The Bates Motel of Higher Education

Pretend for a moment that you are starting your freshman year at Harvard University. You are excited about the college experience and ready to tackle the demanding coursework. You have…

For millions of college freshmen, their first course isn’t calculus, U.S. history, or English composition—it’s effectively “Introduction to College.” Indeed, more than 77 percent of universities surveyed by the National…

For years, Fudan University offered UNC-Chapel Hill undergraduates a taste of Shanghai academic life. Now, that door is closed. The reason isn’t budget cuts or falling enrollment—it’s national security. And…

The University of Michigan plans to exclude first-semester letter grades from students’ transcripts to “curb the mental health crisis.” What would seem like a mundane university-level grading change has become…

While I was in graduate school, I regularly participated in a research program that paid students to taste test food. Many social science disciplines conduct research this way. While these…

Ever since Benjamin Franklin wielded his fluent French to persuade Parisian elites to support the War of Independence, foreign language knowledge has enabled American diplomats and representatives—not to mention spies—to…

Stephen H. Balch’s Naturalizing History: A Biocultural Theory of Human Progress (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2026) is a grand synthesis of biology and history that articulates many of the concerns of…

East Carolina University is going through a bad stretch.  Sexual assaults. Hazing reports. Drunken student behavior. Religious-property vandalism. A dorm peeping case. Alleged drug and alcohol use among prospective members…