What a Year! Ten Trends in Higher Ed in 2015

Looking back at all that happened in higher education this year is enough to make your head spin. One minute, state politicians are finally making good policies; the next, university officials are caving to irrational demands. At the other end of the spectrum, politicians are promoting policies of monumental stupidity, while the courts are making surprisingly good decisions (but not always). A majority of students favor putting extreme limits for political correctness on free speech, while an opposition is coalescing around protecting the First Amendment and due legal processes. And on and on it goes. To try to capture the spirit of 2015, the Pope Center staff identified ten of the year’s major trends and events.


The State of the State University 2015

This report shows, through graphs and tables, the University of North Carolina’s enrollment growth, tuition history, admissions data, and graduation rates. It provides details about student aid, student debt, the ratio of faculty to students, and the ratio of administrators to faculty. It includes information about faculty salaries, state appropriations, and state subsidy of instruction costs.


What We’re Reading

Every once in a while, we all read something that really excites us or makes a deep impression on us. Sometimes it’s a timeless classic, sometimes it’s entirely new. We thought we’d share a few such influential works with our readers. Enjoy.




An Independence Day Special: Can the Republic Survive Higher Education’s Influence?

Tomorrow is the day we celebrate our nation’s founding—and the first time that a nation was deliberately founded on reason and the rule of law instead of on accidents of history. The central question of this article is “how are the founding and related topics treated in today’s academia?” It is a matter of crucial importance, since academia’s treatment of the nation’s history and fundamental ideals influences the future.