UNC-System Employees Really Love Democrats
While North Carolina is often considered a “purple state,” the composition of UNC-System campaign contributions is anything but bipartisan. OpenSecrets data indicate that campaign contributions to Democrats among UNC-System employees…
Mending, Not Ending, Remedial Classes
A high-school diploma should be a default signal that the holder is prepared to embark on her or his college journey. In an ideal world, a country that spends a…
Ideological Compulsion at the UNC School of Journalism
There are times when “I told you so” is unpleasant to say. This is one of those occasions. In May, the Martin Center reported on the appointment of a new…
Who’s to Blame When Students Fail a Course?
As long as college students are considered entitled customers, their complaints about their professors will be taken seriously by administrators. That’s because happy students boost college applications, affect the closely-watched…
Private-College Presidents Make a Killing
Public-university presidents frequently earn large salaries, as the Martin Center has previously reported. However, their private-college peers are not exactly poor. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s recent article…
The NCAA’s Own Goal
This coming January, the NCAA will convene in Texas to decide the future of standardized testing requirements for student-athletes. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA and universities…
Administrators Have Seized the Ivory Tower
The “ivory tower” has long been the lens through which American popular culture views higher education. The phrase conjures up images of seminar rooms and high-minded ideas debated at a…
Yes, an Academic Free-Speech Conference Needed Protection from the Mob
Jumping to conclusions is sometimes a big mistake. I recently became puzzled and mildly infuriated when I read that Stanford University was going to have a conference on freedom of…
Don’t Hide the Discount Rate
Colleges’ tuition costs are easy enough to find, but not every student pays list price. Education experts agree that data about so-called discount rates could be an invaluable tool for…
Everyone Hates Remedial Classes
Remedial classes have been standard practice at community colleges since about the 1980s. The original intent of these not-for-credit courses was to protect underperforming students from failing actual college classes.…