Free Speech: A Year in Review for UNC Campuses
Last year, the Martin Center released its first report on the state of free speech and institutional neutrality in the UNC system. The report serves two main purposes. The first…
Articles by Shannon Watkins
A Psychological Profile of the New Campus Activist
A certain anger at society seems to pervade the academy today. Hardly a week goes by without hearing about outraged students either demanding recompense for some perceived injustice or attempting…
Is Early College Paying Off?
“Early college” is an increasingly popular program that allows students to earn college credit in high school. Among the advantages it offers to high school students is the ability to…
What Do North Carolinians Think About Student Debt?
Student loan debt has reached the dizzying level of nearly $1.6 trillion—largely due to ever-soaring tuition prices and students taking on financial burdens that far outweigh their earning potential. The…
Educate the Educators!
North Carolina schools have a serious literacy problem; most likely, that means it has a teacher education problem. The University of North Carolina system is exploring ways to correct the…
Repairing Academia’s Crisis of Meaning
Traditionally, higher education introduced students to life’s most fundamental questions: “What is good?”; “What is true?”; “Do our lives have meaning beyond the material?”; and so on. The focus used…
The Essential Ingredient for a ‘Deep Education’
About a year ago, Princeton philosopher Robert P. George came to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to speak about civil discourse and diversity of thought with the UNC system Board of…
Preparing Students for Life Beyond High School
Few factors affect the long-term direction of students’ lives more than the quality of their K-12 education. For students who decide to attend a four-year university, their ability to keep…
Looking at Higher Ed Through Rose-Colored Glasses
It can be tempting for college leaders to focus solely on data that support their policy initiatives—to the exclusion of other relevant information. Unfortunately, intentionally or not, University of North…
A Unique Opportunity for Athletics Reform
Many colleges are setting up their student-athletes for failure. Whether one looks to the long-term neurological health risks that young athletes are subject to, or the myriad cases of academic…