Name: Fifth Annual Policy Banquet featuring Dr. Wilfred McClay
Start: 2020-11-12T18:00:00-05:00
End: 2020-11-12T19:30:00-05:00
Location: Carolina Country Club

6 things we’re thankful for in higher education

Nov 26, 2014 · staff · No Comments

It is Thanksgiving week, and six Pope Center staff members express thanks for some things that happened this year in higher education.

Using ‘Transparency’ to Obscure: The Daily Tar Heel and UNC’s Title IX Records Oct 19, 2020
“Sunlight,” Justice Louis Brandeis once wrote, “is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.” Few aspects of the contemporary academy more need enhanced sunlight than the Title IX adjudication process, which operates almost entirely in the dark—even going as far as not publicizing the training materials that adjudicators used … Continue reading “Using ‘Transparency’ to Obscure: The Daily Tar Heel and UNC’s Title IX Records”
The BlackLivesMattering of Higher Ed: Some Notes from the Field Oct 16, 2020
When the University of Chicago English Department announced over the summer that, in response to the protests after the death of George Floyd, they would only admit graduate students willing to work in Black Studies (a proclamation that, after media attention brought criticism, they recently removed from their webpage), observers of the increasing dominance of … Continue reading “The BlackLivesMattering of Higher Ed: Some Notes from the Field”
Did You Know? Grad School Can Affect Whether Students Take a Class Pass/Fail Oct 15, 2020
Since the pandemic, many colleges have gone from giving letter grades to offering students a pass/fail grading option for their courses. Letter grades become a passing (P), which gives students credit but is not included in their GPA. If a student fails, they receive an F that stays on their record. Schools suggest that students … Continue reading “Did You Know? Grad School Can Affect Whether Students Take a Class Pass/Fail”

Is College Football an Expensive Luxury for Many Universities? Sep 25, 2020
The importance of college football to university education is vastly overrated. Rather than an integral part of the college experience, football means more student debt, another burden for taxpayers, and a compromised education for athletes. The COVID-19 pandemic is prompting universities to develop costly new teaching methodologies, require expensive campus protection strategies, and has caused … Continue reading “Is College Football an Expensive Luxury for Many Universities?”
How College Sports Can Survive Jun 17, 2020
Without revenue from the NCAA Final Four tournament and other sources of income, it is clear that the intercollegiate athletics industry faces difficult choices from the consequences of the coronavirus. College sports will confront a continuing crisis until adequate testing is in place, along with social distancing at athletic events, or a vaccine is created. … Continue reading “How College Sports Can Survive”
How UNC Can Save Money Post-COVID-19 May 18, 2020
UNC has announced its intent to reopen all 16 campuses this fall with in-person instruction. But the system will have to make significant changes before moving forward. Jenna A. Robinson and Sumantra Maitra released a new policy brief for the Martin Center describing some of the financial changes that universities can make to survive and … Continue reading “How UNC Can Save Money Post-COVID-19”

Without Lab Time or Facilities, Students Get Lower-Quality Education Oct 12, 2020
In spring 2020, when universities went online due to COVID-19, few of them expected to be online in the fall as well. After a failed reopening of schools, courses again went online. Davidson College in North Carolina launched a College Crisis Initiative to determine how “colleges and universities innovate in a crisis mindset” and found … Continue reading “Without Lab Time or Facilities, Students Get Lower-Quality Education”
Did You Know? No Tuition Refund, But a Tuition Freeze for UNC Schools Oct 1, 2020
The abrupt switch to online classes was shocking for tens of thousands of students and professors across the country. Universities were then awash in refund demands from students and their parents. Students felt they deserved at least a partial tuition refund because online courses differ drastically from in-person courses. Many universities did not give in … Continue reading “Did You Know? No Tuition Refund, But a Tuition Freeze for UNC Schools”
Is College Football an Expensive Luxury for Many Universities? Sep 25, 2020
The importance of college football to university education is vastly overrated. Rather than an integral part of the college experience, football means more student debt, another burden for taxpayers, and a compromised education for athletes. The COVID-19 pandemic is prompting universities to develop costly new teaching methodologies, require expensive campus protection strategies, and has caused … Continue reading “Is College Football an Expensive Luxury for Many Universities?”

