The rise of activist professors has shaped the culture in higher ed for decades. As activists have become more prominent, a familiar process has changed academic departments, pushing scholars out … Continue reading “Activist Academics Threaten the Integrity of Higher Ed”
Higher education reform will only come from the outside, probably from political reform. Or so we thought. Along came the coronavirus, also an outside force, that is upsetting the status … Continue reading “Idaho’s Higher Education Earthquake?”
When I accepted an administrative position at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, friends warned me that I would not fit in as a conservative. I dismissed their … Continue reading “How Colleges Get Rid of Conservative Admins: An Example from UNC”
On December 13th, 2019, Dr. Kevin Guskiewicz became the 12th chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to his appointment, he had been serving as interim … Continue reading “A Conversation with the Chancellor of UNC-Chapel Hill”
As political polarization is growing, colleges must figure out how to ensure that political discussions on campus are constructive. For that to happen, schools need to take the lead in … Continue reading “Did You Know? What Colleges Can Do to Defend Free Expression”
In yet another window into the country’s polarized political environment, in 2017 the Pew Research Center surveyed Americans regarding their views of major civic institutions. While there were divisions in … Continue reading “College Climate Surveys Needed to Understand Free Expression on Campus”
Two recent stories that dominated academic Twitter were the cancellation of the Western Art History course at Yale and the incorporation of the 1619 Project in the school curricula in … Continue reading “The Philosophical Force Driving the Fight to Rewrite History”
A few years ago, Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist, realized that most of his colleagues were on the Left. This is not necessarily a bad thing. People are allowed to … Continue reading “Intellectual Desegregation: What Heterodox Thought Requires from Academics”
The social sciences have a problem: If their scholars think too much alike, they will be blinded to the flaws and gaps in their research. Rather than explaining how individuals … Continue reading “Blinding Themselves: The Cost of Groupthink in Social Psychology”
Until 2015, I believed that the Obama administration’s “Dear Colleague” letter, which called for universities to significantly broaden their interpretation of Title IX protections, was merely a way to address … Continue reading “The Totalitarian Impulse in the Title IX Racket”