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.

Professors make case for tuition increases – with “string” attached

Nov 4, 1999 ·

Two department heads at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill took their case for tuition increases to cover faculty salary increases to the students last week. David Guilkey, professor and chairman of the Department of Economics, and Ed Samulski, professor and chairman of the Department of Chemistry, wrote an editorial in the student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel, Oct. 28 in favor of a five-year plan to raise tuition at UNC-CH by $1,500.

A new study challenges the assumption that an education from an elite college translates into greater earnings than an education from a less prestigious school.

The University of Virginia Reevaluates Its Use of Race in Admissions

Oct 21, 1999 ·

The University of Virginia Board of Visitors recently adopted unanimously a resolution supporting the changes in the university admissions policy by President John T. Casteen III. Casteen this month acknowledged that in June he had ended the university’s use of a scoring system in admissions that awarded extra points to black applicants.

Apocalypse at UNC

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The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is in crisis, according to professors and students who squared off in a debate this week over a plan to increase student tuition. The tuition increases would be used to boost faculty salaries. The debate was sponsored by UNC-CH’s Dialectic and Philanthropic societies.

Criticisms of Pope Salary Study Unfounded, Author Says

Oct 7, 1999 ·

The Pope Center’s study of faculty salaries study has come under criticism from the Economics Dept. at UNC-Chapel Hill. Department Chair David K. Guilkey criticized the study in a recent letter to The News & Observer of Raleigh. Guilkey also announced that his department would release its own rankings of faculty compensation on October 15 on its website (http://www.unc.edu/depts/econ).

Sober Policies on Drinking?

Sep 20, 1999 ·

Just weeks after pledging a positive campaign to fight binge drinking at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the presidents of several UNC system schools have had a seeming change of heart. The News and Observer reported last week that the heads of UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Greensboro and UNC-Charlotte have signed on to a anti-drinking campaign that uses the mixed message that drinking can be done responsibly, while showing irresponsible drinking behavior among students. The new campaign is supported by the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities.

Race Preferences in Disguise?

Sep 9, 1999 ·

A controversial program designed to bring “social equity” to the college admissions process may soon be implemented at colleges and universities nationwide. Questions remain, however, over whether the program contains race-preferential policies. The new program is called “Strivers” and was developed by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), which devises the SAT, as a way to account for background factors of prospective college students.