Are Direct Admissions the Future?
The college admissions process can be daunting for high-school students. These young adults must research prospective institutions, consider their desired course of study and career path, determine whether a particular…
Finally, a Chance to Start Getting Higher Ed Right
“Finally.” It’s a word those who’ve spent years sounding the alarm about the plight of higher education have been saying a lot lately. Finally, the thought-policing and groupthink have become…
Online Learning: A Personal Reevaluation
In May of 2011, I wrote the following words in the Chronicle of Higher Education: “Online learning has become the third rail in American higher-education politics: Step on it and…
UNC-System Schools and the “R1” Wars
Some North Carolina public universities hope to leverage revisions to higher education’s preeminent classification methodology to achieve game-changing status reserved presently for a small handful of state schools. If they…
USC Says “Goodbye, 2U”
The University of Southern California has 50 years of experience in distance education. USC’s initiative began in the Viterbi School of Engineering as an industry partnership with Los Angeles-based aerospace…
Let Florida Try
Fueled by political ambition and a distaste for the new left-wing ideological agendas that have taken root on many college campuses, activists and politicians have sought to alter the landscape…
It’s Time to Make Colleges Pay Property Tax
Although the Ivies and other elite colleges and universities in the U.S. are financial titans, they are registered with the Internal Revenue Service as 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organizations. As a…
The American Bar Association’s Coming Free-Speech Intervention
Higher education did not have a good year in 2023, as evidenced by high-profile resignations at Penn (Liz Magill) and Harvard (Claudine Gay). This followed abysmal televised congressional testimony in…
Viewpoint-Neutral Teaching Isn’t Enough
California’s higher-education system, beset by alarming acts of hate, intimidation, and bigotry on its campuses (e.g., anti-Israel and anti-Jewish protests), has launched a series of initiatives. Among them is an…
Reforms We Want in 2024
Each year, the staff of the Martin Center share our higher-ed-reform dreams for the coming year. Will all of our wishes come true? Probably not. Nevertheless, we offer them here…