Let’s bring Western Governors University to North Carolina
For North Carolina, Western Governors University would be a welcome alternative to traditional credit-hour programs, particularly for adult learners who want job training and a degree—not a four-year “experience.”
There’s a silver lining in Scott Walker’s proposed $300M cut to the University of Wisconsin
Walker’s proposal would make every member of the UW system a public authority—a designation that would allow the state’s universities to take bureaucratic control of their own operations. This would effectively wash away the state’s control over major decisions such as tuition rates, hiring and firing practices, employee compensation, purchasing goods and materials, and construction projects.
What I’ve learned at the Pope Center
Over the past eight years I have experienced a rich and sometimes tumultuous education about the economics, politics, and culture of today’s campuses.
Scholars find that they can break with universities and make it on their own
The jailbreak of academics outside the walls of a university is an opportunity for students. Self-learners don’t have to spend $40,000/year for the privilege of expanding the life of the mind. Adults who want to dabble in Russian literature don’t even have to spend $3,000 for a night course at the community college.
Saving academia from itself
Today’s new independent academic centers were conceived to solve a real and difficult modern problem—how to counter academia’s gradual purging of a vast array of ideas and knowledge that are still very much alive and central to the nation’s intellectual and political dialogues.
A bold experiment is being watched by North Carolina’s private colleges
The Benedictine monks who founded Belmont Abbey College 138 years ago are better known for peacefulness than for trend-setting. But the Gaston County campus is the scene of a bold experiment watched by other private liberal-arts colleges in North Carolina.
What progressives need to know
George Ehrhardt, one of the few avowed conservative political scientists at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, has published an article that attempts to explain to the political left what the political right’s views are on higher education.
President Ross, it’s not too late for a legacy
Looking back at Ross’s first four years at the helm, we see leadership marked by tentativeness and preservation of the status quo. But as Ross begins his fifth and final year as president, there are opportunities for him to champion meaningful changes and to leave a positive legacy.
Reform in 2015: our hopes for the new year
Reform in 2015: our hopes for the new year
6 things we’re thankful for in higher education
It is Thanksgiving week, and six Pope Center staff members express thanks for some things that happened this year in higher education.