Common Reading Programs: Political Fluff for Freshmen
Many colleges assign “common readings” to incoming students as an intellectual experience outside the classroom to set the bar for the academic rigor that professors expect of students. This tradition…
Reforming Higher Education: A Reading List
As more students have headed to college and a degree is seen as a way to shape students as workers and as citizens, higher education’s mission has become more important.…
Did You Know? For UNC System Sports, Students Must Foot the Bill
Public universities in North Carolina can’t fund their athletic budgets from only ticket and merchandise sales; they must use subsidies to foot the rest of the bill. Sometimes the extra…
Attacking the For-profit Sector Helps Neither Students Nor Taxpayers
The federal government currently holds around $1.5 trillion in outstanding student loans—up from “only” $500 million in 2007. Undoubtedly, the federal government—and taxpayers—have an enormous stake in higher education and…
North Carolina Colleges Shouldn’t Confuse Cafeteria-Style Curriculum with Strong Liberal Arts
There are a lot of good reasons to question the value of a traditional college degree. Tuition costs have been rising at a rate that’s almost eight times faster than…
Administrative Bloat: Where Does It Come From and What Is It Doing?
Philip Hamburger recently published a piece in the Wall Street Journal arguing that Congress should control administrative bloat by limiting student loan funds given to colleges with too many administrators.…
Why Is UNC Funding a ‘Hub for Social Justice?’
Campus protests started in the 1960s, but protests on today’s college campuses have a different vibe. While protests in the past pitted students against university leadership, protests in the present…
A Book Full of Advice for High School and College Grads
America’s education establishment beams out a message to young people like a pulsar: Go to college! A high percentage of them do. Once the students are enrolled, however, the schools…
Alumni Want More Free Speech and Influence at Davidson College
Davidson College has an impressive academic reputation. It has a student-faculty ratio of 10:1. Nearly 90 percent of its courses have fewer than 30 students each. Its six-year graduation rate…
A Witch Hunt Comes for a Nonconformist Professor
On 30 April 2019, St. Edmunds College, University of Cambridge, rescinded a fellowship to the outstanding young researcher Noah Carl, who self-identifies as a conservative. The rescinding was unjust, and…