Perspectives: Analysis, op-eds, and expert commentary shaping higher education

Ten years ago, Google told higher education to go find a new search engine. It is doing it again. In February 2016, Google announced it was discontinuing the Google Search Appliance. No new hardware sales after 2016, support winding down through 2018, and complete discontinuation by 2019. Hundreds of institutions that had built campus search around a rack-mounted box in a data center got about two years to figure out what came next. Google offered no migration path and no rep

In early March of 2026, Platformer's Casey Newton discovered something unsettling: Grammarly had made him an editor without his knowledge, his consent, or his paycheck. The company's "expert review" feature was generating AI writing advice and slapping the names of real journalists, authors, and researchers on it — including Newton, Kara Swisher, Shoshana Zuboff, and investigative journalist John Carreyrou — to make paying customers feel like they were getting the real thing.

There's a feeling spreading across tech like a crack forming in an ice shelf. At first it’s subtle. A line no one notices. Then you realize the surface you’ve been standing on is quietly separating beneath you. There's anxiety about artificial intelligence, software stock volatility, and the growing theory of a potential “SaaS apocalypse.” This isn’t just a Silicon Valley storyline. The AI impact on campus SaaS could significantly reshape higher education technology strategy

This used to be science fiction. Machines talking to each other. Software sharing ideas. Systems trading information without humans supervising every move. That was the kind of thing you expected in a late night movie scene where someone slowly realizes the computers are no longer just tools. And yet, here we are. There’s a new social network called Moltbook, and at first glance it looks like any other forum. Threads. Hot takes. Deep dives. Ongoing debates. Except here’s the

Your team just launched a gorgeous homepage redesign, polished visuals, sharp messaging, and flawless branding. Leadership loves it. Faculty champions it. It is everything a modern university homepage should be. But here is the shift marketers are not talking about loudly enough: Today’s prospective students rarely walk through the “front door” you have spent months perfecting. They slip in through side doors such as search results, program pages, FAQs, and content deep in yo