Topic: Governance

University Administrators’ Pandemic Power Grab

Nov 27, 2020 · · No Comments on University Administrators’ Pandemic Power Grab

Universities’ profligate spending habits have caught up with them after substantial losses in student enrollments due to COVID-19. As undergraduate enrollment fell by 4.4 percent and students had fewer “on-campus experiences,” universities desperately began laying off employees. Some even have plans to consolidate departments and entire campuses. Those actions spell trouble for the future of … Continue reading “University Administrators’ Pandemic Power Grab”

UVA and the Dangerous Politicization of Our College Campuses

Nov 25, 2020 · · No Comments on UVA and the Dangerous Politicization of Our College Campuses

It is no secret that our colleges and universities have witnessed a sea change in campus culture over the past two decades. Political correctness has run rampant. High-profile incidents such as the Yale Halloween costume controversy and phenomena such as safe spaces and building re-namings have captured public attention. College officials, however, assure us that … Continue reading “UVA and the Dangerous Politicization of Our College Campuses”

Heavy Is the Head that Wears the Crown

Nov 16, 2020 · · No Comments on Heavy Is the Head that Wears the Crown

Since 2015, the University of North Carolina system’s Board of Governors (BOG) has endured one controversy after another, beginning with protests over decisions to close three “academic centers” for being overly political and to replace Democrat Thomas Ross as the system president with Republican Margaret Spellings. Some of the problems have been of the board’s … Continue reading “Heavy Is the Head that Wears the Crown”

The Last Refuge of Pure Meritocracy

Nov 6, 2020 · · No Comments on The Last Refuge of Pure Meritocracy

Racial consideration for college admissions hearkens back to Grutter v. Bollinger, the landmark decision by the Supreme Court in 2003. It held that affirmative action programs can pass muster as long as they are “narrowly tailored” in order to achieve the “compelling interest” of promoting diversity on college campuses. Colleges across the country have since … Continue reading “The Last Refuge of Pure Meritocracy”

Police Education Is Not Police Training: Virtue Signaling Is Not the Road to Improvement

Oct 30, 2020 · · No Comments on Police Education Is Not Police Training: Virtue Signaling Is Not the Road to Improvement

In the wake of George Floyd’s death, a number of colleges have cut back their interactions with local police departments and are redesigning their law enforcement programs. The University of Minnesota (UM) was one of the first to accede to faculty and student demands to cut ties with local police. The university scaled back its … Continue reading “Police Education Is Not Police Training: Virtue Signaling Is Not the Road to Improvement”

America Wants Its Public Colleges Back and The Chronicle Isn’t Happy About It

Oct 26, 2020 · · No Comments on America Wants Its Public Colleges Back and The Chronicle Isn’t Happy About It

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently released a report decrying the politicization of public higher education governance, entitled The New Order: How the Nation’s Partisan Divisions Consumed Public-College Boards and Warped Higher Education. The report says more about the tunnel vision that pervades the liberal media and academic establishment than it does about the real … Continue reading “America Wants Its Public Colleges Back and The Chronicle Isn’t Happy About It”

Free Speech and Liberal Education–Two Endangered Pillars of Society

Oct 21, 2020 · · No Comments on Free Speech and Liberal Education–Two Endangered Pillars of Society

Fifteen years ago, American higher education was beset with serious problems, especially rising costs, politicization of the curriculum, the mania over diversity, and falling academic standards. At that time, however, few people would have said that among its problems was the threat to freedom of speech on campus. But one scholar who did see that … Continue reading “Free Speech and Liberal Education–Two Endangered Pillars of Society”

Using ‘Transparency’ to Obscure: The Daily Tar Heel and UNC’s Title IX Records

Oct 19, 2020 · · No Comments on Using ‘Transparency’ to Obscure: The Daily Tar Heel and UNC’s Title IX Records

“Sunlight,” Justice Louis Brandeis once wrote, “is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.” Few aspects of the contemporary academy more need enhanced sunlight than the Title IX adjudication process, which operates almost entirely in the dark—even going as far as not publicizing the training materials that adjudicators used … Continue reading “Using ‘Transparency’ to Obscure: The Daily Tar Heel and UNC’s Title IX Records”

How Many Students Are Hospitalized with COVID-19? NC Colleges Don’t Know

Oct 5, 2020 · · No Comments on How Many Students Are Hospitalized with COVID-19? NC Colleges Don’t Know

For college campuses across North Carolina, the fall ushered in a less-than-ideal reality. The coronavirus, although under greater control than in the spring, was—and is—widely circulating. Within the first few weeks of the semester, hundreds of students tested positive at UNC campuses including UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, and East Carolina University. Since then, … Continue reading “How Many Students Are Hospitalized with COVID-19? NC Colleges Don’t Know”

A Book with a Kernel of Truth—and a Grain Silo of Nonsense

Sep 30, 2020 · · No Comments on A Book with a Kernel of Truth—and a Grain Silo of Nonsense

Every so often, a leftist thinker breaks free from the orthodoxy to point out that policies favored by “progressives” can have adverse consequences. When that happens, it’s worth paying attention. We have such an instance with the publication of The Cult of Smart by Fredrik deBoer, a writer and one-time academic whose work has appeared … Continue reading “A Book with a Kernel of Truth—and a Grain Silo of Nonsense”