How Colleges Have Made Students Poorer and Undereducated

Nov 15, 2019 · Jenna A. Robinson · No Comments

There is general agreement among higher education observers and reformers that tuition and fees at public universities have increased at an unsustainable pace. It’s equally uncontroversial to note that financial aid hasn’t kept up with unrelenting tuition increases, leaving students in the lurch. In his new book, “The Impoverishment of the American College Student,” James … Continue reading “How Colleges Have Made Students Poorer and Undereducated”

Did You Know? Student Loan Defaults Are Most Common in West Virginia, New Mexico

Nov 14, 2019 · Madeline Baker · No Comments

When students are late making a monthly payment on their federal student loans, the loan becomes delinquent. And if they don’t make any payments for 270 days, most types of federal student loans go into default. The Department of Education provides data on cohort default rates by institution, which informs the public of how many … Continue reading “Did You Know? Student Loan Defaults Are Most Common in West Virginia, New Mexico”

How Colleges Can Survive the Coming Enrollment Crash

Nov 13, 2019 · Rob Jenkins · No Comments

Nationwide, higher education enrollment has been trending down for several years. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2019 was the eighth straight year of decline, with an overall drop of nearly 10 percent since 2011. The reasons for this are many, including political, economic, and social factors. But the main one is demographic: Fewer … Continue reading “How Colleges Can Survive the Coming Enrollment Crash”

Students Tear Down Anti-Socialism Display at UNC Charlotte

Nov 11, 2019 · Emma Schambach · No Comments

Universities may not target unpopular speech on campus often, but when they fail to protect it, the results are similar to officially silencing speech. A recent example of this lack of effort to protect comes from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where an anti-socialism display was destroyed on campus within a day after … Continue reading “Students Tear Down Anti-Socialism Display at UNC Charlotte”

The Totalitarian Impulse in the Title IX Racket

Oct 30, 2019 · Adam Ellwanger · No Comments

Until 2015, I believed that the Obama administration’s “Dear Colleague” letter, which called for universities to significantly broaden their interpretation of Title IX protections, was merely a way to address the so-called “rape crisis” on American campuses. I doubted the narrative that colleges had rates of sexual assaults that were comparable with warzones, but this … Continue reading “The Totalitarian Impulse in the Title IX Racket”

Outnumbered: Academia’s Tilted Ideological Landscape

Oct 28, 2019 · Shannon Watkins · No Comments

The fact that conservatives are outnumbered on college campuses isn’t groundbreaking news. The amount of ink that’s been spilled recounting the left’s stronghold on the academy and the threats that such ideological imbalance poses to rigorous academic inquiry—not to mention the perverse effects it wields on the culture—has been enough to fill volumes of journals, … Continue reading “Outnumbered: Academia’s Tilted Ideological Landscape”

Liberty University: A Cautionary Tale

Oct 25, 2019 · Christian Barnard · No Comments

A recent cascade of investigative reporting on the shady business dealings of Jerry Falwell Jr. has raised some troubling questions about the controversial evangelical figure and his vision for Liberty University, the conservative Christian institution he has led for more than a decade. Reports from Politico and Reuters, with university staff and administrators as sources, … Continue reading “Liberty University: A Cautionary Tale”

Did You Know? Eight States Ban Affirmative Action in College Admissions

Oct 24, 2019 · Jenna A. Robinson · No Comments

Earlier this month, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts released its ruling in Students For Fair Admissions v. Harvard University. That means affirmative action—its application and limitations—is back in the news. In her ruling, federal Judge Allison Burroughs wrote, “Ensuring diversity at Harvard relies, in part, on race-conscious admissions. Race conscious admissions … Continue reading “Did You Know? Eight States Ban Affirmative Action in College Admissions”

The Intimidation Game: Bullying and Retaliation at the University of Tulsa

Oct 23, 2019 · Jacob Howland · No Comments

Since April, I’ve witnessed the ongoing destruction of the University of Tulsa (TU) by a cadre of wealthy and powerful people affiliated with the billionaire George Kaiser. Kaiser is the controlling shareholder of the Bank of Oklahoma Financial (BOKF), which handles much of TU’s business and is the corporate trustee of its $1.2 billion endowment. … Continue reading “The Intimidation Game: Bullying and Retaliation at the University of Tulsa “

The Idea of a University: When Trustees Turn a College into a Commodity

Oct 18, 2019 · Martin Center Staff · No Comments

Editor’s Note: This article by Randolph Bourne, a writer and public intellectual, was originally published as “The Idea of a University” in The Dial on November 22, 1917. This is the second of a Martin Center “History of Higher Ed” series where the Center will republish overlooked writings that shaped American higher education. In September 1917, … Continue reading “The Idea of a University: When Trustees Turn a College into a Commodity”