Budget Cuts to Push Intellectual Diversity? There Are Better Ways
Temperatures in North Carolina may not yet have reached their high point this summer, but tensions certainly are heating up now between the UNC School of Law and the North…
Administrative Bloat on Campus: Academia Shrinks, Students Suffer
American campuses have drifted away from academia and toward administration. The shift badly impacts the traditional mission of both college and students. Ideally, college infuses knowledge and critical thinking through…
A Critical Education Department Position Has Been Filled—and Filled Well
“Dems are taking forever to approve my people, including Ambassadors,” President Trump tweeted on June 5. “They are nothing but OBSTRUCTIONISTS! Want approvals.” Fortunately for President Trump, many appointments don’t…
Assessment and Power in the University
Universities have been assessing students by grading their work since the Middle Ages. Sometimes students complained that the professor wasn’t fair, but nobody thought the system was fundamentally flawed. Then,…
The UNC Board of Governors Needs Its Own Staff
The University of North Carolina was founded with an excellent governance structure—with one glaring flaw that allows power to be concentrated in the General Administration rather than dispersed between the…
The Real Story Behind the Bethune-Cookman University Commencement Protest
When U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos gave the commencement address at Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU) on May 10, the all-too-familiar tactics of students protesting speakers with whom they disagree sparked a…
Can the Feds Do Something to Protect Campus Free Speech? Should They?
That free speech on college campuses is under attack cannot be denied. We find invited speakers being disinvited or shouted down, “bias incident” reporting systems that encourage students to complain…
Senate Budget Is Prudent, Predictable (And That’s a Good Thing)
The budget released by the North Carolina Senate in early May sets a careful course for higher education. It includes modest increases over last year’s budget for both the University…
Are Full-Time Faculty Being Adjunctified? Recent Data Show Otherwise
The “adjunctification” phenomenon is a familiar concern to most recent Ph.D. graduates, as well as a recurring criticism of perceived trends in faculty employment. One professor recently wrote that it…
Court Ruling in the McAdams Case: A Body Blow to Free Speech and Tenure
The Martin Center has been covering the Kafkaesque case of Marquette University professor John McAdams since it first broke several years ago. Professor Howard Kainz first wrote about it in…