Darrell

Columbia University is reversing its test-optional admissions policy and will once again require SAT or ACT scores from applicants. Beginning in fall 2027, first-year and transfer students must submit standardized test scores. The university will keep the policy test-optional for the 2026–27 cycle. Officials cited a multiyear faculty review that found test scores, along with coursework and curriculum rigor, help predict student success. Columbia had been the first Ivy League school to suspend testing during the COVID-19 pandemic and the last to require it again. Princeton reinstated testing in October 2025. Other schools like MIT reported that scores improve predictions of academic performance. Critics argue the change may disadvantage low-income and underrepresented students lacking test prep resources. The decision comes as the Trump administration pushes for testing to reduce reliance on subjective factors in admissions. Despite these shifts, more than 90 percent of ranked four-year U.S. colleges will remain test-optional for fall 2026, according to FairTest.

Oklahoma hates fun (Min Wage Question)

In 2022 I kept expecting a GOP breakout given Biden’s JA and it never materialized. I can special plead that election (J6, Dobbs, candidate quality) but it might just be that we are too polarized for huge breakouts.

Great to see another firmly modernising move from the Royal Family

🚨 HOUSING NEWS: WE HAVE A BICAMERAL DEAL House Financial Services Committee French Hill (R-Ark.) dropped his opposition to the latest Senate text this afternoon after negotiators agreed to last minute changes Senate will vote on housing bill this afternoon. Scoop in PBN texts

No one ever says “I hate the people, but love the government” about a country

Shockingly, Chris Rufo-style "Heritage American" Anglo ethnonationalism is wildly unpopular among voters. Like legalize-meth-level unpopular.