At the September meeting of the UNC Board of Governors, the Budget Committee received an important presentation: UNC System Workforce Trends Part II. The report included detailed data about the growth of university personnel expenditures compared to changes in enrollment and degree completion. Overall, the UNC System spent 18 percent more on salaries in FY … Continue reading “Did You Know? Some UNC Institutions Are Inefficient”
The University of North Carolina at Asheville recently announced with great pride its plans to divest part of its endowment from investments based on “fossil fuels” (such as natural gas, oil, and coal). At a June 21 meeting, the Board of Trustees voted to shift $5 million of its $50 million endowment from the non-profit … Continue reading “UNC-Asheville Should Divest Itself from Irresponsible Political Posturing”
There are a lot of good reasons to question the value of a traditional college degree. Tuition costs have been rising at a rate that’s almost eight times faster than wage growth, and yet survey after survey indicates graduates are still woefully unprepared when entering the workforce. While it’s tempting to blame poor preparation on … Continue reading “North Carolina Colleges Shouldn’t Confuse Cafeteria-Style Curriculum with Strong Liberal Arts”
Too often, universities use studies about themselves as marketing opportunities rather than a chance to understand reality. This is especially true with “economic impact” studies that purport to examine a university’s effect on a local economy. One recent example, for the University of North Carolina at Asheville, unfortunately, follows this mold. Produced by a consulting … Continue reading “Fun with Numbers: UNC-Asheville’s Economic Impact Study Is Marketing, Not Fact”
When universities institute things such as “safe spaces” and “trigger warnings,” they often justify doing so in the name of protecting students’ mental health. Critics, on the other hand, argue that universities are more often protecting students from ideas with which they disagree and shielding them from the vicissitudes of adulthood. But there is at … Continue reading “The “Snowflake” Generation: Real or Imagined?”
It took less than a week into the 2016-2017 academic year for several outrageous stories to surface on college campuses. At the University of Texas at Austin, thousands of students protested the state’s new campus carry law by wielding sex toys in a campaign called “Cocks Not Glocks.” The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee told students that … Continue reading “The Freshman Experience: Social Justice Indoctrination and Academic Handholding”