Brown University doubles down on "diversity"
Despite howls of denial, there can be no doubt that "diversity" hiring (i.e., hiring faculty who wouldn’t have been hired but for their race, ethnicity, gender expression, etc.) produces "diversity hires" with lower academic qualifications just as surely as lowering admission standards to enroll more underrepresented minorities admits students who have lower qualifications.
I wish my job didn’t exist
I love working for Norwich University, but I wish my job did not exist. When I tell folks this, I always get a confused look or a laugh. I follow up by explaining that I’m part of the administrative bloat that universities have taken on to ensure we’re dotting all the “I’s” and crossing all the “T’s” of state and federal regulations.
All diversity, all the time, everybody, right now
Diversity proponents are pushing an extreme agenda that will go far beyond academia’s already major commitment to the concept. An event at UNC-Chapel Hill illlustrates just how far they intend to go.
Two conflicting visions of higher education, Part II
Higher education policy must begin with a vision and a sense of purpose, without which it becomes an incoherent jumble that contradicts itself and pulls in conflicting directions. One problem facing academia today is that it has long been largely subject to one vision, and now a very different, competing vision is emerging that seeks grand reforms.
Two conflicting visions of higher education, Part I
Higher education policy must begin with a vision and a sense of purpose, without which it becomes an incoherent jumble that contradicts itself and pulls in conflicting directions. One problem facing academia today is that it has long been largely subject to one vision, and now a very different, competing vision is emerging that seeks grand reforms.
Accountability first at East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine
It is highly likely that the fiscal woes of ECU’s Brody School of Medicine can be stabilized without adding more challenges to State taxpayers. Sixteen million dollars is a lot to hand over without attempting to solve obvious problems first.
Academic folly: When taxpayers subsidize ill-considered degree programs
Each year, UNC officials pitch new degree programs to the system’s Board of Governors. More often than not, the programs are approved, even though a casual observer—especially a non-academic—might snicker or guffaw upon hearing some of their descriptions.
Tenure has its purpose, but shouldn’t last a lifetime
Tenure entrenches academics in their jobs. While it’s a bulwark of academic freedom, tenure also shields those who are not currently earning their keep, as well as many who never did. The current system stymies innovation, most clearly in the area of hiring new faculty. I call for changing it.
The libertarian roots of the Lumina Foundation, Part 2
Richard Cornuelle, the Indianapolis libertarian activist who started United Student Aid Funds (USAF), had a fight on his hands. His organization, whose downfall led ultimately to the creation of today’s college-access giant known as the Lumina Foundation, was created with the goal of competing with the federal government’s nascent student loan programs.
Cheated turns over a rock, fully exposing UNC’s “student-athlete” scandal
Although UNC has tried to maintain an image of running squeaky clean sports programs that ensure student-athletes a high quality education, for decades it has actually been recruiting players who shouldn’t have gotten out of high school, then ushering them through a “curriculum” consisting largely of easy courses with negligible educational value.