Governance

University boards have the primary responsibility for ensuring fidelity to the institution’s mission, managing university finances, and setting personnel policies. The following articles expose poor governance practices and identify policies that keep boards accountable to the taxpayers, students, parents, alumni, and donors whom they serve.

Jun 25, 2018 · Shannon Watkins

The Chairman of the Board Speaks

The winds of change have blown through the University of North Carolina System’s Board of Governors in recent years. In a state historically dominated by the Democratic Party, the board…

Jun 22, 2018 · Dan E. Way

With Colleges Shifting to Adjuncts, Teaching Quality May Suffer

The number of part-time and nontenure faculty continues to rise on campus as university officials try to cut costs. So does their dissatisfaction over wages and benefits, which is stirring…

Jun 13, 2018 · John Staddon

Diversity and Inclusion of Identity Groups Often Means Uniformity and Exclusion of Ideas

“‘Diversity and inclusion’ is the moral benchmark of our time… Every corporation, college, and government agency, along with a growing number of bowling leagues and bait-and-tackle shops, has an Office…

Jun 11, 2018 · Anthony Hennen

Proposed Bills Could Improve Teacher Quality in the Tar Heel State

Increasing teacher pay to improve teaching quality has grabbed media attention for months. But North Carolina’s General Assembly has been trying to figure out how to get better teachers into…

Jun 6, 2018 · George Leef

Can Public Universities Practice Ideological Discrimination?

If a university were to state that it will not hire people applying for a faculty position because of their race, sex, or religion, that would be clearly illegal. No…

May 28, 2018 · Stanley Kurtz

Implementing the North Carolina Campus Free Speech Act

Editor: The following piece is adapted from a talk delivered by Stanley Kurtz at a Martin Center event in Wilmington, North Carolina on May 18, 2018. First, I want to…

May 21, 2018 · Jay Schalin

No Harm, No Foul in UNC Sports Scandal Course Dispute

The Raleigh News & Observer recently published a contentious exchange between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s history professor Jay Smith and vice chancellor of communications Joel Curran…

May 9, 2018 · Invited Guests

Six Ideas to De-Politicize the American Campus

The politicization of higher education is a huge societal problem. Even though there is an overwhelming consensus that universities’ ultimate purpose should be a search for the truth and that…

May 4, 2018 · Allen Mendenhall

Carnegie Classifications—What’s All the Fuss?

“Dartmouth falls out of an exclusive group,” declared a 2016 headline in The Washington Post just days after the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education released its 2015 classifications…

May 2, 2018 · Richard K. Vedder

Mitch Daniels Has the Right Stuff for Purdue

Higher education does not produce many flashy, innovating entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Peter Thiel, or Elon Musk. The non-profit, highly subsidized, and low-incentive culture that universities operate in…