virtual learning Archives — The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal

Reforming Higher Ed in 2021

Jan 4, 2021 · Martin Center Staff · No Comments

The year 2020 brought changes that colleges would have never made by choice. Enrollment declines, remote classes, and dramatic employee cuts (for faculty and some staff alike) were unthinkable a year ago. But, for the sake of the future, more work remains. Below are some priorities the Martin Center staff would like to see catch … Continue reading “Reforming Higher Ed in 2021”

Did You Know? UNC Schools Delay In-person Classes Jan 21, 2021
The fall 2020 semester did not go as planned for most students and many felt that their universities failed them. The spring 2021 semester isn’t looking too promising for them, either. Some colleges, such as UCLA, will not reopen until an “effective vaccine or advanced therapeutics have been developed and are available to the majority … Continue reading “Did You Know? UNC Schools Delay In-person Classes”
The Harvard Professor Who Bemoans Higher Education Jan 20, 2021
Most college professors applaud what American higher education does and want to see it expand to include even more students. One dissenter of note, however, is Harvard philosophy professor Michael Sandel. In his latest book, The Tyranny of Merit, he argues that higher education has become a big part of the problem he sees with … Continue reading “The Harvard Professor Who Bemoans Higher Education”
Teaching Students Civil Dialogue in a Culture Hostile to Free Speech Jan 18, 2021
It can be disheartening to witness how college culture has become inhospitable to viewpoints that fall outside of the ideological mainstream. For example, a March 2020 report by three professors at UNC-Chapel Hill revealed that UNC students across the political spectrum, but particularly conservative students, sometimes engage in self-censorship for fear of what others may … Continue reading “Teaching Students Civil Dialogue in a Culture Hostile to Free Speech”

Drake Group President: Congress Must Protect Student-Athletes’ Rights Jan 11, 2021
The fight to protect student-athletes’ rights has been a long uphill battle. The injustices that college athletes suffer at the hands of their academic institutions are many, including a shameless disregard for athletes’ physical, financial, and educational well-being. To make matters worse, the NCAA, founded to protect student-athletes from exploitation, has failed in its mission … Continue reading “Drake Group President: Congress Must Protect Student-Athletes’ Rights”
Reforming Higher Ed in 2021 Jan 4, 2021
The year 2020 brought changes that colleges would have never made by choice. Enrollment declines, remote classes, and dramatic employee cuts (for faculty and some staff alike) were unthinkable a year ago. But, for the sake of the future, more work remains. Below are some priorities the Martin Center staff would like to see catch … Continue reading “Reforming Higher Ed in 2021”
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?”

Biden Could Shake Up Higher Ed—If He Doesn’t Endorse the Status Quo Jan 22, 2021
Now that President Biden has been sworn in as the 46th president, he wants to hit the ground running and attend to urgent priorities. One of his first moves was to extend student loan payment deferrals until October, buying time for further reforms to America’s higher education system. Deferrals will be one small part of … Continue reading “Biden Could Shake Up Higher Ed—If He Doesn’t Endorse the Status Quo”
Did You Know? UNC Schools Will Get Millions in COVID-19 Funding Jan 7, 2021
Last week, Congress approved the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, a $2.4 trillion spending package that includes $23 billion in aid for public and non-profit colleges and universities. The relief package will provide about $286 million in new Higher Education Emergency Relief Funding (HEERF) to UNC system schools. Of that amount, almost $90 million is … Continue reading “Did You Know? UNC Schools Will Get Millions in COVID-19 Funding”
Reforming Higher Ed in 2021 Jan 4, 2021
The year 2020 brought changes that colleges would have never made by choice. Enrollment declines, remote classes, and dramatic employee cuts (for faculty and some staff alike) were unthinkable a year ago. But, for the sake of the future, more work remains. Below are some priorities the Martin Center staff would like to see catch … Continue reading “Reforming Higher Ed in 2021”

