Articles

Feb 23, 2015 · Jesse Saffron

In North Carolina, university-backed political advocacy may be on the way out

Last week, a working group from the UNC system’s Board of Governors drew national attention and student and faculty protest after it announced plans to discontinue three of the system’s 237 centers and increase oversight of thirteen others. The centers slated for closure are East Carolina University’s Center for Biodiversity, NC Central’s Institute for Civic Engagement and Social Change, and UNC-Chapel Hill’s Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity, which was founded in 2005 by then-U.S. Senator John Edwards.

Feb 20, 2015 · Jenna A. Robinson

Let’s bring Western Governors University to North Carolina

For North Carolina, Western Governors University would be a welcome alternative to traditional credit-hour programs, particularly for adult learners who want job training and a degreeâ€”not a four-year “experience.”

Feb 18, 2015 · Howard Kainz

Firing Professor McAdams: When a Catholic university collides with political correctness

Parents of Marquette students can now rest assured that their children in college will be “safe” from homophobic and other politically incorrect indoctrination; professors of philosophy will no longer consider it their “mission” (pace Socrates) to subject widely accepted meanings and values to intensive reexamination; and professors of other subjects who manage their own private blogs now know that what they formerly considered to be “free speech,” even in their extracurricular activities, has now been redefined by their employers.

Feb 16, 2015 · Christian D'Andrea

There’s a silver lining in Scott Walker’s proposed $300M cut to the University of Wisconsin

Walker’s proposal would make every member of the UW system a public authority—a designation that would allow the state’s universities to take bureaucratic control of their own operations. This would effectively wash away the state’s control over major decisions such as tuition rates, hiring and firing practices, employee compensation, purchasing goods and materials, and construction projects.

Feb 13, 2015 · Mary Grabar

“Free” community college will make a bad situation worse

In his State of the Union address, President Obama pitched his plan for making two years of community college as “free and universal in America as high school is today.” He thinks it would be a great thing. But at the community college where I taught English from 2007 to 2010, Georgia Perimeter College, the joke was that it was already an extension of high school.

Feb 11, 2015 · Jane S. Shaw

What I’ve learned at the Pope Center

Over the past eight years I have experienced a rich and sometimes tumultuous education about the economics, politics, and culture of today’s campuses.

Feb 9, 2015 · Jesse Saffron

Steven Salaita tells UNC-Chapel Hill audience that “civility” is a racist term

On February 5, more than 100 students, faculty, administrators, and political activists packed a lecture hall at UNC-Chapel Hill to hear controversial indigenous studies professor Steven Salaita speak about academic freedom and censorship.

Feb 6, 2015 · Scott Rank

Scholars find that they can break with universities and make it on their own

The jailbreak of academics outside the walls of a university is an opportunity for students. Self-learners don’t have to spend $40,000/year for the privilege of expanding the life of the mind. Adults who want to dabble in Russian literature don’t even have to spend $3,000 for a night course at the community college.

Feb 4, 2015 · Todd Zywicki

Meet the mid-level bureaucrats who impose speech codes on America’s universities

Of all the many ideas that constitute our civilization, none is more central or important than the norms of free inquiry. The last place one should entrust these norms for safekeeping and propagation is to a bureaucracy that is dedicated to peace and quiet. Yet today, it is they, not the faculty, who are the true enemies of free speech on campus.

Feb 2, 2015 · Harry Painter

“Rubber stamping” is the norm at the State Board of Community Colleges

Attend a North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges meeting and you are likely to fall asleep as board members and community college system office staffers take turns dispassionately checking off the monthâ€™s agenda items to unanimous approval.