Academics

Future leaders in business, government, and civil society need more than just job skills. The following articles defend the value of liberal education, with a focus on academic quality and rigor, fundamental knowledge, and the ideas that have shaped Western Civilization. They also scrutinize academic programs that have departed from these ideals in the name of progressive ideology.

UNC under FIRE

Aug 20, 2004 ·

RALEIGH – Once again, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill stands accused of discrimination against a Christian student group.

Conservatives criticize UNC-Chapel Hill reading program again

Aug 13, 2004 ·

RALEIGH – Conservatives students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are criticizing the Summer Reading Program again. The surprise is that this year, the program’s selection, made for the first time with an open selections process, was expected to avoid the sort of criticism previous selections endured.

The Contradictions of Donald Lazere

Aug 11, 2004 ·

Donald Lazere writes in the July 2 Chronicle Review that “the only way for you to find out who is telling the truth is to become a scholar, tracing the authenticity of these claims back to primary sources.” This he demonstrates by inventing an absurd claim, then arguing that his conservative opponents won’t admit that claim because it exposes their true agenda — which is “to unleash the most ignorant forces of the right in hounding liberal academics to death.”

Scholars take heart: Good colleges classes can still be found

Jul 22, 2004 ·

RALEIGH – It’s nearly August, and university classes will begin soon. Meanwhile, both within and without the halls, those who love academe are voicing concerns over the content of those courses. It’s fluff, it’s biased, it should have been taught in high school, it shouldn’t be taught at all, it certainly shouldn’t be taught by other students, the same stuff is on public-access TV, it’s being taught only so the professor can have a set of “research assistants” helping him with his book, well if it’s going to be taught, how about grading the students on what they’ve learned, &c. It’s enough to make true scholars despair.

Why there’s a VCR in your English literature classroom

Jul 9, 2004 ·

RALEIGH – I write a monthly column for Carolina Journal entitled “Course of the Month,” which is a Golden Fleece Award for courses in North Carolina universities that feature “overt political content, rabid infatuation with pop culture or sexuality, [or] abject silliness.”

Chronicle Rant “A Real Doozy”

Jul 7, 2004 ·

The Chronicle of Higher Education often publishes articles with which I take exception, but the July 2 issue contained a real doozy – a rant entitled “The Contradictions of Cultural Conservatism in the Assault on American Colleges” by Donald Lazere, an English professor at Cal State-San Luis Obispo.

General Assembly Considers Bills Affecting UNC System

Jun 25, 2004 ·

CHAPEL HILL – Proposed legislation affecting the University of North Carolina system captured headlines throughout the 2004 short session. Most centered on the $340 million bond package that included some projects that had not even been approved by the UNC Board of Governors. There were other bills, however, concerning higher education that either passed or were dropped in anticipation for greater discussion next year.