Fall 2020: The Semester of Isolation
Universities’ frantic struggles to create fall semester plans that bring students back to campus often hinge on social distancing. While students are excited about the promise of an on-campus fall,…
The Future of the Humanities Is Not an Adjunct-Fueled Decline
Rumors of the humanities’ decline have been greatly exaggerated, a new report by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences says. While the popularity of specific majors has changed, overall,…
No Housing Refunds Put UNC System Students in Tough Spot
Two UNC system schools, Western Carolina University and UNC-Greensboro, have announced that they will not offer students housing refunds if the university closes due to another COVID-19 outbreak. Both schools…
The Time Is Now: Abolish the Department of Education
There are now 15 United States federal executive departments. Here they are, in order of their dates of inception: State, 1789 Treasury, 1789 Interior, 1849 Agriculture, 1862 Justice, 1870 Commerce,…
Goldstein: Research Universities Have a Duty to Reopen
Although colleges across the country plan to reopen for the fall semester, much is still unknown about how to best proceed. Leaders are grappling with how to best safeguard public…
Why Do American Universities Lead the World in Scientific Research?
Miguel Urquiola is professor and chair of the department of economics at Columbia University. His special field is education and his book Markets, Minds, and Money: Why America Leads the…
Did You Know? HBCU Enrollments Fall 11% in Last Decade
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were founded to serve African American students whom white colleges would not admit. The University of North Carolina wouldn’t admit black undergraduates until 1955.…
How College Sports Can Survive
Without revenue from the NCAA Final Four tournament and other sources of income, it is clear that the intercollegiate athletics industry faces difficult choices from the consequences of the coronavirus.…
The Case for Reopening College Campuses
Higher education media has gone “all in” for keeping college campuses closed this fall, with articles like “The Case Against Reopening” in The Chronicle of Higher Education and “Colleges Are Deluding Themselves”…
Did You Know? Colleges Could Lose 1/3 of Students if Fall Classes Stay Online
Higher ed leaders have bemoaned what they see as insufficient federal support during the coronavirus pandemic, but they might have a bigger problem: convincing students to enroll in the fall.…