The following is an excerpt from the soon-to-be-published National Association of Scholars report, Rescuing Science. It has been edited to align with Minding the Campus’s style guidelines and is cross-posted here with permission. Indirect costs are a hot topic right now, set off by the Trump administration floating a proposal for the National Institute of […]
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I have previously reported through two Minding the Campus articles (here and here) that the National Science Foundation (NSF) director, Sethuraman Panchanathan, published a paper through the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) that copied an uncited source previously published through the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In addition to copying from IEEE for […]
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Artificial intelligence’s (AI) presence in higher education should be no surprise. Nor should it be surprising that its presence is expanding with both known and unknown consequences. Some people express concern about degrading students’ skillsets as a result of reliance on the organization and presentation of data trained in AI models. Faculty also express concern […]
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The first thing that one needs to understand about the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) is that it exists in its own dimension of reality. It’s called “Planet UMass” for a reason. The second thing that one needs to understand is that much as federal law supersedes state law, university policy supersedes all laws, and […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by the College Fix on April 9, 2024. With edits to match MTC’s style guidelines, it is crossposted here with permission. While the University of Michigan (UMich) leadership recently announced its plans to roll back “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) programming, it may face resistance from its own faculty. […]
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Mainstream higher education is under attack from an overbearing government that uses authoritarian tactics to erode academic freedom and enact an ideological vendetta. This is the recent takeaway from an address given at Hamilton College by former president Barack Obama. In addressing recent investigations and defunding of America’s elite universities, Obama urged academia to stand […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Doc Emet Productions on April 8, 2024. With edits to match MTC’s style guidelines, it is crossposted here with permission. As a young man, I was invited to dinner at the home of a senior professor at a respected liberal arts college. A man of conservative views and polished […]
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When ChatGPT was first released during my freshman year of college at Emory Univeristy, I thought my peers would avoid it for fear of being accused of plagiarism, especially given my school’s strict policy against it. I was wrong. Faced with the challenge of balancing stressful courses, demanding extracurriculars, and, for some, part-time jobs, “Just […]
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Since the passage of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and under the protections of the 14th Amendment, American universities have been legally required to provide equal access to all students, regardless of race, sex, age, disability, or religion. These institutions are meant to be merit-based and colorblind, evaluating individuals on their personal abilities rather […]
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If you were to imagine an ideal year of humanities education, it might include: Immersion in Greek or Latin, bolstered by many weeks in Greece or Rome; Coursework in philosophy, literature, and political theory, all the readings counting as canonical works; Small classes taught by experienced and charismatic instructors in a Socratic seminar style; And, […]
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We’ve spent the better part of two months at Minding the Campus (MTC) hammering home the same truths: anti-Semitism is rising, “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) is corrosive, and wokeness is warping our universities. These arguments are important—and true. But we’re beating a dead horse. If our goal is to clarify, win back institutions, and […]
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Until the reelection of President Donald Trump, the conservative intellectual movement has been fighting a rearguard action—justly exposing the negative dynamics of wokeness, “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” and Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions—and advocating for a return to the Great Books and liberal education. Given the pending shutdown of the nefarious federal Department of Education, there […]
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When women enter the voting booth, what matters more—policy or identity? The debate over whether female voters prioritize gender representation or political substance has fueled political discourse for years. Some argue that women rally behind female candidates for symbolic progress, while others insist that ideology and policy take precedence. But do women truly vote based […]
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It hasn’t been a good couple of years for Ivy League presidents. Since December 2023, five have stepped down—which is to say, been shown the door—including two from the same institution. All those departures stemmed, directly or indirectly, from the presidents’ failures to address anti-Semitism on their campuses. The first domino to fall was Liz […]
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Author’s Note: This article 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, enter your name and email under “SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER, ‘TOP OF MIND,’” located on the right-hand side of the site. It was welcome […]
