What the Justices Heard and Said
One week ago today, attorneys for Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) laid out their cases against Harvard and the University of North Carolina before the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices…
Time to Rethink University Accreditation
Many people believe that if a college or university is accredited, that’s the equivalent of a guarantee of quality. Just as the seal of approval from Underwriters Laboratories (UL) tells…
The “Underpants Gnomes” Theory of Higher-Ed Funding
Step 1: Spend more on universities. Step 2: Get more graduates. Step 3: Statewide prosperity! Sounds pretty simple and straightforward, right? (At least for fans of the very NSFW program…
Improving Higher Ed Through Better Open-Records Laws
It is no secret that American higher education is in crisis due to a lack of affordability, growing irrelevance, and the ideological conformity that prevails in today’s classrooms. Less well-known…
Political Accountability Versus Campus Autonomy
A pronounced distrust has developed between many state legislatures and their public campuses. There has been a general decline in public confidence in higher education, and that loss has been…
Even Liberals Should Be Skeptical of Racial Preferences in Higher Education
In most public discussions, “affirmative action” in higher education is treated as one of the core issues that divides liberals from conservatives. It is rare in public life to hear…
A Partial Shout-Down at UNC-Chapel Hill
Until recently, it was a point of pride that there hadn’t been any speaker “shout-downs” at UNC-Chapel Hill since 2009. But that changed on Tuesday when student protestors repeatedly interrupted…
Colleges: Go Back to Basics
Colleges perform two vital functions: They disseminate to the people (especially their own students) the knowledge and wisdom acquired through time in ways that enhance the common good, and they also…
No, Colleges are Not Unsafe
In 1986, Lehigh University freshman Jeanne Clery was raped and murdered in her on-campus dormitory. This terrible event led to the passage of the Clery Act (1990), which requires American…
Measuring Discrimination: Racial Preferences at Public Flagship Institutions
From the Executive Summary of Measuring Discrimination Racial Preferences at Public Flagship Institutions: Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects Americans from discrimination based on race, color,…