It is interesting but depressing to me that the more eminent a college or university is perceived to be, the more outrageous are efforts by administrators to stifle individual expression and enforce a numbing conformity of ideas reminiscent of universities in the old Soviet Union or Nazi Germany. The most prestigious group of schools in … Continue reading “Higher Education Used to Love Controversy”
World wars have been fought in less time than the battle the UNC and N.C. Community College Systems have waged to create a user-friendly database that active-duty military personnel and veterans can use to ease their transition into higher education. Lawmakers and veterans advocates want to know why higher-education officials have failed for nearly a … Continue reading “N.C. Campuses’ Long War”
The Biden administration is seeking to “cancel” student debt by transferring what individual students owe to the American taxpayer. Opponents question why Americans who never graduated from college, and had none of the attendant benefits of a degree, should pick up the tab for those who did. Defenders of the Biden order counter with the … Continue reading “British Universities Show Why “More” Does Not Mean “Better””
Today, the UNC Board of Governors will take up an important question: Is it appropriate to increase student fees when students are already facing tight budgets due to inflation? For most fees, the System has already answered with a resounding “no.” But an exception may be made for the System-wide campus security fee. The Committee … Continue reading “UNC’s Board of Governors May Reconsider A Fee Increase”
It’s no secret that university students, once known for their brash defense of unfettered free speech, have gone rather quiet on the issue. Campus surveys reveal that most college students self-censor to some degree and that certain ideas are now taboo on campus. A new report from Speech First, a membership association of students, parents, … Continue reading “Bias Response Teams Have No Place on N.C. Campuses”
Is higher education the highest priority for East Carolina University, or is the institution just pushing a political narrative? On August 19th, ECU held its 2022-23 faculty convocation, and the Martin Center was able to attend via livestream. The speeches and events that transpired were eye-opening and revealed much about the path ECU is encouraging … Continue reading “ECU Makes the Secret Hurt Visible”
It’s no secret that black students fare poorly on the academic achievement scale. Their scores on standardized achievement tests, their academic performance while in school, and their rates of enrollment and graduation lag far behind their white and Asian counterparts. The persistence of this achievement gap is harmful to society. But how can we close … Continue reading “Why Blacks Must Be Responsible for Closing the Racial Achievement Gap”
Since the Supreme Court’s 2021 ruling in NCAA v. Alston, collegiate sports have been roiled with confusion and a lack of clarity regarding name, image, and likeness (NIL) rules. When the NCAA was forced to dramatically shift its stance on athletes’ compensation, state officials, university systems, and individual colleges hastily assembled NIL guidelines for their … Continue reading “NIL Chaos Hits College Athletics”
On August 1st, Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina submitted an amicus brief siding with the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in its attempt to use race as a factor in university admissions. The amicus brief comes at a time when the future of affirmative action is being litigated in the Supreme Court. A group … Continue reading “Gov. Cooper’s Race-Preferences Brief is Inherently Discriminatory”
It is indisputable that the U.S. faces the worst inflation in 40 years, an outcome that seemingly no one was predicting a few years ago. The impact on Americans of rapid, unanticipated price increases varies. Retired citizens living on interest income from bonds and fixed pensions are badly hurt, for example, while some others, including … Continue reading “Inflation Will Hit Universities Hard”