Blueprint for Reform: Civil Discourse
American college and university campuses are at risk of becoming echo chambers. Many students are afraid to express their opinions because it’s unclear how their professors and peers will receive…
Articles
Articles
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…
What Will UNC Tuition Hikes Pay For?
Tuition hikes in higher education are painful, reluctantly accepted, and justified with promises that the money will go to essential needs. If students really must pay more, an important question…
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…
Skin In the Game At Last
Startling news from the world of student-loan reform: A federal intervention appears to be not only working on its own terms but producing beneficial knock-on effects. With apologies to the…
Classical Education Needs a Better Defense
As a professor of the classical liberal arts, I began reading Bob Pepperman Taylor’s new book, Liberal Education and Democracy, with interest. Taylor, who teaches law and politics at the…
States Should Lead on Higher-Ed Reform
In recent years, federal policymakers have pursued sweeping higher-education reforms. Yet these efforts are often slow, legally contested, and subject to reversal. For example, during both of his terms of…
Florida’s Intellectual Lifeboats
The Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida has just established two Ph.D. programs: “History of Ideas” and “War, Statecraft and Strategy.” I believe these…
What Is TransparUNCy Up To?
Earlier this year, Inside Higher Ed ran a puff profile of “TransparUNCy,” the unpronounceable left-leaning organization that has lately become one of the University of North Carolina’s “most effective watchdogs.”…
Why My AI Writing Assignment Failed
AI is here to stay, the experts say. Don’t fight it. Embrace it and give students a legitimate way to use AI in their writing. I’ve heard those claims since…