Costs

American colleges and universities spend billions of dollars a year from state, federal, and private sources. The following articles identify ways to cut costs and ensure that public investment in higher education provides value to students, taxpayers, and society.

An editorial roundup

Jun 18, 2007 ·

The Duke Lacrosse story is, finally, over.

A week-long disciplinary hearing last week found that Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong violated multiple ethics rules in his prosecution of rape charges against three Duke Lacrosse players last year. Nifong was stripped of his law license Saturday afternoon, but not before Nifong announced his intent to resign from office.

Nifong had sought rape charges against David Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann in connection with a March 2006 house party where an exotic dancer claimed she had been raped. DNA evidence later proved that the three had not raped her, yet Nifong continued with the case, withholding evidence and other information from defense lawyers. In December, Nifong removed himself from the case, handing it over to Attorney General Roy Cooper.

Airport future still in doubt as Carolina North continues forward

Jun 15, 2007 ·

RALEIGH – UNC-Chapel Hill officials have long considered using the Horace Williams Airport in Chapel Hill, located just north of the main campus, as the site for Carolina North, the controversial multi-use millennial campus that will feature research and residential components.

The problem with those plans has always been that the Horace Williams Airport is still in use by doctors attempting to provide care to many areas of the state where health care is not readily available. Medical Air Operations, which started in 1968, flies UNC-Chapel Hill physicians to one of the state’s nine Area Health Education Centers (AHECs) to perform medical services and offer continuing education courses.

Massive Denial

Jun 13, 2007 ·

Editor’s Note: James Côté is a full professor in the department of sociology at the University of Western Ontario, in London, Ontario, Canada, where he has taught since the early 1980s. He is co-author (with Anton L. Allahar) of the book Ivory Tower Blues: A University System in Crisis (University of Toronto Press, 2007).

While researching my recent book – Ivory Tower Blues: A University System in Crisis – and taking it through the review process, I have witnessed firsthand massive denial of the fact that our university system has problems rivaling those found in the United States. Yet we share with the United States the twin problems of grade inflation and students’ academic disengagement. We also face a third problem – university graduate underemployment, which has been well documented in Canada.

Grade inflation in the United States, especially in Ivy League schools, has received a considerable amount of press for some time. More recently, the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) studies have highlighted academic disengagement. The NSSE studies measure the demands placed on students, and the effort they expend, through annual surveys with students themselves. In both Canada and the U.S., the NSSE results show that only about 10 percent of students do the level of work that professors think is necessary to be proficient in the subjects they teach.

Nelms selected as new NCCU Chancellor

Jun 8, 2007 ·

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Central Chancellor Search Committee Chair Cressie Thigpen had reasons to be concerned when he hadn’t heard from the school’s top choice in several days.

Thigpen worried that the individual, having already turned down offers from three other institutions, would make North Carolina Central the fourth.

“We weren’t going to select this candidate,” Thigpen said. “This candidate was going to select us.”

Another “Millennial” Campus in the Works

Jun 6, 2007 ·

CHAPEL HILL – Approval of a proposed “millennial” campus at UNC-Wilmington will be on the agenda of the Board of Governors this week.

Board members, meeting in Chapel Hill June 7 and 8, will discuss UNC-Wilmington’s plans to create the Campus for Research, Entrepreneurship, Service and Teaching (CREST), a 210-acre campus at the university.

Senate releases $20 billion budget plan

Jun 4, 2007 ·

The University of North Carolina’s ambitious construction plans got a boost from the Senate leaders approved their $20 billion spending plan on Thursday.

Senate leaders are proposing $1.2 billion in bond funding through certificates of participation – $1 billion of which would go for projects within the UNC system. Certificate of participations are bond packages in which the state finances new construction projects, backed by buildings and land. These do not need voter approval.

UNC Tomorrow Commission: Making the University “Demand-Driven

May 30, 2007 ·

Editor’s Note: Peter Hans is a member of the UNC Board of Governors and was recently re-elected to a new four-year term. He is also a member of the new UNC Tomorrow Commission, which was created by the Board of Governors. In this interview, we ask Hans about the commission, its plans, and its purposes.

Clarion Call: First, what is the commission?

Peter Hans: This is our effort to assess what North Carolina needs from its public university system over the next twenty years, and how we should respond to those needs.

University, community college bills survive crossover deadline

May 25, 2007 ·

RALEIGH – Thursday was the deadline for bills to clear either the state House or the state Senate for them to have a chance of passage during the 2007-09 legislative session. With the deadline comes the passage of several bills that affect the University of North Carolina system and the North Carolina Community College System.

Among the many bills passed during the first few months of the session, some pertain to UNC President Erskine Bowles’ effort to make the university system more efficient. Others would amend performance measures within the community college system and make other changes to the two higher education systems.