Editor’s Note: The following is a short excerpt from an article originally published on the author’s Substack Purpose and Desire on October 16, 2024. With edits to fit MTC’s style, it is crossposted here with permission. I have a recent publication in Minding the Sciences concerning the “irreproducibility crisis”—also variously named the “replication crisis” or “reproducibility crisis.” The crisis, […]
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Sundays used to signify a day of rest, reflection, and worship—now, for college students, they signify 11:59 p.m. deadlines and endless Canvas notifications. The constant pressure of online grading systems and classes keeps students in a state of perpetual stress—even at Christian colleges, where Sabbath-honoring should be prioritized. Said religious universities ceaselessly stress the significance […]
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Author’s Note: This excerpt is from my weekly “Top of Mind” email, sent to subscribers every Thursday. For more content like this and to receive the full newsletter each week, sign up on Minding the Campus’s homepage. Simply go to the right side of the page, look for “SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER, ‘TOP OF MIND,’” and […]
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An Ivy League degree has long been viewed as American higher education’s crowning achievement—the ultimate status symbol, identifying the holder as a card-carrying member of the elite. At least, that used to be true. No doubt it still is, to some extent, as old ways of thinking die hard. But the recent behavior of many Ivy League leaders has clearly tarnished the crown. I’m reminded of another venerable […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by the College Fix on October 15, 2024 and is crossposted here with permission. A new House committee report raises concerns about the security of U.S.-China university partnerships, warning that these collaborations are aiding foreign technological and military advancements. “Following a year-long investigation, Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by the Jewish Journal on October 15, 2024 and is crossposted here with permission. A few weeks ago, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) sent out a “Campus Crisis Alert” featuring the “persistent and pervasive” antisemitism” at Sarah Lawrence College where I teach, focusing in particular on my experiences. The alert came as […]
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Science has a trustworthiness problem. Public trust in science, scientists, and in the worthiness of scientific research for society, has been on a steady decline since 2019, according to Pew Research Center. To be frank, “science” is lucky its trustworthiness problem is not worse, because the public has long been unaware just how deep the […]
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On October 2, a trial court dismissed Florida’s lawsuit against the Biden Education Department, claiming that accreditation methods for institutions of higher education are illegal. But the state will almost certainly re-file its complaint or appeal to continue its fight against an accreditation system gone bad. Florida says the current system is unconstitutional because it violates the […]
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The release of data on incoming freshmen this fall was watched keenly in light of last year’s Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard decision that effectively outlawed race-based affirmative action policies in college admissions. As the data have been released, the picture is mixed. Some schools have seen the expected results: a larger proportion of […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by the American Spectator on October 13, 2024 and is crossposted here with permission. Our intrepid progressives have tossed Christopher Columbus and his special day of remembrance to their ash heap of history. They have instead created something they find much more noble. They call it Indigenous Peoples’ Day. This day, […]
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The Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress was adopted on October 14, 1774. It’s important for all sorts of good reasons. The representatives of the colonies—except distant Georgia—came together for the first time to endorse a joint action. They invoked natural law to justify their rights as well as their rights as Englishmen—“the […]
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On the September 27th edition of PBS’s Washington Week, reporters expressed barely controlled outrage about the Trump campaign’s slanderous attacks on Haitian immigrants. Why don’t seemingly racist—not to mention sexist—statements crater Mr. Trump’s support? Chiefly because when, in the eyes of professors and reporters, everyone is racist, then no one is. Normal American voters reflexively […]
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Introduction The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was initially written to ensure that government-funded institutions, such as museums and universities, give human remains and some types of artifacts from past peoples to related modern tribes. Relatedness was to be determined through a preponderance of evidence, using data from archaeology, anthropology, history, biology […]
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The passage of the End Woke Higher Education Act by the U.S. House of Representatives—currently awaiting a Senate vote—marks a significant victory for constitutional freedoms in higher education. At a time when campuses are increasingly dominated by restrictive speech codes and “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) mandates, this bill offers a much-needed course correction. If […]
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Things seemed promising when the 2023 Michigan Wolverines won their first national championship since 1997, with head coach Jim Harbaugh leading the team to victory. College football fans praised his leadership, grateful for the long-awaited success. But as soon as Harbaugh became the subject of NCAA scrutiny, it became clear that triumph would soon give […]
