We are all living with the current US governmental upheaval. In just the past month, we have seen the federal government suffer profound attacks from within. The freezing of federal funding (then the partial rollback of that freeze), the executive orders demanding the dismantling of DEI programs and initiatives, the dismantling of USAID, the slashing of research funding by the Institute of Education Sciences, the cuts (freezes) to NIH grants, the firing of federal workers, especially probationary workers—often early career professionals eager to employ their hard-earned knowledge and degrees to aid their fellow citizens and society as a whole: These are all the conditions in which we have been living and working. (And we imagine that there have been more actions in the administration’s “shock and awe” campaign since we finished writing this piece.) This is a stressful time to be a US citizen.
Beyond Programs: Leadership Lessons from Ireland’s Inclusive Universities
During a recent sabbatical studying inclusive postsecondary education in Ireland, I visited four universities—University College Cork, Trinity College Dublin, Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, and Mary Immaculate
Ashley Rodrigues
July 20, 2026
