wins in Novem­ber

Repub­li­cans are set to launch a broad­side against col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties if they take con­trol of the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment next year, eager to impose major changes on a high­er edu­ca­tion sys­tem that has faced intense scruti­ny over accu­sa­tions of exces­sive lib­er­al­ism and, more recent­ly, anti­semitism.
After years of mount­ing ten­sions between uni­ver­si­ties and Repub­li­cans over con­cerns about free speech and per­cep­tions that col­lege cam­pus­es have become polit­i­cal echo cham­bers, the dam seem­ing­ly broke after the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
While the right fringe of the GOP has enter­tained the thought of a crack­down on col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties for years, the mat­ter has now gone main­stream in the par­ty, with law­mak­ers plot­ting behind closed doors for action after the com­ing elec­tions.
Even Sen­ate Minor­i­ty Leader Mitch McConnell (R‑KY), an estab­lish­ment stal­wart, has spo­ken pub­licly about his desire to see Con­gress tear into the sta­tus quo of highe …