Rara Avis: Professor Finds Harvard’s Faults
Harvey Mansfield is the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Government at Harvard University. Still teaching at the age of 94, he has just published a collection of essays, Where…
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Articles
50-State Comparison: Syllabus Transparency
In an era of the internet, AI, and constant information overload, most public colleges and universities in the United States still don’t consistently make syllabi and course information publicly available.…
North Carolina Has the Degrees, But What About the Paychecks?
The hot new words in higher education are educational attainment and career outcomes. Educational attainment is the raw share of adults who hold a degree or credential. Career outcomes or…
A Little-Known Lawsuit May Weaken University Ethics Boards
For 45 years, research at American universities has been supervised by Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), which are committees that ensure scientific research is conducted ethically. At most universities, faculty, students,…
Degrees Still Matter—But They’re Not Enough
A recent poll shows employers still value college degrees, but they are worried about a skills gap between what they need and what candidates actually possess. Earlier this year, Lumina…
How Accreditation Became a Shield for Campus Ideology
For years, universities have embraced accreditation standards that echo their own ideological commitments, especially around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). These standards haven’t felt like external requirements so much as…
Professors Like Democrats. But Do Democrats Like Them Back?
It is well known that college professors vote overwhelmingly Democrat. But do the Democrats return their love? The question is rarely asked. Common sense implies that if a group votes…
Alaska Needs a Law School
According to the American Bar Association, there are 198 accredited law schools in the United States. Alaska is the only state without one. The Last Frontier is the largest state…
When Satire Becomes Scandal
April Fool’s Day is a “holiday” that celebrates jokes and produces some clever headlines, and then everyone moves on with their lives. At UNC, however, it apparently also means administrative…
In Praise of the 4-4 Load
My recent article “A Roadmap to Take Back Higher Education” got a mixed reaction from tradition-minded professors. They liked the general framework of the scale of the problem facing the…