Is Academic Reform for Insiders Only?
“Reform” is an appealing word, suggesting change intended for the better. It is frequently used in discussions of higher education. Critics, especially conservative ones, point out visible cracks in the…
Free Speech on Campus and Academic Freedom Under Attack in Arkansas
The state of Arkansas is facing an existential threat to academic freedom. That threat, however, is of a type that normally doesn’t receive public attention. The press typically writes about speech…
Regional Accreditors: Kings of the Academic Jungle–or Paper Tigers?
For many people, the topic of college accreditation is dry and arcane. But for faculty seeking to block actions they don’t like, accreditation is their last hope. By threatening its…
Opportunity Lost: UNC’s Board of Governors Rejects a Helpful Innovation
Wise decision making depends on knowledge of the full range of options and information, not with rhetoric designed to push a specific agenda. And leadership that seeks out only one…
Remaking Society One Five-Year Strategic Plan At a Time
In January of this year, the University of North Carolina (UNC) Board of Governors unanimously adopted a system-wide strategic plan commissioned by President Spellings. The plan, entitled Higher Expectations, provides…
Somewhere Between a Jeremiad and a Eulogy
Half of me is reluctant to write something harshly critical about higher education in the United States because I’m such a true-blue believer in, beneficiary of, and insider to the…
Athletics Department Oversight of Academics: A Scandal Waiting to Happen
If a university ignores potential conflicts of interests between athletics and academics, it imperils itself. Athletics departments that lack academic oversight signal misplaced priorities and pose a risk of becoming…
My State Struggles With the Perils of Legislating Higher Education Reform
Universities have by and large rendered themselves unable to be policed—sometimes quite literally—and that has not gone unnoticed by the legislators who fund them. Wisconsin’s Campus Free Speech Act is…
Should All University Property Be Tax-Exempt?
Connecticut legislators made headlines last year when they introduced a bill to tax revenue-generating college and university property. The bill was crafted to help New Haven, where Yale University is…
Faculty Hiring Needs Proper Checks and Balances
Editor’s note: This is the second part of an essay on how to restore ideological balance in universities without affirmative action for conservative scholars. The first part can be found…