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Editor’s Note: The following is an article originally published by the Observatory of University Ethics on March 18, 2025. It was translated into English from French by the Observatory before being edited to align with Minding the Campus’s style guidelines. It is crossposted here with permission. In a text entitled “Regarding the cancellation of FBB’s visit to […]
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In the winter of 2024, the U.S. Department of Education announced that an investigation is underway at Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) over its anti-Semitic environment. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights wrote in a December 23 letter that it will examine “whether the College failed to respond to alleged harassment of students […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by the National Association of Scholars on April, 2025, and is crossposted here with permission. Today, the National Association of Scholars (NAS) celebrates Congress’s bipartisan vote to move all existing operations of the Department of Education (ED) under the purview of the United States Popcorn Board. We are happy to have […]
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In California, there is a three-tiered system of public universities. The California Community College (CCC) System serves as the foundation and feeds into the California State University System (CSU). This, then, steps up into the University of California System (UC). All of these are public university systems, and all fall under the federal definition of […]
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Like me, supporters of the University of Austin (UATX) have thought that it should be possible to enroll academically outstanding students. Indeed, sotto voce, we have speculated that, even in the first year or two, UATX would be able to match elite schools like Harvard and Williams in terms of objective metrics, such as SAT […]
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For millennia, man has wondered whether he is alone in the universe. Organizations such as the SETI Institute (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence), founded in 1984, once employed more than 100 scientists, educators, and support staff in their quest to “explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe.” To […]
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In response to conservative concerns about transwomen athletes—biological men—competing in women’s sports, the left typically either denies the issue or insists it poses no disadvantage to biological female athletes. However, the story of former San Jose State University (SJSU) women’s volleyball player Brooke Slusser reveals the harsh reality: gender ideology extremism has left women unprotected. […]
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Good news and bad news for higher education in Ohio. The good news is that SB 1 passed into law on March 28. It promises an end to “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” indoctrination, and political litmus tests at public universities; it increases curriculum transparency, it mandates civic education, and much more. The bad news is […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by the National Association of Scholars on March 31, 2025, and is crossposted here with permission. I have been asked by several members of the National Association of Scholars, as well as by members of the NAS staff, whether we have an official position on the recent developments at Columbia University. […]
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Grade inflation—higher grades awarded without a commensurate increase in learning—is a documented problem in higher education. It is fueled by a consumerist educational environment, the desire to please students and parents, the connection of student satisfaction surveys (e.g., “course evaluations”) with employment and promotion, and coddlers who view any source of student stress as problematic. Combined with […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by the College Fix on March 27, 2024. With edits to match MTC’s style guidelines, it is crossposted here with permission. The University of Washington (UW), following a year-long surge of anti-Israel protests on campus, reaffirmed its commitment to protecting the Jewish community in response to a recent warning letter […]
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Editor’s Note: The following is an article originally published on PJ Media on March 14, 2025. With edits to match Minding the Campus’s style guidelines, it is crossposted here with permission. The ideology of “social justice,” encompassing both critical race theory, extreme gender theory, and queer theory, has become the main administrative tool of universities, […]
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For the past decade or so, I have worked with students to help them prepare essays for applications to America’s top colleges and universities. Many of my students have historically matriculated to Ivy League and other top-tier universities, and every year, we continue to send a handful of Invictus Prep students to America’s most coveted […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by American Greatness on March 30, 2025. With edits to match MTC’s style guidelines, it is cross-posted here with permission. Last week, the Trump Administration dropped Biden’s appeal of a July Oklahoma court ruling on Title IX. The ruling had stopped Biden’s April 2024 Title IX regulation from taking effect, joining several other courts that […]
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It was March 30, 1775. King George III delivers another blow to the American colonies, formally endorsing the New England Restraining Act. This Act, a direct response to the Continental Association’s 1774 boycott of British goods, was designed to strangle the rebelling colonies into submission. By royal decree, New England’s trade was restricted solely to […]
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