The Ways in Which Colleges Legally Silence Troublesome Scholars Jan 6, 2021
Radicals on campus do more than just “cancel” speakers. Failure by administrators to stand firm alters the atmosphere at colleges as well as, eventually, our system of government. The most profound consequences may come less from ideological zealots than from our own cowardice to oppose them. Some colleges now respond to ideological intimidation not by … Continue reading “The Ways in Which Colleges Legally Silence Troublesome Scholars”
Reforming Higher Ed in 2021 Jan 4, 2021
The year 2020 brought changes that colleges would have never made by choice. Enrollment declines, remote classes, and dramatic employee cuts (for faculty and some staff alike) were unthinkable a year ago. But, for the sake of the future, more work remains. Below are some priorities the Martin Center staff would like to see catch … Continue reading “Reforming Higher Ed in 2021”
University Administrators’ Pandemic Power Grab Nov 27, 2020
Universities’ profligate spending habits have caught up with them after substantial losses in student enrollments due to COVID-19. As undergraduate enrollment fell by 4.4 percent and students had fewer “on-campus experiences,” universities desperately began laying off employees. Some even have plans to consolidate departments and entire campuses. Those actions spell trouble for the future of … Continue reading “University Administrators’ Pandemic Power Grab”

Teaching Students Civil Dialogue in a Culture Hostile to Free Speech Jan 18, 2021
It can be disheartening to witness how college culture has become inhospitable to viewpoints that fall outside of the ideological mainstream. For example, a March 2020 report by three professors at UNC-Chapel Hill revealed that UNC students across the political spectrum, but particularly conservative students, sometimes engage in self-censorship for fear of what others may … Continue reading “Teaching Students Civil Dialogue in a Culture Hostile to Free Speech”
Did You Know? Disrupt Texts Is the Latest Attack on the Western Canon Jan 14, 2021
Penguin Classics is partnering with Disrupt Texts to replace Shakespeare and Homer with Ibram X. Kendi. What is Disrupt Texts? For the uninitiated, it is a new radical movement in classrooms which seeks to disrupt the “hegemony of English” and the Western canon by replacing them. According to its own website, Disrupt Texts is a “crowdsourced, grassroots effort by … Continue reading “Did You Know? Disrupt Texts Is the Latest Attack on the Western Canon”
The Spurning of Old Books: The Devaluation of the Past Threatens Higher Ed Jan 13, 2021
Alan Jacobs’ new book, Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader’s Guide to a More Tranquil Mind, is a coaxing argument to read “old books that come from strange times.” Readers of his previous works The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction and How to Think will not be surprised that Jacobs, distinguished … Continue reading “The Spurning of Old Books: The Devaluation of the Past Threatens Higher Ed”

Biden Could Shake Up Higher Ed—If He Doesn’t Endorse the Status Quo Jan 22, 2021
Now that President Biden has been sworn in as the 46th president, he wants to hit the ground running and attend to urgent priorities. One of his first moves was to extend student loan payment deferrals until October, buying time for further reforms to America’s higher education system. Deferrals will be one small part of … Continue reading “Biden Could Shake Up Higher Ed—If He Doesn’t Endorse the Status Quo”
Did You Know? UNC Schools Delay In-person Classes Jan 21, 2021
The fall 2020 semester did not go as planned for most students and many felt that their universities failed them. The spring 2021 semester isn’t looking too promising for them, either. Some colleges, such as UCLA, will not reopen until an “effective vaccine or advanced therapeutics have been developed and are available to the majority … Continue reading “Did You Know? UNC Schools Delay In-person Classes”
The Harvard Professor Who Bemoans Higher Education Jan 20, 2021
Most college professors applaud what American higher education does and want to see it expand to include even more students. One dissenter of note, however, is Harvard philosophy professor Michael Sandel. In his latest book, The Tyranny of Merit, he argues that higher education has become a big part of the problem he sees with … Continue reading “The Harvard Professor Who Bemoans Higher Education”