From the executive summary of Rules for Academic Reformers: For decades, observant Americans have looked upon our institutions of higher learning with dismay. The reasons for their anxiety varied; some were upset at the increasing politicization, others at rising costs, and so on. But it seemed as if there were no way to turn back … Continue reading “Rules for Academic Reformers”
Editor’s note: This is part 2 of a two-part series of articles. Part 1 can be found here. What are the boundaries of the “fitness” standard for faculty employment in regard to the extramural comments of faculty? (These are comments made about the world beyond the campus.) Some argue that there are none, that professors … Continue reading “Placing Limits on Faculty Speech”
Editor’s note: This is part 1 of a two-part series of articles. Part 2 can be found here. Does academic freedom protect faculty members who promote such activities as genocide, pedophilia, the murder of random innocents for political purposes, and slavery? While it is of paramount importance to ensure that an open intellectual dialogue occurs … Continue reading “On Academic Freedom, Public Comments, and the “Fitness” of Faculty”
A bill making its way through the South Carolina legislature may have a tremendous impact on the state’s public higher education system. And if successful, it may prove as a model for other states looking to get a handle on their hard-to-control higher education systems. House Bill 4522—the “Cancelling Professor Tenure Act”—will end tenure for … Continue reading “The Bell Tolls for Tenure?”
“Almost all students cite getting a better job as a primary reason for attending college,” writes Preston Cooper in the opening paragraph of his new study, entitled Is College Worth It? A Comprehensive Return on Investment Analysis. He refers to an annual survey by UCLA that found that the percentage of incoming freshmen who state … Continue reading “Let the Buyer Beware!”
One of higher education’s most enduring enigmas is the continued support given by relatively traditional donors to their rapidly radicalizing institutions. This deep division between the beliefs of important donors and the actual conduct of school officials has been brought to light in a new report about Davidson College by the American Council of Trustees … Continue reading “Survey Says: Davidson College Should Mend Its Ways”
In my nearly 15 years as a higher education journalist and analyst, I have, unfortunately, witnessed too few victories for the reform movement. In that time, and certainly for several decades before, academia has continued moving in bad directions. On one hand, it has increasingly submitted to the “alphabet soup” mentality —CRT, DEI, AGW, LGBTQ…, … Continue reading “Sheep No More: the Alumni Rise”
At Davidson College, the frog finally realized that it’s being slowly cooked alive. As the theory goes, if you put a frog into boiling water, it will immediately jump out, but if you put it in lukewarm water and gradually raise the heat, it will not realize what is happening until it’s too late. The … Continue reading “On Boiling Frogs And Forked Tongues: Alumni Fight Back at Davidson”
Public higher education was once America’s great enabler, permitting young people from lower-class backgrounds to attend college for very little money and to rise as far as their abilities and drives would take them. That may no longer be the case, according to economists James Koch and Richard Cebula. In their 2020 book, Runaway College … Continue reading “Why Don’t Governing Boards Rein in College Costs?”
The 1960s were a turbulent period for academia, and we are still struggling with the repercussions of that turbulence today. Indeed, today’s “woke” campus is in many ways the result of policies, patterns, and practices initiated in that period and its immediate aftermath in the early 1970s. It may therefore be useful to look at … Continue reading “University Decline: Hofstadter’s Warning Has Been Ignored”