John William Pope Center Guest Editorial
The university system in the United States has accomplished a great deal of good, but we believe that higher education in the United States, including North Carolina, has strayed from its chief goals of scholarly inquiry and responsible teaching.
All too often, universities allow teaching to become shallow and trendy, failing to challenge students intellectually and disparaging traditional principles of justice, ethics, and liberal education. Students know little about the history of their country or the institutions that led to this nation’s prosperity and liberty. Students can get by without taking rigorous courses, and non-academic activities overshadow scholarship. As a result, many college graduates have poor skills in computation, communication, and logical analysis. Faculty are allowed excessive latitude in what they teach and often get away with little teaching at all, because research is emphasized. Taxpayers as well as students and their families pay hefty prices to support a system that often appears to provide little educational value.
To address these and other problems, the Pope Center conducts studies in areas such as governance, curriculum, financing, access, accountability, faculty research, and administrative policies. We explore ways to increase the accountability of trustees, administrators, faculty, and students. And we engage in the broader dialogue about how to improve higher education around the nation.
In these endeavors, we are motivated by the principles that have traditionally guided public policy in the United States: limits on government; freedom to pursue goals through voluntary means, both for-profit and nonprofit; accountability through private property rights; and the belief that competition is an excellent regulating force.
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In the last few years, the rights of students in North Carolina universities have received some significant new protections
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In the last few years, the rights of students in North Carolina universities have received some significant new protections
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"Diversity" is the new slogan under which academics and their institutions march. But what is it? What does it mean? How will we know when we have achieved a sufficient amount?
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"Diversity" is the new slogan under which academics and their institutions march. But what is it? What does it mean? How will we know when we have achieved a sufficient amount?
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West Liberty University (WLU) is the oldest college in West Virginia's state supported higher ed system. I have taught there since 2007 and was promoted to full professor last year
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West Liberty University (WLU) is the oldest college in West Virginia's state supported higher ed system. I have taught there since 2007 and was promoted to full professor last year
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During the "Budget Battle of 1995-1996," which caused a shutdown of much of the federal government for 27 days, I was a freelance reporter for New Jersey's second biggest newspaper.
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During the "Budget Battle of 1995-1996," which caused a shutdown of much of the federal government for 27 days, I was a freelance reporter for New Jersey's second biggest newspaper.
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Entrepreneurship programs are spreading rapidly across America and are attracting a growing number of students. But one question keeps coming up: Is it really possible to teach entrepreneurship?
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Entrepreneurship programs are spreading rapidly across America and are attracting a growing number of students. But one question keeps coming up: Is it really possible to teach entrepreneurship?
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A barrage of articles in the popular press points out the escalating cost of higher education, rising student debt levels, and the financial struggles many colleges and universities face
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A barrage of articles in the popular press points out the escalating cost of higher education, rising student debt levels, and the financial struggles many colleges and universities face
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Some University of North Carolina system faculty members are outraged. They have been given only one across-the-board raise since 2011
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Some University of North Carolina system faculty members are outraged. They have been given only one across-the-board raise since 2011
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North Carolina's public university system is a multi-billion-dollar organization that impacts virtually every region of North Carolina-socially and economically
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North Carolina's public university system is a multi-billion-dollar organization that impacts virtually every region of North Carolina-socially and economically
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In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for a telephone. The first long distance coast-to-coast telephone call was placed in 1915-exactly a century ago.
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In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for a telephone. The first long distance coast-to-coast telephone call was placed in 1915-exactly a century ago.
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Every year, my organization, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), issues its annual Spotlight on Speech Codes report in which we rate the speech codes of more than 400 of the largest and most prestigious colleges and universities in America using a red, yellow, and green light s
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Every year, my organization, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), issues its annual Spotlight on Speech Codes report in which we rate the speech codes of more than 400 of the largest and most prestigious colleges and universities in America using a red, yellow, and green light s
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Even before she assumes control of the University of North Carolina system, former Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has become a lightening rod for attacks by faculty, students, and activists on the left
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Even before she assumes control of the University of North Carolina system, former Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has become a lightening rod for attacks by faculty, students, and activists on the left
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North Carolina's tax code penalizes savings and investment by double taxing their returns - specifically interest, dividends, and capital gains. These biases can only be eliminated by removing savings and investment from the tax base, or by eliminating the returns to saving; for example...
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North Carolina's tax code penalizes savings and investment by double taxing their returns - specifically interest, dividends, and capital gains. These biases can only be eliminated by removing savings and investment from the tax base, or by eliminating the returns to saving; for example...
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The Pope Center, for the most part, is about policy. Our mission is to conceive and promote policies that will improve higher education
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The Pope Center, for the most part, is about policy. Our mission is to conceive and promote policies that will improve higher education
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Recently, the U.S. Department of Education unveiled its controversial College Scorecard website and accompanying data
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Recently, the U.S. Department of Education unveiled its controversial College Scorecard website and accompanying data
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Governance of the University of North Carolina system is one of the most difficult-and important-tasks in the state government
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Governance of the University of North Carolina system is one of the most difficult-and important-tasks in the state government
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It's hard not to sympathize with the plight of the young musician who, despite or perhaps rather because of his passion, is destined to scrape together his living in "the real world" outside the towering ivory walls of our traditional institutions of classical music
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It's hard not to sympathize with the plight of the young musician who, despite or perhaps rather because of his passion, is destined to scrape together his living in "the real world" outside the towering ivory walls of our traditional institutions of classical music
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Testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee recently, I was asked by Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) if, with respect to higher education, I would favor eliminating the U.S. Department of Education.
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Testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee recently, I was asked by Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) if, with respect to higher education, I would favor eliminating the U.S. Department of Education.
