In 2010, a seemingly insignificant event in a far-off land caught my eye. The Israeli academic world was having a fracas over the actions of “post-Zionist” faculty that raised important … Continue reading “Academic Freedom in an Age of Political Correctness”
In the past two decades, North Carolina higher education leaders have tried to address problems related to college athletics. But whether they’ve focused on the increasing pressure to admit academically ill-prepared … Continue reading “Athletics Reform Is Possible Without the NCAA”
Hillary Clinton’s higher education policy ideas have been taking a lot of criticism. Here, for example, is an analysis by economics professor Gary Wolfram, published in May by the Pope Center. … Continue reading “No, the Clinton Plan Won’t “Fix College””
One of the pillars of our education establishment, The Education Trust, recently published a report that’s meant to pressure colleges and universities with large endowments into spending more of their … Continue reading “The Education Trust Falls for the Chivas Regal Effect”
Last month, just before the new academic year began, the University of Chicago’s dean of students, John Ellison, sent a letter (reproduced in this piece) to all incoming students. It … Continue reading “The University of Chicago’s Support for Free Speech Sparks Opposition”
Among the duties of a university’s board of trustees, there is perhaps no bigger responsibility than helping to select the leader of the campus—the chancellor/president. Such an important responsibility requires … Continue reading “Should Universities Be Outsourcing Their Chancellor Searches?”
In a 2011 Pope Center article entitled “Too Many Rhinestones,” Professors T. Norman Van Cott and the late Clarence Deitsch examined Ball State University’s (BSU) grade inflation problem. After comparing … Continue reading “How Our University Reacted to an Exposé of its Grade Inflation Problem”
With college football season upon us, this is a good time to consider again the allure that fielding winning teams in the big-money sports (football and basketball) has for many … Continue reading “College Sports: Isn’t it Time to De-escalate the Arms Race?”
Educational fads always come with a shelf life; the implacable resistance of reality eventually makes them expire. Usually, the promised educational miracle has done more harm than good. The wreckage … Continue reading “Student Learning Outcomes and the Decline of American Education”
It took less than a week into the 2016-2017 academic year for several outrageous stories to surface on college campuses. At the University of Texas at Austin, thousands of students … Continue reading “The Freshman Experience: Social Justice Indoctrination and Academic Handholding”