Academic Armageddon Advances
Robert Kelchen of the University of Tennessee, writing in the Chronicle of Higher Education recently, described the most dire problem facing higher education today: “The list of institutions trimming academic…
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Articles
50-State Comparison: Standardized Testing Requirements at Public Flagship Universities
Standardized tests are a vital tool for policymakers working to ensure fairness in college admissions and drive student success. In practice, these assessments serve two critical purposes: they allow universities…
The Three-Year Degree Makes Sense
On 27 April, the University of North Carolina (UNC) System’s Board of Governors approved a pilot program to begin offering three-year, 90-credit degrees as early as fall 2027. The decision…
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…
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…