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Lately, tenure has come under heavy criticism, particularly from conservatives who maintain that it protects incompetent, ignorant, or indifferent teachers to the detriment of students
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Lately, tenure has come under heavy criticism, particularly from conservatives who maintain that it protects incompetent, ignorant, or indifferent teachers to the detriment of students
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The search for the next University of North Carolina system president has finally concluded.
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The search for the next University of North Carolina system president has finally concluded.
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The last theme around which we find the loudest and most persistent arguments for the reform of our conservatories is the need for music programs to focus on the cultivation of creativity. What makes these arguments so powerful and so sinister is that they often begin from that old, familiar...
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The last theme around which we find the loudest and most persistent arguments for the reform of our conservatories is the need for music programs to focus on the cultivation of creativity. What makes these arguments so powerful and so sinister is that they often begin from that old, familiar...
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The higher education establishment is growing worried about privatization. Should the rest of us do the same
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The higher education establishment is growing worried about privatization. Should the rest of us do the same
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The opening message was roundly cheered—it was exactly what the crowd of roughly 150 professors and alumni came to hear at the “Public Universities, the Humanities, and Education in North Carolina” event held on October 10 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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The opening message was roundly cheered—it was exactly what the crowd of roughly 150 professors and alumni came to hear at the “Public Universities, the Humanities, and Education in North Carolina” event held on October 10 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Since at least the 1920s, America has done a fine job of nurturing its budding classical musicians within a large and well-funded network of conservatories that function either as independent institutions or else as colleges within larger universities. The grand venture of transplanting the...
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Since at least the 1920s, America has done a fine job of nurturing its budding classical musicians within a large and well-funded network of conservatories that function either as independent institutions or else as colleges within larger universities. The grand venture of transplanting the...
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Those of us in the higher ed reform community have argued for years that the traditional college model is going to experience gale force winds of change.
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Those of us in the higher ed reform community have argued for years that the traditional college model is going to experience gale force winds of change.
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"I wish my job did not exist," wrote Nick Cooper, an administrative law attorney for Norwich University (Vermont), in an April 29 Pope Center article.
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"I wish my job did not exist," wrote Nick Cooper, an administrative law attorney for Norwich University (Vermont), in an April 29 Pope Center article.
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Higher education has already become an important issue in the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primary race. It should receive considerable attention in the first primary date, scheduled for October 13 on CNN.
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Higher education has already become an important issue in the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primary race. It should receive considerable attention in the first primary date, scheduled for October 13 on CNN.
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Ten years ago, the University of North Carolina began raising minimum admission requirements for all schools in the system. Those changes worked, helping to raise retention and graduation rates since their implementation. Thirty-five percent of 2005 freshmen graduated four years later. By 2010...
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Ten years ago, the University of North Carolina began raising minimum admission requirements for all schools in the system. Those changes worked, helping to raise retention and graduation rates since their implementation. Thirty-five percent of 2005 freshmen graduated four years later. By 2010...
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Access to higher education has emerged as a major campaign issue this year-a heartening development. But the proposals for free or debt-free college being touted by Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders fail to address some of the biggest problems in higher education access
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Access to higher education has emerged as a major campaign issue this year-a heartening development. But the proposals for free or debt-free college being touted by Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders fail to address some of the biggest problems in higher education access
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It is common knowledge that students who have amassed large college debt burdens cannot discharge those debts through bankruptcy.
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It is common knowledge that students who have amassed large college debt burdens cannot discharge those debts through bankruptcy.
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At the start of the fall semester, a freshman student at UNC-Chapel Hill gave the syllabus for ENG 72: Literature of 9/11 a cursory look and, perceiving an anti-American bias, brought it to the attention of the College Fix, a conservative website. It then received a considerable amount of...
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At the start of the fall semester, a freshman student at UNC-Chapel Hill gave the syllabus for ENG 72: Literature of 9/11 a cursory look and, perceiving an anti-American bias, brought it to the attention of the College Fix, a conservative website. It then received a considerable amount of...
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"'Bipartisan' usually means that a larger-than-usual deception is being carried out," comedian George Carlin once quipped. Perhaps, then, North Carolinians should be suspicious about the fact that the University of North Carolina system's president, a Democrat, and its Board of Governors...
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"'Bipartisan' usually means that a larger-than-usual deception is being carried out," comedian George Carlin once quipped. Perhaps, then, North Carolinians should be suspicious about the fact that the University of North Carolina system's president, a Democrat, and its Board of Governors...
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Paying for college is not like paying for other goods and services. The eventual customers, college students, may not always feel the impact of rising college costs. Instead, parents and taxpayers often subsidize much of students' tuition.
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Paying for college is not like paying for other goods and services. The eventual customers, college students, may not always feel the impact of rising college costs. Instead, parents and taxpayers often subsidize much of students' tuition.
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Winston Churchill famously quipped that democracy is the worst of governmental systems-except for all the others that have been tried. I'm inclined to think much the same can be said about the "publish or perish" system for choosing college faculty.
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Winston Churchill famously quipped that democracy is the worst of governmental systems-except for all the others that have been tried. I'm inclined to think much the same can be said about the "publish or perish" system for choosing college faculty.
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The average annual income in North Carolina is just over $40,000. But senior-level bureaucrats in the University of North Carolina system's General Administration (GA)-who take home six-figure salaries-say they need a raise. This Friday, the system's Board of Governors will vote on a proposed...
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The average annual income in North Carolina is just over $40,000. But senior-level bureaucrats in the University of North Carolina system's General Administration (GA)-who take home six-figure salaries-say they need a raise. This Friday, the system's Board of Governors will vote on a proposed...
