College Closures Are a Blessing in Disguise
The closure of more than 500 private, nonprofit, four-year educational institutions in the last 10 years—three times the rate of the previous decade—is widely seen as a catastrophe for the…
Articles by Walt Gardner
Why Would Anyone Want to Be a College President?
Although the average tenure of a college president is the shortest it has ever been and the turnover rate the highest, the position still attracts candidates. These men and women…
It’s Time to Build Sports Academies
When the men’s basketball team at Dartmouth voted to unionize earlier this year, the college’s president vowed to take the issue all the way to the Supreme Court. Her decision…
New Hope for Less-Selective Colleges
It’s hardly front-page news that trust in higher education is at an all-time low. But what is overlooked is just how dire the situation is for small, private colleges with…
It’s Time to Make Colleges Pay Property Tax
Although the Ivies and other elite colleges and universities in the U.S. are financial titans, they are registered with the Internal Revenue Service as 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organizations. As a…
Why Research Fraud Is Getting Worse
Once a rarity, research fraud is on the rise at some of the nation’s most prestigious universities. What is most disturbing is that the fraud in question too often involves…
Let’s Replace the Carnegie Unit
With students going deep in debt in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree, it’s time to seriously consider a strategy that has the potential to accelerate learning and decrease costs. Competency-based…
An Ivy League Degree for Nontraditional Students
When an Ivy League school breaks with its storied past by introducing a degree for nontraditional students, the relevance for other institutions of higher learning can’t be overlooked. In 2016,…
Who’s to Blame When Students Fail a Course?
As long as college students are considered entitled customers, their complaints about their professors will be taken seriously by administrators. That’s because happy students boost college applications, affect the closely-watched…
What SAT Scores Say About Teacher Effectiveness
The SAT has been in the news again, this time because of the claim that test-optional policies are a way for colleges to covertly impose affirmative action. It’s true that…