Macalester College: Liberal Arts or Monoculture?

Aug 28, 2019 · Robert Spaulding · No Comments

Macalester College is a small (2,000-plus students), highly regarded, and very selective liberal arts college in St. Paul, Minnesota. It is proud of its liberal reputation and international outlook, and touts as past faculty vice presidents Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale, as well as undergraduate Kofi Anan, previous head of the United Nations. Macalester boasts … Continue reading “Macalester College: Liberal Arts or Monoculture?”

My Alumni Weekend at Macalester

Aug 22, 2013 · Robert Spaulding · No Comments

A 1964 graduate reflects on the damage done to his school by relentless politicization.

Did You Know? Student Loan Defaults Are Most Common in West Virginia, New Mexico Nov 14, 2019
When students are late making a monthly payment on their federal student loans, the loan becomes delinquent. And if they don’t make any payments for 270 days, most types of federal student loans go into default. The Department of Education provides data on cohort default rates by institution, which informs the public of how many … Continue reading “Did You Know? Student Loan Defaults Are Most Common in West Virginia, New Mexico”
Students Tear Down Anti-Socialism Display at UNC Charlotte Nov 11, 2019
Universities may not target unpopular speech on campus often, but when they fail to protect it, the results are similar to officially silencing speech. A recent example of this lack of effort to protect comes from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where an anti-socialism display was destroyed on campus within a day after … Continue reading “Students Tear Down Anti-Socialism Display at UNC Charlotte”
A Complicated Debate: Have States Been Disinvesting in Higher Education? Nov 8, 2019
“Two days. Two reports citing the same data. Two different conclusions.” That is how Rick Seltzer described the near-simultaneous release of two studies looking at state funding in Inside Higher Ed. The first study was written by myself for the Texas Public Policy Foundation and found that state disinvestment is a myth. The second study, … Continue reading “A Complicated Debate: Have States Been Disinvesting in Higher Education? “

Students Tear Down Anti-Socialism Display at UNC Charlotte Nov 11, 2019
Universities may not target unpopular speech on campus often, but when they fail to protect it, the results are similar to officially silencing speech. A recent example of this lack of effort to protect comes from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where an anti-socialism display was destroyed on campus within a day after … Continue reading “Students Tear Down Anti-Socialism Display at UNC Charlotte”
An Anti-Free Speech Conference in Greensboro Nov 4, 2019
Scholars gathered October 24 and 25 at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to discuss free speech—and focused on its alleged pernicious effects. The takeaway was that the problem is not enough free speech in public, but too much free speech in public. The conference, “Finding Expression in Contested Public Spaces,” featured a keynote … Continue reading “An Anti-Free Speech Conference in Greensboro”
Blinding Themselves: The Cost of Groupthink in Social Psychology Nov 1, 2019
The social sciences have a problem: If their scholars think too much alike, they will be blinded to the flaws and gaps in their research. Rather than explaining how individuals in society act and think, academics can sometimes slip blinders on themselves and the public. Polling shows broad agreement within some disciplines. For instance, recent … Continue reading “Blinding Themselves: The Cost of Groupthink in Social Psychology”

Did You Know? Student Loan Defaults Are Most Common in West Virginia, New Mexico Nov 14, 2019
When students are late making a monthly payment on their federal student loans, the loan becomes delinquent. And if they don’t make any payments for 270 days, most types of federal student loans go into default. The Department of Education provides data on cohort default rates by institution, which informs the public of how many … Continue reading “Did You Know? Student Loan Defaults Are Most Common in West Virginia, New Mexico”
How Colleges Can Survive the Coming Enrollment Crash Nov 13, 2019
Nationwide, higher education enrollment has been trending down for several years. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2019 was the eighth straight year of decline, with an overall drop of nearly 10 percent since 2011. The reasons for this are many, including political, economic, and social factors. But the main one is demographic: Fewer … Continue reading “How Colleges Can Survive the Coming Enrollment Crash”
Students Tear Down Anti-Socialism Display at UNC Charlotte Nov 11, 2019
Universities may not target unpopular speech on campus often, but when they fail to protect it, the results are similar to officially silencing speech. A recent example of this lack of effort to protect comes from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where an anti-socialism display was destroyed on campus within a day after … Continue reading “Students Tear Down Anti-Socialism Display at UNC Charlotte”

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Robert Spaulding

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My Alumni Weekend at Macalester