From Evergreen State College in Washington to Yale University in Connecticut, campaigns to punish or fire professors accused of thinking or saying things outside the bounds of political correctness seem … Continue reading “Everyone’s Offended: Campus Intolerance Can Come from Liberals and Conservatives”
Four years ago, brothers at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at UNC Wilmington (UNCW) brought campus due process—or lack thereof—into the sunlight. The young men had been accused of hazing … Continue reading “Due Process: Restoring a Fundamental Right on Campus”
University foundations are at the forefront of schools’ fundraising, event planning, and publicity efforts. But the details of how these foundations operate—such as where they get their money and what … Continue reading “How to Make University Foundations More Transparent”
Among the duties of a university’s board of trustees, there is perhaps no bigger responsibility than helping to select the leader of the campus—the chancellor/president. Such an important responsibility requires … Continue reading “Should Universities Be Outsourcing Their Chancellor Searches?”
In 2013, North Carolina stopped giving automatic pay raises to public school teachers who earn master’s degrees. In the legislature, the debate focused on teachers and whether graduate degrees make … Continue reading “Automatic Pay Raises for Teachers Create Perverse Incentives in Graduate Education”
The North Carolina General Assembly’s recently released budget for 2016-17 increases University of North Carolina System appropriations by $168 million, $31 million of which will be dedicated to fund projected … Continue reading “NC’s Latest Higher Ed Budget: More Spending, Less Saving”
Whether or not you agree that a college degree is primarily worth its increase in potential earning power, students overwhelmingly rate the economic benefits of a degree as the top … Continue reading “Will New Transparency Measures Help North Carolina Students?”
Students who leave college with no degree but an accumulation of debt face obvious hardship, but what about taxpayer money wasted on students with no degrees? The results for North … Continue reading “College Dropouts Cost North Carolina Taxpayers $446M Per Year”
UNC System leaders are overhauling their 2013 strategic planning initiative. Whether that will result in sound reform ideas, however, is up in the air. North Carolina’s university system is a powerful force in the state—armed with its own lobbying team, almost 50,000 employees, and a $9.5 billion annual budget. It is a machine with a tendency to aggrandize. Curbing its appetite for expansion and self-serving policies won’t be easy.
As the stock market gyrates and talk of a new recession begins, many universities have reason to worry. The cost of college education hasn’t stopped rising, students are fearful of being burdened by debt, and political pressure is beginning to weigh in. Congress is entertaining a bill that would require 25 percent of a school’s endowment spending to go toward student financial aid, and several presidential candidates have unveiled plans to solve the student debt crisis. At the state level, the return of state support to its pre-recession levels may be in jeopardy. But a few universities have chosen to take a different route. In addition to looking for more state revenues, they’ve found ways to reduce their expenditures and to ease the financial burden on students.