Goodbye, Belle Wheelan
Over the last 25 years or so, one model of university accreditation has given way to another. Under the old system, colleges submitted to invasive but essentially nonpartisan examination of…
Posts tagged with
“free speech”
Universities’ Stalinesque Procedures Are Silencing Unpopular Professors
At one time, most Americans (and virtually all academics) would have agreed with the famous saying, often attributed to Voltaire, “While I disagree with what you say, I will defend…
Are Colleges Rebounding on Speech?
Free speech is a foundational value of American life, yet our college campuses are justly accused of not adequately fostering a free-speech environment. Few will have forgotten the tensions of…
Bad Legal Education Puts America in Jeopardy
It is worrisome that “progressive” activism has managed to infiltrate so much of American higher education, but wildly politicized sociology and English departments can do us only marginal damage. Few…
Why I Started A Free-Speech Magazine at Duke
At America’s elite universities, we are told that pursuing free inquiry and civil discourse is a fundamental value. Administrators champion “grand” initiatives such as the Duke Provost’s Initiative on Free…
Free Speech, Tar Heel Style
In an era where intellectual discourse faces unprecedented challenges, 23 states have taken decisive action to protect free speech on college campuses. Yet their efforts raise an important question: Why…
Accreditation-Reform Hopes for the Second Trump Administration
Higher education seemingly played an important if largely negative role in the recent presidential election. Exit polls showed that non-college-educated voters overwhelmingly favored Donald Trump. Many voters associated Kamala Harris…
Educators: Beware the Certainty Trap
Despite what headlines often suggest, when it comes to tackling controversial issues on college campuses, the biggest challenge isn’t constraints on academic freedom. It’s not restrictions placed on free speech,…
From Retaliation to Reform
You have undoubtedly heard about cases where intolerant administrators target professors who fail one of the ideological litmus tests that increasingly characterize higher education. Such instances have become commonplace, perhaps…
After the Encampments
You may have noticed that there has been less news this fall than last spring about Middle East-related demonstrations and disruptions on college campuses, a change only partly attributable to…