What Mission Statements Reveal
Most people have an intuitive sense that political polarization is about a lot more than positions on political issues. How you feel about immigration, abortion, or gun control—not to mention…
Articles
Articles
Selling Dreams, Not Reality
Choosing a college major is a life-altering decision, made millions of times a year by 18-year-olds with little exposure to higher education or labor markets. Colleges frame programs in terms…
Tuition Transparency Is Still a Problem
When deciding whether to attend college, most people’s biggest concern is how to afford it. Indeed, the cost of attending a particular college is a key factor guiding students’ choices…
Replacing Standards with Sympathy
Higher education once stood for rigor, accountability, and personal responsibility. But grade inflation and diluted curricula have already eroded the pretense of academic excellence. Now, a new initiative at the…
“Let Them Be Born in Wonder”
The 2025-26 academic year began with a fell note of doom for the humanities. Dr. Jenn Frey at Tulsa University had built a beautiful Honors College grounded on the Great…
Woke Witch Hunts Are Losing in Court
So strong is the gravitational pull of “wokeness” that it has caused many college and university leaders to approve of appalling treatment of faculty members who dared to question the…
A Win for Syllabus Transparency
The University System of Georgia recently adopted a new policy promoting curricular transparency at all 26 of its public institutions. This is the latest in a series of reforms that…
The AI Rock and Hard Place
The email dropped into my university account with a quiet ding, an inauspicious start to what would become an unwanted foray into the messy world of AI “false positives.” With…
The College Rat Race
Across the nation, public universities are under orders to move students across the graduation stage more quickly, but at what cost to the degree itself? Yes, graduation-rate targets are important…
From Purpose to Politics: The Decline of Three Liberal Arts Institutions
In the early years of our nation, the increasing demand for an educated population led to the founding of many small colleges. Almost all of them had religious roots and…