Governance Newsletter – Winter 2017
Our Winter 2017 issue of Governance highlights our name change from the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy to the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. Articles…
Bigger’s Better? In Higher Ed’s Amenities Arms Race, Bigger’s Just Bigger!
Testifying before the U.S. Senate in 2013, University of Wisconsin professor Sara Goldrick-Rab described college campuses as “glorified summer camps.” She said administrators were “engaging in an arms race to…
Hillary Clinton Lost, But Her “Free” College Idea Lives On
During last week’s hearings on President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, Senator Bernie Sanders asked her, “Will you work with me and others to make public colleges…
Competition Is Helping to Bring Affordability, Efficiency Back to Higher Ed
As higher education has become increasingly competitive in recent years, many colleges have had to find creative ways to maintain their enrollment figures and distinguish themselves in the market. For…
Either Support Our Politics or Find Another Field
The authoritarianism that increasingly characterizes the American professoriate is on full display in a case involving the master’s program in social work at Rhode Island College (RIC). A student who…
In North Carolina, Community College Controversies Open Pandora’s Box
At their best, community colleges provide educational opportunities to individuals who otherwise might not have them. They offer specialized workforce training that can lead to rewarding careers, as well as…
Shouldn’t an Entire Campus Be a Free Speech Zone—Not Just .02 Percent of It?
(Editor’s note: This article first appeared on Forbes.com.) Hostility to free speech has become a salient characteristic of American college campuses. Speech codes that make it dangerous for students (or…
No More Federal Student Aid Money for Charlotte School of Law
On December 19, the U.S. Department of Education announced that as of the end of the year, it would no longer allow students to use federal aid money at the…
A Tweet Too Far
When Drexel University political science professor George Ciccariello-Maher tweeted “All I want for Christmas is white genocide” on Christmas Eve, he handed the Philadelphia school an opportunity to play an…
For University Endowments, There’s No Time like the Present
During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump argued that requiring wealthy universities to spend more of their endowment funds on tuition aid would reduce students’ financial burdens. Whether implementing that idea—which…