The Strange World of “Citational Justice”
The latest fresh hell is citational justice. Which is quotas for footnotes. Now we’re supposed to track the group identity of the authors we cite and make sure there are…
The latest fresh hell is citational justice. Which is quotas for footnotes. Now we’re supposed to track the group identity of the authors we cite and make sure there are…
No matter where one falls politically, one must admit that the pandemic brought to the foreground the importance of scientific research. A new report from The Economist’s think-tank spinoff, Economist…
Science is not supposed to be filtered through a belief system. It’s supposed to go wherever the facts lead. But the human brain doesn’t work that way. Our brains zoom…
Recently, one of the departments on my campus invited an academic “expert,” who, among other specializations, “advise[s] on the ethical aspects of telescope siting,” to give a talk entitled “How…
Economists call someone who gets paid more than necessary to produce a good or service a “rent-seeker.” Arguably the preeminent rent-seeker in higher education, Terry Hartle, announced his retirement recently…
Two years ago, the Great Awokening came for blind auditions in America’s top orchestras. Any educational or cultural differences were insufficient explanations for the disparities between white and black players…
In September 2022, three researchers published the provocatively titled article, “Do Introductory Courses Disproportionately Drive Minoritized Students Out of STEM Pathways?” That article got loads of social media publicity for…
Here’s a business plan: Sell a product that … some of the world’s most highly educated scholars, working at some of the world’s most prestigious institutions, invest thousands of hours…
John Staddon is an emeritus professor of biology at Duke University and, thankfully, an academician who doesn’t fear being “canceled” for voicing incorrect opinions. His latest book, Science in an…
Academics sometimes have a bit of an unfortunate reputation of being big picture thinkers, with our heads in the clouds (or ivory tower) and disconnected from the realities of everyday…