Learning to “Code”
It was once common to suggest people who lose their blue-collar jobs should “learn to code.” This is no longer very good advice, if it ever was, since coding is…
Articles
Articles
Lonely on Campus: Are Universities Failing Their Students?
A college campus should be one of the least lonely places in America. Students pack lecture halls, dormitories, dining halls, football games, and coffee shops every day. There are clubs,…
When Truth is No Longer Paramount
It is a running joke with my repeat students that “it depends” is the phrase most likely to set me off during a classroom discussion. Don’t get me wrong, I…
Archivists and Justice: A Call to Reform
Fans of the classic, North Carolina-set sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show, immediately recognize the exclamation “Surprise, surprise, surprise!” The character Gomer Pyle frequently and humorously utters this expression. Many may…
“Let People Be Free to Come Up with Ideas”
Diversity, equity, and inclusion have gotten a lot of attention over the past decade. In these pages, we’ve often lamented that universities’ focus on superficial measures of diversity undermines merit…
Making Room for More Ideas in Higher Education
Late last year, I had the honor of being nominated by Governor Kim Reynolds to serve on the advisory board of the newly created Center for Intellectual Freedom at the…
Huge University Spending Yields Little Value
Why do public university officials do the things they do? What drives their decisions to allocate scarce resources in some ways and not others? In his recent book The University…
Student Loans: A Multi-Generational Financial Trap
When the United States began its experiment with federally backed student loans in the 1960s, no one predicted that, by the early 21st century, students would have run up over…
Harvard Tries Grade Deflation
This academic year, Harvard has endured a dark night of the soul, including (among other troubles) facing down the consequences of grade inflation and searching for curricular absolution. In a…
Taxpayers Shouldn’t Fund NIL
College athletics are big business. And states are increasingly competing to give their universities an edge in recruiting talented student-athletes. What began as an effort to allow athletes to profit…