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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Many in academia bemoan the increasing and overwhelming focus on graduates’ job prospects.
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Many in academia bemoan the increasing and overwhelming focus on graduates’ job prospects.
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Higher education in the United States has long been geared toward aggrandizement. It seems like every president or chancellor wants to leave his or her stamp on his or her campus with a new building.
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Higher education in the United States has long been geared toward aggrandizement. It seems like every president or chancellor wants to leave his or her stamp on his or her campus with a new building.
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Does that name ring a bell? In 1993, President Clinton nominated Lani Guinier for the position of assistant attorney general, but later he withdrew her nomination after her writings on voting and affirmative action came under severe criticism.
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Does that name ring a bell? In 1993, President Clinton nominated Lani Guinier for the position of assistant attorney general, but later he withdrew her nomination after her writings on voting and affirmative action came under severe criticism.
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The most important decision that the University of North Carolina system's Board of Governors will make this year is the selection of the next system president.
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The most important decision that the University of North Carolina system's Board of Governors will make this year is the selection of the next system president.
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It often seems as though the central mission of higher education today is promoting diversity. Diversity - which usually means racial, religious, and sexual diversity - is commonly accepted by most administrators as crucial to the success of the 21st-century university. More and more...
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It often seems as though the central mission of higher education today is promoting diversity. Diversity - which usually means racial, religious, and sexual diversity - is commonly accepted by most administrators as crucial to the success of the 21st-century university. More and more...
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American higher education is a grand mess. But there is purpose in the apparent chaos of public universities; they are designed to protect free inquiry by equal citizens into the wide universe of subjects that concern a growing and vibrant country.
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American higher education is a grand mess. But there is purpose in the apparent chaos of public universities; they are designed to protect free inquiry by equal citizens into the wide universe of subjects that concern a growing and vibrant country.
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In the United States, tradition dictates that we have summers off from school.
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In the United States, tradition dictates that we have summers off from school.
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Until recently, I was a college "bubble hawk." I saw significant parallels between the housing bubble that triggered the Great Recession and higher education. I believed that the combination of easy student loan money, rapidly increasing tuition, "creative disruption" caused by education...
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Until recently, I was a college "bubble hawk." I saw significant parallels between the housing bubble that triggered the Great Recession and higher education. I believed that the combination of easy student loan money, rapidly increasing tuition, "creative disruption" caused by education...
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When Columbia University's Multicultural Affairs Advisory Board complained a few weeks ago that "many texts in the Western canon [contain] triggering and offensive material that marginalizes student identities," I thought of China, whose education minister vowed to ban...
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When Columbia University's Multicultural Affairs Advisory Board complained a few weeks ago that "many texts in the Western canon [contain] triggering and offensive material that marginalizes student identities," I thought of China, whose education minister vowed to ban...
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Pity poor Emma Sulkowicz lugging a mattress around the Columbia University campus now for almost a full academic year.
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Pity poor Emma Sulkowicz lugging a mattress around the Columbia University campus now for almost a full academic year.
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My dozen years on the faculty and staff at a small liberal arts college followed a three-decade career in the chemical industry. One of the most surprising things I learned when I began teaching is how little presence the faculty has on campus for large portions of the year.
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My dozen years on the faculty and staff at a small liberal arts college followed a three-decade career in the chemical industry. One of the most surprising things I learned when I began teaching is how little presence the faculty has on campus for large portions of the year.
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"Drawing on a variety of government and private data sources, this report presents a provisional analysis of college value-added with respect to the economic success of the college's graduates, measured by the incomes graduates earn, the occupations in which they work, and their loan repayment rates
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"Drawing on a variety of government and private data sources, this report presents a provisional analysis of college value-added with respect to the economic success of the college's graduates, measured by the incomes graduates earn, the occupations in which they work, and their loan repayment rates
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Enrollment in the liberal arts and humanities continues to sink, particularly in languages and literature. At Harvard, for example, almost 60 percent of the students who start in the humanities switch disciplines by the end of their second year.
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Enrollment in the liberal arts and humanities continues to sink, particularly in languages and literature. At Harvard, for example, almost 60 percent of the students who start in the humanities switch disciplines by the end of their second year.
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Historically, higher education has been relatively left alone by the North Carolina legislature; this year represents a slight departure from that trend. For one thing, Governor McCrory has made the community colleges a focus of his administration and has called attention to their needs.
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Historically, higher education has been relatively left alone by the North Carolina legislature; this year represents a slight departure from that trend. For one thing, Governor McCrory has made the community colleges a focus of his administration and has called attention to their needs.
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Grade inflation is rampant on American campuses. According to a study by Stuart Rojstaczer and Christopher Healy, A’s represent 43 percent of all grades awarded today—up from 15 percent in 1960.
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Grade inflation is rampant on American campuses. According to a study by Stuart Rojstaczer and Christopher Healy, A’s represent 43 percent of all grades awarded today—up from 15 percent in 1960.
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Commencement season is an often-controversial time. Last year was conspicuous for its wave of politically motivated disinvitations, with students trying, sometimes with success, to get their universities to rescind invitations to commencement speakers such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Condoleezza Rice.
