Back to School, Decades Later
Imagine walking into an undergraduate philosophy class and finding an 85-year-old retiree debating an 18-year-old freshman. As colleges try to reverse enrollment declines, Goucher College has turned to a surprising…
Readying UNC for Another 250 Years of Civic Life
I have always found it inspiring that the University of North Carolina was chartered in 1789—during the same legislative session that ratified the American Constitution. The demands of citizenship were…
What Public Policy Schools Should Teach
Governing is hard, serious work. Even when we dislike the agenda of the party in power, we should prefer savvy professionalism to bumbling amateurism. When officials seek to shift international…
NC’s Direct Admissions Program Must Proceed With Caution
Last year, the UNC System rolled out NC College Connect, a direct college admissions program for North Carolinian public high school students. While the program clearly streamlines admissions by mailing…
North Carolina’s Talent Gap
North Carolina enjoys a healthy, growing economy. Unemployment rates are low. Job growth is robust. And people continue to move to North Carolina at staggering rates. But new data from…
What Would a Pro-Family Academia Look Like?
My most recent Martin Center column highlighted the irony, considering higher education’s formative influence on America’s prevailing anti-natalist culture, of the industry’s anxiety over declining birthrates. “Where,” I asked, “are…
Medicine, Moral Formation, and the Recovery of Discourse
In recent years, it has become something of a commonplace to say that American institutions are losing their sense of purpose. Universities, once understood as places for the disciplined pursuit…
How Does Your State Stack Up?
Late last year, the Martin Center debuted a major new resource for readers seeking state-by-state higher-education analysis and policy coverage. The project is a small part of the Martin Center’s…
Are “Minimesters” the Future?
For more than a century, the traditional academic semester—typically lasting 15 or 16 weeks—has been the dominant calendar in American higher education. Yet this format is increasingly being reconsidered. A…
An Immodest Proposal for Reforming Law-School Admissions
I am not a lawyer, nor am I a product of the American legal academy. But a patriotic higher-education policy cannot leave the legal profession to the lawyers alone. We…