Using ‘Transparency’ to Obscure: The Daily Tar Heel and UNC’s Title IX Records Oct 19, 2020
“Sunlight,” Justice Louis Brandeis once wrote, “is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.” Few aspects of the contemporary academy more need enhanced sunlight than the Title IX adjudication process, which operates almost entirely in the dark—even going as far as not publicizing the training materials that adjudicators used … Continue reading “Using ‘Transparency’ to Obscure: The Daily Tar Heel and UNC’s Title IX Records”
How Many Students Are Hospitalized with COVID-19? NC Colleges Don’t Know Oct 5, 2020
For college campuses across North Carolina, the fall ushered in a less-than-ideal reality. The coronavirus, although under greater control than in the spring, was—and is—widely circulating. Within the first few weeks of the semester, hundreds of students tested positive at UNC campuses including UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, and East Carolina University. Since then, … Continue reading “How Many Students Are Hospitalized with COVID-19? NC Colleges Don’t Know”
A Book with a Kernel of Truth—and a Grain Silo of Nonsense Sep 30, 2020
Every so often, a leftist thinker breaks free from the orthodoxy to point out that policies favored by “progressives” can have adverse consequences. When that happens, it’s worth paying attention. We have such an instance with the publication of The Cult of Smart by Fredrik deBoer, a writer and one-time academic whose work has appeared … Continue reading “A Book with a Kernel of Truth—and a Grain Silo of Nonsense”

Religion on Campus: A Marketable Skill, or a Diversity & Inclusion Fight? Sep 28, 2020
Across higher education, campuses have changed how they deal with religion. It used to be seen as something at odds with academic freedom and science. Now, however, some campus administrators and advocates want students to learn more about religion, and to see policy changes on the institutional level. One argument is for colleges to teach … Continue reading “Religion on Campus: A Marketable Skill, or a Diversity & Inclusion Fight?”
Saving a Struggling College Starts with the Board Sep 23, 2020
Before the COVID-19 pandemic walloped our colleges and universities, higher education had been facing threats to existing business models for years. A great deal has been written the past few years predicting the demise of large numbers of U.S. colleges and universities. Many higher education institutions are indeed threatened. But their demise may not be … Continue reading “Saving a Struggling College Starts with the Board”
America Needs a GED Equivalent for a College Degree Aug 14, 2020
As higher education undergoes dramatic changes thanks to the coronavirus, reformers should aim higher than expanding online education. Now is a propitious time to end the dominance of accreditation agencies in higher ed and create a GED-like equivalency exam for a college degree. Many students want a traditional college life: living on campus for four … Continue reading “America Needs a GED Equivalent for a College Degree”

The BlackLivesMattering of Higher Ed: Some Notes from the Field Oct 16, 2020
When the University of Chicago English Department announced over the summer that, in response to the protests after the death of George Floyd, they would only admit graduate students willing to work in Black Studies (a proclamation that, after media attention brought criticism, they recently removed from their webpage), observers of the increasing dominance of … Continue reading “The BlackLivesMattering of Higher Ed: Some Notes from the Field”
They’ve Got to Get Rid of Western Civ—They Have To Oct 14, 2020
For ten years I served on the GRE Literature Exam committee. The exam is one of the special subject matter exams separate from the regular GRE (with math, verbal, analytical sections), and several English departments require that applicants take it. Each year five of us would meet for several days at Educational Testing Service’s campus … Continue reading “They’ve Got to Get Rid of Western Civ—They Have To “
Disadvantaging Black Students with a Demand for ‘Linguistic Justice’ Oct 9, 2020
On August 3, the Executive Committee of the Conference on College Composition and Communication approved a position statement on “Black Linguistic Justice.” The statement was crafted as a set of “demands” that “teachers stop using academic language and standard English as the accepted communicative norm.” The “Four Cs” is the largest and most important professional … Continue reading “Disadvantaging Black Students with a Demand for ‘Linguistic Justice’”

Using ‘Transparency’ to Obscure: The Daily Tar Heel and UNC’s Title IX Records Oct 19, 2020
“Sunlight,” Justice Louis Brandeis once wrote, “is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.” Few aspects of the contemporary academy more need enhanced sunlight than the Title IX adjudication process, which operates almost entirely in the dark—even going as far as not publicizing the training materials that adjudicators used … Continue reading “Using ‘Transparency’ to Obscure: The Daily Tar Heel and UNC’s Title IX Records”
The BlackLivesMattering of Higher Ed: Some Notes from the Field Oct 16, 2020
When the University of Chicago English Department announced over the summer that, in response to the protests after the death of George Floyd, they would only admit graduate students willing to work in Black Studies (a proclamation that, after media attention brought criticism, they recently removed from their webpage), observers of the increasing dominance of … Continue reading “The BlackLivesMattering of Higher Ed: Some Notes from the Field”
Did You Know? Grad School Can Affect Whether Students Take a Class Pass/Fail Oct 15, 2020
Since the pandemic, many colleges have gone from giving letter grades to offering students a pass/fail grading option for their courses. Letter grades become a passing (P), which gives students credit but is not included in their GPA. If a student fails, they receive an F that stays on their record. Schools suggest that students … Continue reading “Did You Know? Grad School Can Affect Whether Students Take a Class Pass/Fail”