Higher Education Is Changing, and So Must “Shared Governance”
William G. Bowen and Eugene M. Tobin, both former college presidents (Princeton and Hamilton, respectively) grasp the crucial fact that the good old days of higher education are gone. In their new book, Locus of Authority, they tackle the traditional shared governance system (that is, the division of responsibility between the administration and the faculty). That system needs to change because it is getting in the way of the flexibility that is now essential.
It’s Time to Clear Up the Impending Confusion in UNC Admissions Standards
This year the North Carolina State Board of Education is lowering grading standards in all North Carolina high schools, while the College Board is rewriting the SAT to align with Common Core. Because of these two changes, it’s imperative that UNC raise its minimum admission standards. And uncertainty surrounding the new SAT leaves GPA as the only potentially reliable measure. Raising the minimum required GPA to 3.0 for all 16 UNC institutions would preserve academic quality in the system and provide a clear, consistent standard for admissions officers to apply to incoming students.
Despite Its Big Spending, N.C.’s Higher Ed Budget Tackles Big Issues
The state’s higher education budget is usually a mixed bag of “the good, the bad, and the ugly,” and this year’s is no exception. However, the legislature should be commended for addressing a number of important issues that traditionally have been neglected or overlooked.
An End to the Textbook Racket?
The extent to which innovations such as open textbooks, textbook reserves, and skirting textbooks altogether and sticking to primary sources will disrupt the cartel-like textbook market is still unknown. But the speed at which new means of delivering written information are appearing suggests that textbook publishers’ best days are behind them.
“Publish or Perish” Isn’t So Bad
Despite its flaws, the “publish or perish” systerm at least makes sure faculty members aren’t total deadbeats.
UNC-Chapel Hill’s Defense of Controversial 9/11 Course Doesn’t Hold Up
Given that the included content is overwhelmingly anti-American, that the course omits some of the most essential perspectives, and that the professor is a hard-left ideologue, the only proper conclusion can be that the course was crafted to present a biased picture. It is time for the Trustees of UNC-Chapel Hill to step up and end this politicized abuse of the curriculum. And in doing so, establish themselves as the voice of reason, since the administration seems incapable of proper judgment in many curricular matters.
Affirmative Action Actually Hurts Campus Race Relations
The Supreme Court held, in the 2003 case Grutter v. Bollinger, that it is permissible for universities to give some students preference in admission on the basis of their race. That decision was a serious mistake and it is time to correct it. Grutter’s essential premise is that a racially diverse student body leads to educational benefits for all students. The Court accepted that proposition—but it should not have. There is good reason to doubt that the claimed benefits of diversity in the classroom are even genuine, much less compelling.
The Dream Is Gone: Leonard Cassuto’s The Graduate School Mess
When an undergraduate student comes to me for advice about graduate school, I always say the same thing: Don’t do it. I tell them that because I was lucky to find a tenure track position after four years of searching for one. In my field, political theory, the job market was then bad and is today terrible. In The Graduate School Mess: What Caused it and How to Fix It, Leonard Cassuto, Professor of English at Fordham University and author of the Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Graduate Adviser” column, focuses on the situation in the humanities, which sounds even worse than in my field.
High on the Hog: UNC Salaries Dwarf Other State Agencies’
The evidence is in, and it’s disconcerting: UNC employee salaries are beyond the pale. University leaders need to zero in on plum administrative jobs that have little to do with education and eliminate them posthaste. Even in the case of necessary administrative functions, officials should consider consolidation and outsourcing. If the latest data are an indicator, there is much to be reined in.
Universities, Be Ashamed We Have to Ask: What Are Students Learning?
Today, given the evidence we have of substandard learning outcomes, the longstanding assumption that colleges are adequately preparing students for life and work should be called into question by those who oversee our universities. If universities wish to avoid micromanagement of curricula, they must provide more information about learning outcomes. If they don’t do so voluntarily, pressure from legislators, governing boards, employers, students, and parents will likely force them to act.