For Graduation Ceremonies, Ditch the Guest Speaker
A graduation ceremony is one of the most formulaic events in higher education. The main event at a graduation ceremony is a student getting their five seconds in the sun…
Articles by Russell T. Warne
A Little-Known Lawsuit May Weaken University Ethics Boards
For 45 years, research at American universities has been supervised by Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), which are committees that ensure scientific research is conducted ethically. At most universities, faculty, students,…
Anti-Discrimination Advocates’ New Weapon
The 2023 Supreme Court decision Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard was an earthquake for college admissions. After nearly 50 years, the affirmative-action regime that governed most universities’ admissions processes…
Universities Can Appease the Right
Universities are currently experiencing a full-blown assault from the federal government and from red-state politicians. Tired of subsidizing universities as a hotbed of ideological activism, Republican leaders are cutting budgets,…
Stop Overregulating Research
The newly inaugurated second Trump administration has arrived, and among the changes that the president and his allies have proposed is large-scale simplification and elimination of government regulations. President Trump…
Misusing Editorial Power to Censor Unpopular Research
Academic freedom is under assault by people who want to control research and speech. One of their strategies exploits the gatekeeping functions of journal editors to censor unpopular ideas. The…