Campus Free Speech Needs Protection—The Question Is How

Apr 3, 2019 · Donald Downs · No Comments

Like a cannonball, President Trump has leaped into the turbulent waters of higher education free speech policy and action. Carrying through on a promise he made during a freewheeling speech he delivered at CPAC a few weeks ago, the president has issued an executive order that throws the power of the federal government into the … Continue reading “Campus Free Speech Needs Protection—The Question Is How”

The Professor Who Was Harassed for Pointing Out the Truth

Dec 14, 2018 · George Leef · No Comments

That famous line from the movie A Few Good Men—“You can’t handle the truth!”—applies more and more to the world of higher education. If you doubt that, consider the case of professor Samuel Abrams of Sarah Lawrence College. Abrams, a tenured professor of political science who admits that he “leans conservative” has been studying the … Continue reading “The Professor Who Was Harassed for Pointing Out the Truth”

Politicized Art Schools Are Losing Students to the Atelier Movement May 22, 2019
A series of disasters face art colleges and the art departments of American universities. Their campuses are closing, their freshmen numbers are dwindling, and their graduates are struggling. Getting more students into an art program is a hard sell. To restore their appeal, art schools would do well to de-politicize their programs and focus on … Continue reading “Politicized Art Schools Are Losing Students to the Atelier Movement”
Keeping Journalists in the Dark: ‘Citation Cartels’ Limit Public Knowledge May 17, 2019
The public relies on journalists to learn about and share academic research. Public knowledge can be undermined, however, when academics try to influence what research journalists cover or limit the “acceptable debate” about an issue. This influence can be achieved through “citation cartels,” where sympathetic researchers cite and reference one another and ignore or dismiss … Continue reading “Keeping Journalists in the Dark: ‘Citation Cartels’ Limit Public Knowledge”
From Indoctrination to Education: Salvaging the University May 10, 2019
Editor’s note: This article is an excerpt from Coming Home: Reclaiming America’s Conservative Soul (ISBN: 9781641770569), to be published by Encounter Books on May 14. The promise of higher education has become a trap for tens of millions of Americans. The promise: Every one of us and our children could go to college, earn a … Continue reading “From Indoctrination to Education: Salvaging the University”

Identity Politics Versus Basic Logic: Should Colleges Offer Affirmative Action for the Female Majority? May 24, 2019
Academic postmodernism is no stranger to the idea that classical Enlightenment values such as reason, equal treatment, and individual agency should be cast aside for the sake of racial and sexual grievances. We should denounce reason and science as the legacy of “dead white men”—or so we are told. Western academia has become both ideologized … Continue reading “Identity Politics Versus Basic Logic: Should Colleges Offer Affirmative Action for the Female Majority?”
Keeping Journalists in the Dark: ‘Citation Cartels’ Limit Public Knowledge May 17, 2019
The public relies on journalists to learn about and share academic research. Public knowledge can be undermined, however, when academics try to influence what research journalists cover or limit the “acceptable debate” about an issue. This influence can be achieved through “citation cartels,” where sympathetic researchers cite and reference one another and ignore or dismiss … Continue reading “Keeping Journalists in the Dark: ‘Citation Cartels’ Limit Public Knowledge”
From Indoctrination to Education: Salvaging the University May 10, 2019
Editor’s note: This article is an excerpt from Coming Home: Reclaiming America’s Conservative Soul (ISBN: 9781641770569), to be published by Encounter Books on May 14. The promise of higher education has become a trap for tens of millions of Americans. The promise: Every one of us and our children could go to college, earn a … Continue reading “From Indoctrination to Education: Salvaging the University”

Identity Politics Versus Basic Logic: Should Colleges Offer Affirmative Action for the Female Majority? May 24, 2019
Academic postmodernism is no stranger to the idea that classical Enlightenment values such as reason, equal treatment, and individual agency should be cast aside for the sake of racial and sexual grievances. We should denounce reason and science as the legacy of “dead white men”—or so we are told. Western academia has become both ideologized … Continue reading “Identity Politics Versus Basic Logic: Should Colleges Offer Affirmative Action for the Female Majority?”
Politicized Art Schools Are Losing Students to the Atelier Movement May 22, 2019
A series of disasters face art colleges and the art departments of American universities. Their campuses are closing, their freshmen numbers are dwindling, and their graduates are struggling. Getting more students into an art program is a hard sell. To restore their appeal, art schools would do well to de-politicize their programs and focus on … Continue reading “Politicized Art Schools Are Losing Students to the Atelier Movement”
Bill Roundup: The Higher Ed Topics Prioritized by the North Carolina General Assembly May 20, 2019
May 9 was the “crossover” deadline for bills in the North Carolina General Assembly. For a bill to have survived past that date, it must have either passed at least one chamber or carried a substantial spending component. For bills focused on higher education, about a dozen are left standing—mostly because they contain appropriations. Bills … Continue reading “Bill Roundup: The Higher Ed Topics Prioritized by the North Carolina General Assembly”