Academics

Future leaders in business, government, and civil society need more than just job skills. The following articles defend the value of liberal education, with a focus on academic quality and rigor, fundamental knowledge, and the ideas that have shaped Western Civilization. They also scrutinize academic programs that have departed from these ideals in the name of progressive ideology.

Study Examines College Writing Courses

Jun 19, 2006 ·

RALEIGH � Postmodern theorists have changed the way composition courses in college are taught, eliminating literature and grammar instruction by imposing group discussions with little involvement from the teachers, according to a new study released Monday by the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy.

The study, written by Nan Miller, a former English professor at North Carolina State University and Meredith College, discusses several fallacies that she believes have severely lowered the quality of writing among college students.

Jim Hunt believes colleges are not measuring up

Jun 12, 2006 ·

In a report recently issued by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, former North Carolina governor Jim Hunt and businessman Thomas Tierney address the question “How does American higher education measure up for the 21st century?” Not very well, they conclude.
I happen to think their conclusion is correct, but not for the reasons they give. The difficulty is that Hunt and Tierney are obsessed with the notion that we have a quantity problem. We don’t. We have a quality problem.
The tone for the report is set by former New Mexico governor Garrey Carruthers in his foreword. He states that, due to the demands of the “knowledge-based global economy,” it is imperative that “more Americans must prepare for, enroll in, and successfully complete degree and certificate programs.” Carruthers provides not the tiniest bit of evidence to support his assertion, but this is only the foreword. He calls for government, schools and colleges, and public leaders to “ratchet up the educational level” of the populace.

Is Ward Churchill an Aberration?

Jun 1, 2006 ·

While University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill is infamous and controversial for his assertion that the people killed in the World Trade Center attacks shouldn’t be mourned because they were just “little Eichmanns,” that moronic statement is not at issue in the university’s investigation of him. A professor is just as entitled to say stupid things out of class as a retail clerk is entitled to say stupid things on her free time.

The University of Colorado appointed a team of scholars to investigate allegations that Churchill was guilty of plagiarism and academic fraud. Their findings were very clear: Churchill had indeed committed numerous, flagrant violations of the canons of scholarship. Later this year, the university will decide what penalty to impose.

UNC-Chapel Hill Tries to Spin Away a Major Defeat

May 18, 2006 · and

In July of 2004, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) wrote to UNC-Chapel Hill, explaining for the second time in less than two years that constitutionally protected freedom of association is meaningless if a group cannot exclude people who do not share the beliefs of the group. This is both basic common sense and clearly established law. The College Democrats can exclude Republicans, the college environmental club can exclude students who hate environmentalism, and the college chess club can exclude members who hate the game and wish to see it abolished. In other words, if you form a group in order to express commonly held ideas or ideals, of course you can exclude those who disagree.

Easley releases budget document

May 9, 2006 ·

RALEIGH – The University of North Carolina and the North Carolina Community College System are slated to receive budget increases of more than 10 percent in a budget proposal released Tuesday by Gov. Mike Easley.

Easley’s budget announcement, which was announced during a press conference, came on the same day legislators returned to Raleigh for the start of the short session. More information about the budget is expected to be released Monday during a Joint Appropriations Committee meeting that will include a budget briefing.

In all, Easley is recommending a state budget of $18.85 billion, up from $17.2 billion for the current fiscal year. The budget request increases spending thanks in part to a $2 billion surplus in revenues.

Academic Year 2006: The Final Exam

May 4, 2006 ·

Students on campuses across North Carolina will soon take their final exams. Some have already started. Those exams are supposed to measure what a student has learned in the course, although they may do little more than increase the profits of stores that sell caffeine all night.

So if we were to take a final examination of what we learned this academic year, how would we do? What have we learned from the events that transpired since mid-August when students traded in their sun block and golf clubs for textbooks and book bags? Certainly there have been enough significant events in higher education to make us think about academe in both positive and negative lights. Reviewing for an end-of-year exam, what should we cover?

Faculty Pay – Is Higher Education Being “Devalued?”

Apr 27, 2006 ·

Each year, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) puts out a study on faculty compensation. This year’s study takes on a somewhat alarmist tone. Its title, “The Devaluing of Higher Education”suggests that there is some ominous trend at work that could make “faculty positions less appealing for the next generation of scholars.”

The difficulty, according to the AAUP researcher, is that in 2005-06, average faculty salaries increased less than the rate of inflation. While average gross pay rose by 3.1 percent, inflation (measured by the Consumer Price Index) increased by 3.4 percent. That’s a pretty small erosion of purchasing power and since the inflation rate was unexpectedly high – it had been around 2.5 percent for several years – it’s hard to see this as a serious “devaluing” of higher education. Rather, it looks like a minor bump in the road. The study doesn’t say whether there have been years when average faculty compensation exceeded the rate of inflation, but that has undoubtedly occurred.

Is it Possible to Reduce College Costs?

Apr 20, 2006 ·

The Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education recently released several studies. One of them, written by Robert C. Dickeson, deals with perhaps the most frequently discussed college topic of all – does it have to cost so much?

Higher education is very labor-intensive, so if you want to find ways to lower costs, labor is the first place to look.

Dickeson points to tenure as being one reason why labor costs are higher than they need to be. The decision to grant tenure, he notes, carries with it a price tag that often exceeds $1 million. Its effect is to reduce institutional flexibility in two ways. First, if student interest in a field declines, the school can’t readily adjust; it’s stuck with a tenured professor even if students aren’t enrolling in his courses any more. Second, a tenured professor who is no longer effective – someone who is just coasting along, putting forth a minimal effort for his students – is hard to remove. Although tenure is not an absolute job guarantee, trying to remove a professor with tenure is a costly, time-consuming task that many administrators don’t want to try.

Bowles innagurated as president

Apr 13, 2006 ·

GREENSBORO – Erskine Bowles was inaugurated Wednesday as the 16th president of the University of North Carolina. His official swearing-in was held at UNC-Greensboro, four months after he took the job on Jan. 1.

The festivities began with a faculty procession down Spring Garden Street led by the N.C. A&T State University marching band. Wake Superior Court Judge Howard Manning Jr. administered the oath of office, and Crandall Bowles held a family Bible for her husband. About 1,500 people filled Aycock Auditorium to hear the former U.S. Senate candidate outline his plan for the 16-campus system.

Appalachian State Moves Back Toward First Amendment

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It’s not every day that we find something within the University of North Carolina system to applaud. A recent development at Appalachian State University gives reason for us to take notice and also hope that other schools in North Carolina follow suit.

Just a few short months since the Pope Center and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education released its report on “The State of the First Amendment in the University of North Carolina System,” Appalachian State has eliminated one of its policies that was heavily criticized by the study. After reading the study, Paul Funderbunk, a graduate student and president of Appalachian State’s ACLU chapter, contacted school officials to ask that they change their policies inhibiting free speech.

Administrators saw the good sense in Funderburk’s position and repealed the school’s “harassment” policy on March 22.