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Commencement season is an often-controversial time. Last year was conspicuous for its wave of politically motivated disinvitations, with students trying, sometimes with success, to get their universities to rescind invitations to commencement speakers such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Condoleezza Rice.
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Ten years ago, Ruth Simmons, then president of Brown University, said in a speech to students that she was concerned about reports about “the lack of diversity of opinion on campus.” People at Brown need to ask themselves, she said, “why the university has a reputation for ‘limiting debate’ and ‘fos
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Ten years ago, Ruth Simmons, then president of Brown University, said in a speech to students that she was concerned about reports about “the lack of diversity of opinion on campus.” People at Brown need to ask themselves, she said, “why the university has a reputation for ‘limiting debate’ and ‘fos
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Last month, six student government members at the University of California at Irvine voted to ban the American flag in some parts of campus. And although the ban was overturned, thousands of professors and students across California signed a letter supporting the flags removal.
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Last month, six student government members at the University of California at Irvine voted to ban the American flag in some parts of campus. And although the ban was overturned, thousands of professors and students across California signed a letter supporting the flags removal.
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Among the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill there are two quite different views of the university's recent athletic/academic scandal.
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Among the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill there are two quite different views of the university's recent athletic/academic scandal.
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I love working for Norwich University, but I wish my job did not exist.
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I love working for Norwich University, but I wish my job did not exist.
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An academic institution cannot be all things to all people; it is a particular institution that fills particular needs and has particular limitations. Too expansive a mission can easily be turned toward wasteful means and political ends.
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An academic institution cannot be all things to all people; it is a particular institution that fills particular needs and has particular limitations. Too expansive a mission can easily be turned toward wasteful means and political ends.
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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.
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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.
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In early March, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory visited the East Carolina Heart Institute at the Brody School of Medicine
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In early March, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory visited the East Carolina Heart Institute at the Brody School of Medicine
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About 25 years ago, American higher education was swept up in the identity studies fad. A great many colleges and universities created courses, departments, degree programs, and related administrative posts in Women's Studies, African-American Studies, Latina/o Studies, Queer Studies, and others.
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About 25 years ago, American higher education was swept up in the identity studies fad. A great many colleges and universities created courses, departments, degree programs, and related administrative posts in Women's Studies, African-American Studies, Latina/o Studies, Queer Studies, and others.
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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...
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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...
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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.
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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.
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If you remember (or have read about) Watergate, you'll see how closely that debacle resembles the current scandal at UNC-Chapel Hill.
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If you remember (or have read about) Watergate, you'll see how closely that debacle resembles the current scandal at UNC-Chapel Hill.
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Major donors like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Lumina Foundation dominate higher education philanthropy today. Most are aware of the Gates Foundation's roots in Bill's vast wealth, but the story of how Lumina came to be is more complicated.
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Major donors like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Lumina Foundation dominate higher education philanthropy today. Most are aware of the Gates Foundation's roots in Bill's vast wealth, but the story of how Lumina came to be is more complicated.
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UNC Board of Governors meetings are hard to navigate for the uninitiated, such as a member of the public.
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UNC Board of Governors meetings are hard to navigate for the uninitiated, such as a member of the public.
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Indebtedness due to student loans is one of the most pressing issues in higher education today. I believe strongly that we must face this issue head on, and my institution, Adrian College, has developed a plan to do that.
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Indebtedness due to student loans is one of the most pressing issues in higher education today. I believe strongly that we must face this issue head on, and my institution, Adrian College, has developed a plan to do that.
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UNC-Chapel Hill has launched Carolina Conversations, an initiative designed to provide forums for students to discuss sensitive topics. UNC-CH will do this in three ways: sponsor regular large-scale town-hall-style forums called My Carolina Voice, smaller gatherings called Carolina Pulse, and...
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UNC-Chapel Hill has launched Carolina Conversations, an initiative designed to provide forums for students to discuss sensitive topics. UNC-CH will do this in three ways: sponsor regular large-scale town-hall-style forums called My Carolina Voice, smaller gatherings called Carolina Pulse, and...
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Since the 2007-08 academic year, the state of North Carolina has allotted more than $7 million to the Academic Summer Bridge Program, which is intended to prepare academically weak students for the rigors of college.
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Since the 2007-08 academic year, the state of North Carolina has allotted more than $7 million to the Academic Summer Bridge Program, which is intended to prepare academically weak students for the rigors of college.
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For as long as I've been working in the higher education policy world, people have been talking about the prospects for a breakout for distance learning (i.e., online courses) and how that would transform higher education.
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For as long as I've been working in the higher education policy world, people have been talking about the prospects for a breakout for distance learning (i.e., online courses) and how that would transform higher education.
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A sad fact about some of today’s college students—particularly those of the leftist variety—is that they place greater value on their emotions and ideology than they do on tolerance, sensibility, and free speech.
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A sad fact about some of today’s college students—particularly those of the leftist variety—is that they place greater value on their emotions and ideology than they do on tolerance, sensibility, and free speech.
