Whac-a, Meet Mole
Some years ago, I saw in a friend’s kitchen a sign meant to place the house’s terms of engagement beyond dispute: “My dogs live here. The rest of you are…
An Unfair Leg Up at Carolina
Admission to UNC-Chapel Hill is extremely competitive. Last year, 73,192 hopeful students applied to be new Tar Heel undergraduates. Only 5,624 eventually joined UNC as either first-year or transfer students.…
Colleges Are Reaping the Anti-Natalist Whirlwind
A recent report from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) forecasts that this fall will be the last year of college-admissions bounty, with high-school graduates nationwide hitting their…
How “Free” Are North Carolina’s Colleges?
“Diversity” is a word that we’ve heard frequently over the last few years. Immediately, race, gender, and sexual orientation come to mind. Many universities use the word in those senses…
A Golden State Victory for Common Sense
Most readers would agree, I think, that it is desirable to keep politics out of K-12 classrooms. And one would be hard-pressed to find anyone who favors having universities force…
The Tragedy of the Ivies
What is happening right now in the Ivy League, involving some of the nation’s most prestigious institutions, is nothing less than a tragedy. And I mean that literally, in the…
Duke University Press Stays Woke
I recently came across an alarming 2014 article on academic freedom in the Harvard Crimson. “Let’s give up on academic freedom in favor of justice” was the subtitle. The author…
Are Colleges Rebounding on Speech?
Free speech is a foundational value of American life, yet our college campuses are justly accused of not adequately fostering a free-speech environment. Few will have forgotten the tensions of…
The Truman Foundation Must Embrace Civic Seriousness
Last spring, I coauthored an AEI report examining the taxpayer-subsidized Truman Scholarship program, founded in 1975 to identify “aspiring leaders” during their college years and encourage “their commitments to careers…
Students Don’t Want Political Statements From Administrators
Over the last several years, we have seen many colleges and universities make aggrieved statements in response to current events, from the election of President Trump to the death of…