Imagine if a single law could simultaneously force colleges to drastically lower their costs and decimate the diversity, inclusion, and equity (DIE) bureaucracy. Happily, this is possible, and the solution can be summarized in a single word: unbundling. Almost overnight, the cost of college would fall precipitously, students would mature as they learned to manage […]
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With China on track to produce nearly double the number of STEM doctoral graduates as the US by 2025, it is worthwhile to reflect on the national importance of these fields. A nation’s security and economic prosperity rely largely on STEM capability. Indeed, much of the historical success of the industrialized West was owed to […]
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Since the University of Chicago pioneered the test-optional movement in 2018 by dropping the SAT and the ACT from its undergraduate admissions requirements—ostensibly to “level the playing field”—1,843 accredited four-year colleges in the U.S. have made standardized tests optional, and 84 have gone completely “test-blind.” Diminishing or eliminating the role of admissions tests seems to […]
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In “How To Fix Student Loans—Permanently,” Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity Senior Fellow Preston Cooper proposes an alternative solution to the Biden administration’s expensive student loan jubilee: financial penalties for colleges and universities whose graduates struggle to make repayments. His solution holds institutions accountable for a portion of unpaid loan repayments. He expects the […]
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The atmosphere was akin to Hotel Rwanda—a beleaguered assemblage of innocents shivering behind thin walls, surrounded by a tempestuous sea where the dark forces of the anti-science movement lurked, ready to snuff out enlightenment at the first opportunity. Such was the recent annual meeting of America’s preeminent scientific body, the American Association for the Advancement […]
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Why do countless students willingly pay upwards of $50,000 a year for a degree in black studies, when the skills they learn are seldom sought in the marketplace? In fact, the opposite may be true: few employers want to hire angry activists who’ve spent years marinating in grievances while learning to write impenetrable, jargon-filled prose […]
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Leftists specialize in pejorative labeling of anyone who disagrees with them, calling them racist, sexist, homophobe, transphobe, Islamophobe, deplorable, etc. But they save their ultimate insults for their most important targets; they are labeled “fascists,” “Nazis,” and “literally Hitler.” These childish insults take the place of serious debate, of presenting arguments substantiated by evidence, and […]
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Editor’s Note: This piece is part of an ongoing series of articles by Professor Bruce Gilley. To read the other articles in the series, click here. In 1980, two doctors from the Boston University Medical Center published a five-sentence letter in the New England Journal of Medicine noting that only four of their 11,882 patients […]
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The ability to express diverse viewpoints without reputational and professional consequences has been under threat at colleges and universities for many years now. Numerous surveys and reports reveal that students on both the Left and the Right consistently self-censor for fear of being canceled. Yet, these issues have a geographic component—they appear to be most […]
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Not all segregationists are created equal. Some lose their jobs—others get six-figure salaries. Last week cartoonist Scott Adams became the first type of segregationist, losing his award-winning comic strip for advocating that his fellow whites separate themselves from blacks to avoid racial harm (apparently the Dilbert creator is afraid of black people). Ironically, just days […]
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Last week the student chapter of Turning Point USA at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) attempted to show on campus a film, “The Greatest Lie Ever Sold: George Floyd and the Rise of BLM,” produced by The Daily Wire and narrated by Candace Owens. Fifteen minutes into the film, before an audience of approximately fifty […]
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For almost five years, I have been sounding the alarm about problematic higher education administrators. Not only are these staffers omnipresent and growing in number, but they try to set the terms of discourse on campuses nationwide and actively promote progressivism among the student body. This tragic state of affairs was on vivid display last […]
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In October, Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter was finalized, and he quickly made changes to the social media service. Musk built his reputation as an innovator, first in online commerce and later with SpaceX and Tesla. His reforms at Twitter follow a historic pattern of diagnosing problems and quickly working to implement a vision that […]
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“I think that you appreciate that there are extraordinary men and women and extraordinary moments when history leaps forward on the backs of these individuals, that what can be imagined can be achieved, that you must dare to dream, but that there’s no substitute for perseverance and hard work …” – FBI Special Agent Dana […]
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Over the last forty years, public approval and political support for non-profit higher education have eroded significantly. While a resurgence of anti-elitist populism in American culture contributed, the erosion resulted fundamentally from the historical competition among colleges and universities to acquire revenue and wealth and to increase spending on non-instructional programs and amenities, as we […]
