Name: North Carolina Higher Education Stakeholders Luncheon with Dr. Richard Vedder
Start: 2020-01-30T12:00:00-05:00
End: 2020-01-30T13:30:00-05:00

Struggling to Stay Afloat

Jun 4, 2014 · Jesse Saffron · No Comments

Many colleges and universities face a difficult and uncertain financial future.

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? “
Did You Know? Regret Comes with Taking Student Loans Nov 7, 2019
A recent report from Payscale showed that a majority of college graduates regretted their college decision. Out of the 250,000 students surveyed, about 12 percent had some regret the major they picked. The biggest regret, though, came from borrowing student loans. While that regret is consistent among generations, millenials are the first ones to regret … Continue reading “Did You Know? Regret Comes with Taking Student Loans”
Did You Know? An Anti-Poverty Program Sent Funds to 33 Well-Off College Towns Oct 17, 2019
“Opportunity zones,” defined by a 2017 law, are poor areas targeted by the federal government for economic investment. In a study by the Brookings Institution, researchers discovered that money intended for economically struggling areas was funneled to college towns instead. Though college towns have many unemployed, poor adults—known as students—they don’t tend to be economically … Continue reading “Did You Know? An Anti-Poverty Program Sent Funds to 33 Well-Off College Towns”

Students Tear Down Anti-Socialism Display, but UNC Charlotte Won’t Investigate 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, but UNC Charlotte Won’t Investigate”
The Totalitarian Impulse in the Title IX Racket Oct 30, 2019
Until 2015, I believed that the Obama administration’s “Dear Colleague” letter, which called for universities to significantly broaden their interpretation of Title IX protections, was merely a way to address the so-called “rape crisis” on American campuses. I doubted the narrative that colleges had rates of sexual assaults that were comparable with warzones, but this … Continue reading “The Totalitarian Impulse in the Title IX Racket”
Outnumbered: Academia’s Tilted Ideological Landscape Oct 28, 2019
The fact that conservatives are outnumbered on college campuses isn’t groundbreaking news. The amount of ink that’s been spilled recounting the left’s stronghold on the academy and the threats that such ideological imbalance poses to rigorous academic inquiry—not to mention the perverse effects it wields on the culture—has been enough to fill volumes of journals, … Continue reading “Outnumbered: Academia’s Tilted Ideological Landscape”

Architecture Programs Need a Change: Put People First—Not ‘Art’ Nov 6, 2019
This essay responds to the British architecture schools’ “Open Letter to the Architectural Community: A Call for Curriculum Change.” Since educating architects is a global problem, the analysis presented here is aimed at an international audience. We are at a pivotal point in recognizing the relationship between the built and natural environments and human health … Continue reading “Architecture Programs Need a Change: Put People First—Not ‘Art’”
The Benefits of Renewing Education with the Socratic Method Oct 21, 2019
“I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.” —Socrates Classical education—a tradition of education with ancient roots—is becoming an increasingly popular alternative to the current K-12 public education model. Its emphasis on reading the Great Books and making students active participants in their own education is appealing to parents and educators who … Continue reading “The Benefits of Renewing Education with the Socratic Method”
Can Independent Christian Study Centers Restore the Soul of Higher Education? Oct 9, 2019
In The Soul of the American University published in 1994, the historian George Marsden gave a powerful account of how once-great pillars and trend-setters of American higher education have abandoned even a residual commitment to the Christian foundations on which they were founded. The cultural, political, social and economic upheavals of the 20th century moved … Continue reading “Can Independent Christian Study Centers Restore the Soul of Higher Education?”

Students Tear Down Anti-Socialism Display, but UNC Charlotte Won’t Investigate 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, but UNC Charlotte Won’t Investigate”
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? “
Did You Know? Regret Comes with Taking Student Loans Nov 7, 2019
A recent report from Payscale showed that a majority of college graduates regretted their college decision. Out of the 250,000 students surveyed, about 12 percent had some regret the major they picked. The biggest regret, though, came from borrowing student loans. While that regret is consistent among generations, millenials are the first ones to regret … Continue reading “Did You Know? Regret Comes with Taking Student Loans”