College Officials, Take Note: We’re Watching You
The Gallup Organization and Inside Higher Ed co-hosted a conference in Washington on September 15. They called it “Not Out of the Woods: Colleges, Diversity and Affirmative Action after a…
The Academic Job Market Is Tottering, But Nobody’s Telling Graduate Students
Back in 2003, Thomas Benton—“the pseudonym of an assistant professor of English at a Midwestern liberal arts college”—wrote a brutally honest article in the Chronicle of Higher Education about graduate…
Is Underemployment of Recent College Grads a Serious Problem?
For decades, the American higher education establishment was able to sell the idea that promoting college was sound policy because it seemed that nearly all graduates found good, high-paying jobs.…
The Education Department Gives ITT the Death Penalty
Foremost among the criticisms of the way our administrative law system works is that bureaucratic agencies get to act as lawmaker, judge, jury, and executioner all rolled into one. That…
Yes, There’s Such a Thing as Too Much Enrollment Growth
Now that another academic year is underway, many university administrators are anxiously awaiting the final tally of fall semester enrollment numbers. Such enrollment mania is a driving force at many…
Governance Newsletter – Fall 2016
In this issue of Governance, we encourage colleges and universities to review their academic freedom policies. We also examine the federal Department of Education’s actions against for-profit schools and its recent…
Which College or Whether College? Maybe the Feds Can Help, After All
When I enrolled in college back in the prehistoric days of 1966, the process was simple. I went to the high school guidance office, browsed some college catalogs, spoke with…
Academic Freedom in an Age of Political Correctness
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…
Athletics Reform Is Possible Without the NCAA
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…
No, the Clinton Plan Won’t “Fix College”
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.…