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Editor’s Note: This piece is part of an ongoing series of articles by Professor Bruce Gilley. To read the other articles in the series, click here. In a grant request I was recently asked to review, the applicant cited a 2022 academic article by the grandly titled Boeing Distinguished Assistant Professor in Environmental Sociology at […]
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Literature Is Critical Precisely Because Nobody Thinks So As he sailed into the horizon, Odysseus might have wondered what really happens when you become nobody. That was Dante’s take on him, at least (see Inferno 26). The Ithacan overreached and his individualism erased him from the world. The Pillars of Hercules, which marked the edge […]
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Ohio State University’s (OSU) College of Engineering heavily emphasizes diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). For faculty, contributing to DEI is now simply a part of the job—in 2020, the college added questions about DEI to its annual reviews. That move is no surprise, as the college already asked for diversity statements from many of its […]
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“The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” – Abraham Lincoln By the time an American kid graduates from high school, to what extent has he been exposed to left-wing racial and gender ideology? Furthermore, how does this leftward indoctrination affect the student’s political views […]
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Colleges and universities seem obsessed with race and other social “identities.” Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) bureaucracies are often powerful on campus, and college staffs are sometimes required to swear fealty to “diversity” in order to secure and maintain employment. Yet polling data suggest a majority of the public opposes evaluating people at least partly […]
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Many Americans are familiar with the president’s headline efforts to cancel student debt altogether (currently awaiting consideration by the Supreme Court following legal challenges), but fewer know that the White House’s student loan forgiveness agenda, which includes several lesser known policy actions, has already cost taxpayers billions; $255 billion, to be exact. Earlier this week, […]
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“If a belief guides practical actions, it works best if it is true, but if a ‘belief’ defines a group identity then it can still work, or even work better, if it is not true.” – Neil Van Leeuwen, “The Puzzle of Belief,” Cognitive Science Vol. 47 (2023) The comments and reactions to a recent […]
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Accountability is getting more and more attention in higher education. Democrats will soon release new gainful employment regulations, while Republicans are considering a range of accountability approaches, including risk-sharing that would put colleges on the hook when students can’t repay their student loans. With so many new ideas for accountability systems in the air, it […]
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Background Traditional liberal arts courses were the cornerstone of Western Civilization curricula but have fallen out of favor in American academia, where they have been gradually replaced by progressive ideologies. Political considerations in administrative and faculty hiring make it highly unlikely that this will be easily reversed. For those who consider a liberal arts background […]
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Has American higher education reached peak woke? Alas, probably not, given that activists can find almost anything to protest. While it may be difficult to predict the next campus absurdity, let me suggest what may soon arrive: importing the anti-police, pro-crime movement into our colleges and universities. In fact, the first outcroppings of this movement […]
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Artificial intelligence is becoming too important for people not to appreciate its core mathematical foundations in calculus, probability theory, and linear algebra. Most advanced countries are regearing their secondary schools to introduce these topics to teenagers. The US is not, largely because its educators are obsessed with remedial arithmetic. This needs to change. Calculus and […]
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On March 2, the magazine of record for professional librarians in the United States, Library Journal, will host an online seminar entitled “Resisting Book Bans.” On the surface, the seminar could not be more timely. Since 2018, academic and public libraries have been banning books with increasing frequency because they fail to promote the progressive political […]
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Many Americans are aware of the Biden administration’s battle for student loan forgiveness. But a major policy decision that has flown under the radar is a change to the way federal student aid will be distributed among students. Stuffed into those end-of-the-year pork-filled bills is a provision that spells trouble for families. In 2020, Congress […]
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“Key components of the [Lamat] Institute include intensive research instruction … and social justice discussions. In addition, a comprehensive mentoring professional development program is designed to encourage mentors and mentees to adopt an anti-racist, critical approach to mentoring relationships.” So reads the Lamat Institute’s About page. According to its Home page, the institute’s goal over […]
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The tenured law professor fights back against those seeking to crush her academic freedom. When Orwell wryly observed that “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act,” he may well have had academia in mind. Challenging prevailing ideology can have a calamitous effect on one’s personal reputation and academic career—something especially […]
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