Measuring the Spread of DEI
A constant concern in my academic sub-field of comparative politics is how to create concepts and measurements that stand up to scrutiny when applied to several cases. When we hear…
NIL Chaos Hits College Athletics
Since the Supreme Court’s 2021 ruling in NCAA v. Alston, collegiate sports have been roiled with confusion and a lack of clarity regarding name, image, and likeness (NIL) rules. When…
What SAT Scores Say About Teacher Effectiveness
The SAT has been in the news again, this time because of the claim that test-optional policies are a way for colleges to covertly impose affirmative action. It’s true that…
America Needs Better Teachers
It’s a sad fact that many of our teachers are weak. They’re weak on knowledge of their subjects and weak on teaching technique. Unfortunately, we know little about effective professional-development…
Gov. Cooper’s Race-Preferences Brief is Inherently Discriminatory
On August 1st, Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina submitted an amicus brief siding with the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in its attempt to use race as a factor…
Inflation Will Hit Universities Hard
It is indisputable that the U.S. faces the worst inflation in 40 years, an outcome that seemingly no one was predicting a few years ago. The impact on Americans of…
Did You Know? Biden’s Student-Loan Cancellation is a Fiasco
Yesterday morning, President Joe Biden revealed his administration’s plan to forgive billions of dollars in student loans. According to a White House Fact Sheet, the plan will forgive up to…
No, There Is Not a “Neoliberal” Poltergeist in Higher Ed
Higher education suffers from a multitude of flaws. University marketing departments habitually over-promise the benefits of their degree programs to unsuspecting high-school students. Mandatory “general education” classes extract sizable tuition…
Administrative Bloat Harms Teaching and Learning
Over the years, American universities and colleges have slowly drifted away from their central concerns, teaching and learning. This shift is perhaps best seen in the increased number of administrators…
The Truth About Student Mismatch
Among the arguments against the policy of admitting students to colleges because they have the right ancestry—that is, they appear to come from “underrepresented” minority groups—is the fact that it…