Last year, the Martin Center released its first report on the state of free speech and institutional neutrality in the UNC system. The report serves two main purposes. The first is to measure how much of an effect the free speech law has had on the state’s public colleges and universities. The law, also known … Continue reading “Free Speech: A Year in Review for UNC Campuses”
The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) rates teacher education programs on how well they teach different subjects such as science, social science, and content knowledge. As Shannon Watkins describes, most public North Carolina education programs do a poor job teaching the future educators of the state. And education schools at University of North Carolina … Continue reading “Did You Know? The Uneven Performance of UNC Education Schools”
Macalester College is a small (2,000-plus students), highly regarded, and very selective liberal arts college in St. Paul, Minnesota. It is proud of its liberal reputation and international outlook, and touts as past faculty vice presidents Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale, as well as undergraduate Kofi Anan, previous head of the United Nations. Macalester boasts … Continue reading “Macalester College: Liberal Arts or Monoculture?”
The public has lost faith in the NCAA and colleges to protect student-athletes. When surveying the numerous ideas for fixing college sports, it’s hard to make any other conclusion. Reform is by insiders and outsiders alike—even if it doesn’t happen. Demands for college athletics reform, however, aren’t rare in the history of college sports. A … Continue reading “Waiting for Reform: The Plans to Fix College Sports”
It is quite common: A successful college alum decides to donate a large sum of his accumulated wealth to his alma mater, but wants the money to be used in a specific way. School officials want the money. They don’t, however, care for the conditions attached to it. What to do? The honorable course of … Continue reading “Donors Beware: College Officials Have Their Own Ideas About Using Your Money”
People in the education policy and funding worlds don’t like Sandra Stotsky. For years she has been a robust critic of too many things educators, ed school professors, school administrators, and philanthropists have hailed and implemented. She doesn’t spare people’s feelings and she won’t relax her standards. Stotsky’s new book, The Roots of Low Achievement: … Continue reading “The Truth-Teller”
A certain anger at society seems to pervade the academy today. Hardly a week goes by without hearing about outraged students either demanding recompense for some perceived injustice or attempting to shut down an invited speaker. Between professors who spread neo-Marxist ideologies, administrators who enforce an extreme political correctness on campus, and peer pressure to … Continue reading “A Psychological Profile of the New Campus Activist”
Americans used to relish good debates. The debates between Senator Stephen Douglas and his challenger Abraham Lincoln in 1858 were transcribed and widely read. Even though Lincoln lost the election, the quality of his arguments impressed so many people that he became the Republican Party’s nominee for president just two years later. College campuses are … Continue reading “Restoring a Great Intellectual Tradition to America’s Campuses”
The dominance of registered Democrats to Republicans in academia is becoming more and more apparent. In the sample provided by Mitchell Langbert of the National Association of Scholars, 39 percent of academic departments have no Republican faculty member. He also found that the mean ratio of Democrats to Republicans is 10.4 to 1 after examining … Continue reading “Did You Know? Democrats Dominate Professorships”
As our nation’s colleges and universities prepare to re-open and welcome their new students to campus in a few short weeks, it is important to remember that the first “educational” experience many of these new students will have as they set foot on their campuses will not be with their professors but with school administrators. … Continue reading “Look South for Diversity on College Campuses”