The fight for gun rights on campus is often contentious and generally does not favor the Second Amendment. But in August, pro-gun advocates won a major battle when a federal appeals court threw out a legal challenge by three University of Texas at Austin professors to Texas’s “campus carry” law. Campus carry, approved by the … Continue reading “The Success of Concealed Carry at Texas Public Colleges”
Headlines in the conservative blogosphere sometimes characterize academia as a hostile environment. Real and egregious offenses by administrators, faculty, and fellow students occur that trample the rights of conservative and libertarian students and their invited speakers. But do these incidents represent the situation on most campuses? My own experience at Wake County Technical College in … Continue reading “Apathetic Bureaucrats and Students: What the Right Deals with on Campus”
The internet is filled with stories of how conservative student groups are mistreated on campus. Conservative and libertarian students often sound the alarm about hostile administrators, violent protesters, and unpleasant experiences. They have their invited speakers shouted down, prevented from speaking by the imposition of exorbitant security fees, or simply canceled by administrators bending to … Continue reading “How Comfortable Do Conservatives Feel on Campus?”
“Industry credentials” are a popular trend in modern education. But the term is rarely defined. Industry credentials offer the promise of short-term training or retraining for an agile, 21st-century workforce. Community colleges offer the training programs to would-be skill-seekers and students have flocked to these programs. But data about what these credentials are and how … Continue reading “The Future for Industry Credentials”
The year 2000 saw the publication of Beer and Circus, the notable book by former Indiana University professor Murray Sperber. It was a big step forward for the analysis of higher education, offering considerable insight into the sociology of college students, faculty research, and poor academic standards for colleges. Though its subtitle prepared the reader … Continue reading “Sperber’s ‘Beer and Circus’—An Unintentional Argument for Community College?”
By now, most Americans are aware of the widespread waste and decadence at many private and public universities. From lazy rivers to exorbitant chancellors’ salaries, examples abound. But those well-publicized cases, problematic as they are, can be easily addressed by parents and students who pay tuition and by legislators who control the purse strings. However, … Continue reading “University Foundations Enable Waste, Fraud, and Abuse”
Shortly after I moved to North Carolina in 2015, I learned about a dual-enrollment program for students to attend high school and Wake Technical Community College simultaneously. At the time, I was a homeschooled rising junior deciding among my options for the future, and I was eager to jump on board if it meant I … Continue reading “Dual-Enrollment: a Head Start on College or Empty Credentialing?”
Athletes need a good night’s sleep to maximize their performance. But that doesn’t explain why NC State’s proposed new dormitory for basketball players will cost roughly four times as much per bed than other campus living quarters do. It seems pretty clear that the dormitory is due to NC State’s participation in the ever-escalating arms … Continue reading “NC State Hoops Players’ Palatial New Digs Send the Wrong Message”