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Editor’s Note: This essay is a condensed version of the author’s previous piece for Minding the Sciences, titled “The Evolution of Intelligent Design Theory.” You can read the full-length version here. Headlines occasionally flash across the start page of my Microsoft browser’s newsfeed that feature articles about Darwinian evolution or the supposed chemical origin of […]
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Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story appears in theaters on October 11. I have a confession to make, and I’ve often thought about writing it down. This seems like the appropriate time. Here goes. I think I might have killed Christopher Reeve. There, I feel better already. I should say that I meant to kill Superman […]
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In 2005, an independent scholar and African art connoisseur and trader privately published a book called Phantom Voyagers: Evidence of Indonesian Settlement in Ancient Times. I read the book one year later after having met Mr. Dick-Read in the African Art section of the British Museum, where they keep the infamous Benin Bronzes looted by […]
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University faculty and staff face one of the oldest problems on campus: what free speech means. Our students are entering an extraordinarily polarized world that encourages them to think only in binary terms: yes, this is right, or no, this is wrong. It is our responsibility to equip them with the critical thinking skills to […]
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For some students, the thought of studying away from home can feel nerve-wracking, but for others, the chance to visit new horizons and learn somewhere new couldn’t be more exciting. Whether it’s an essential part of your course or you plan on living abroad in the future, studying overseas is more than just an academic […]
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If you’ve spent any time in higher education, you’ve probably been told that all white people are inherently racist, police forces should be defunded, and that “diversity, equity, and inclusion”—with a new side of “belonging”—should guide every aspect of modern life. Maybe you’ve even sat through a diversity training where microaggressions are sins and America’s […]
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A terrified junior who had just switched her major to science stepped into her General Chemistry I Laboratory like a rabbit in a wolf’s den. Handing the finished pre-lab to her teaching assistant, she returned to her place at the lab bench, a myriad of unpleasant grading scenarios racing through her head. Not long later, […]
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I graduated from a small state teacher’s college in 1963, majoring in physical sciences and math. While I was not privy to overall grade distributions there, I know that Cs, Ds, and failure were not uncommon. This was simply a fact of life and was understood by all. I later became interested in spatial science, […]
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There is a bit of a tempest in a teapot now taking place in academia. Well, scratch there. It is more than a molehill; it is a mountain, given how what occurs on campus—wokeism, Marxism, feminism, black studies, queer studies—all too soon percolates into the general society. What is the present controversy? Academic freedom and […]
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Imagine an American college or university president making the following public statement: “I regret that my institution, along with many others, has contributed to burdensome federal student loan debt and to rising college tuition levels, allowing our institutions to profit from the existence of student loan monies. At the same time, we have failed to […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by the College Fix on October 4, 2024 and is crossposted here with permission. Singer Beyoncé and her contribution to the “black radical tradition” and “black feminist” thought is the focus of a multidisciplinary course at Yale University. “Beyoncé Makes History: Black Radical Tradition History, Culture, Theory & Politics through Music,” […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on the author’s Substack, Science Is Not The Answer, on September 10, 2024 and is crossposted here with permission. One reason there is so much Bad Science, as I have said many times, is that there is too much science. Rather, too much activity in the name of science. […]
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Author’s Note: This excerpt is from my weekly “Top of Mind” email, sent to subscribers every Thursday. For more content like this and to receive the full newsletter each week, sign up on Minding the Campus’s homepage. Simply go to the right side of the page, look for “SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER, ‘TOP OF MIND,’” and […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by the National Assocation of Scholars on October 1, 2024 and is crossposted here with permission. Shadows of Influence: Uncovering Hidden Foreign Funds to American Universities, the latest report by the National Association of Scholars (NAS), written by Neetu Arnold, unearths some staggering truths about unreported foreign gifts to American colleges […]
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In the summer of 2023, the University System of Georgia (USG), led by Chancellor Sonny Perdue, announced a new directive: all institutions must remove “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) statements from hiring documents. During an August meeting at Kennesaw State University’s (KSU) Coles College of Business, Dean Robin Cheramie relayed this change, sparking a moment […]
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