Author: Anthony Paletta

Colleges: Who Had The Money To Apply?

If you thought last fall’s staggering endowment drops were the end of collegiate financial troubles, you haven’t been paying attention. Another minefield awaited – application season. It wasn’t simply colleges that were feeling a pinch, so were their future customers. After decades of tuition increases that failed to dent application numbers, colleges were suddenly forced […]

Pondering The Bill?

“8 Tuition-Free Colleges” from Mental Floss

If College Presidents Wrote Application Essays

Last week the Wall Street Journal asked several college Presidents to answer an essay question from their own application. Presidents from Barnard to Wesleyan participated. Take a look at their entries. Would you admit these students?

Donald Downs On Academic Freedom

Donald Downs appeared here in New York at an event co-sponsored by the Pope Center and the Manhattan Institute on academic freedom, presenting his fascinating new paper “Academic Freedom: What It Is, What It Isn’t, and How to Tell the Difference.” Listen to John Leo interviewing Donald Downs in a new podcast.

John McWhorter In Affirmative Action Debate

Yesterday, our own John McWhorter participated in a debate on Affirmative Action hosted by the Miller Center. Other participants included Julian Bond and Lee Bollinger. You can watch it here.

More On The New School Occupation

The flap over the New School occupation last Friday continues apace this week, with a letter from New School President Bob Kerrey to the New York Times, pointing out omissions in their reporting. Your account of what happened at the New School on Friday glossed over some very critical information that puts the whole event […]

Zywicki Out At Dartmouth

This morning Todd Zywicki briefly noted at the Volokh Conspiracy, that he had been denied a second term on the Dartmouth Board of Trustees. It’s difficult not to conclude that Dartmouth is pruning board dissenters. Zywicki’s personal statement about the decision on his website provides a history of the source of his removal: ..From 1891 […]

Yet Another Student Occupation

Students occupied a New School building early this morning and police have now entered, with the evident aim of removing the occupants, the New York Times reports. They seem to have followed the lead of February’s NYU protesters in advancing a list of highly disparate demands: The students adopted a list of eight demands including […]

VERITAS in Philanthropy

Philanthropy profiles the VERITAS Fund, among other organizations, in a look at new efforts to revive civic education on American campuses. Take a look.

6 New Rules Of College Admissions

The Daily Beast offers several interesting features on “Getting In.” Read “How Obama’s College Plan Hurts My Generation” on rising college costs, “The Year to Bribe Your Way In” on this year’s increased efficacy of donation as an admissions (ahem) tool, and other stories on cheap colleges and application strategies.

In The Blogs

Some reading for the day: – Advice on improving scholarly journals at The Monkey Cage (part one and part two) -Richard Vedder on innovations at the University of Toledo. Contracting out for online education? Imagine that? -The Epicurean Dealmaker on college expenditures. “In short, private education in America spends money like a drunken sailor with […]

15 Strangest College Courses

These are always fun. Samples: “Philosophy and Star Trek”, “Cyberporn and Society”, and “The Simpsons and Philosophy.”

If You Haven’t Laughed Today

Take a look at some hilarious footage of the end of the NYU building occupation, courtesy of Gawker. You won’t regret the nine minutes spent watching this. “I don’t think they want water bottles. They probably drink corporate water.” -Protester

The University Tomorrow?

VERITAS In The Chronicle

The Chronicle of Higher Education today reports on our VERITAS Fund’s latest partnership, with the Jack Miller Center. Campus centers that support traditional teaching about America’s founding will get a $2-million infusion from two organizations that have been instrumental in starting some of the centers. Most of the money will be used for centers that […]

Read and Watch

A new issue of the Dartmouth Review is up. Also, check out video of the first panel of this month’s National Association of Scholars conference.

Harvard Endowment Plummets, Bonuses Continue

The Boston Globe reports that Harvard alumni have written to President Faust asking that, given the recent drop in endowment value from $36.8 billion to $28.7 billion, the latest bonuses paid to the fund’s managers be returned. The five highest-paid executives earned between $3.4 and $6.9 million during the last fiscal year. Those aren’t especially […]

A Candidate Worth A Vote

The inestimable Harvey Silverglate has launched a candidacy for Harvard’s Board of Overseers, and quickly, the relevance of his effort is being noted. The student-run Harvard Law Record is scaling back its publication schedule in the face of several difficulties, notable among them being Harvard’s reduction of alumni distribution. As they write: [T]he replacement of […]

Want To Go Do College, Kid?

“Writing College Admissions Essays” – sound advice in the Wall Street Journal

Princetonian Truth

Check out the top story at the Daily Princetonian today. You won’t regret it.

More From The NAS Conference

Take a look at: Peter Wood’s general account of the conference: “How the Dorms Are Politicized: The Case of the University of Delaware” by Adam Kissel and “The Military And Academe” by Allan Silver

An Interview With Our Writer

In our latest podcast, John Leo interviews frequent contributor Mark Bauerlein, Professor of English and Emory University and author of The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future. To listen to this interview, click here.

Knocking Out Speech Codes, Keeping Everything Else?

Last weekend’s National Association of Scholars conference saw an encouraging commitment against speech codes by Cary Nelson, President of the American Association of University Professors. Prompted by questions from Anne Neal of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni and from a reporter, Nelson stated “I want to knock out speech codes.” The AAUP is […]

Pomona’s Banned Anthem?

A reader, Carl Olson (Pomona ’66) writes us about a flap over the ban of Pomona’s alma mater song: What kind of college has an alma mater song, but then refuses to allow it at Commencement or Convocation? It’s Pomona College in Claremont, California. President David Oxtoby has made such an inexplicable ruling. Apparently he […]

What Admissions Officers Really Think About You

The Daily Beast offers some choice sentiments in “Dirty Secrets of College Admissions.” Some samples: Current admissions officer, Ivy League university “Any admissions director who uses the line about needing an oboe player is lying. There’s no admissions person in the country with a clue what the student orchestra needs. More likely, Mommy and Daddy […]

This Is Not Sensationalism

Best Ivygate headline in some time: “Ex-Harvard Med School Professor turned Cross-Dressing Murderer Hangs Himself in Jail Cell”

How The NCAA Funds Research Into Itself

An interesting story: The NCAA has provided what Kretchmar describes as a startup grant for the advisory group and its journal. The association, he said, has no editorial review over the journal, and no controlling hand in the research or colloquiums. The NCAA is, in essence, funding a group of researchers striving to be as […]

Not Too Late For NAS

A reminder that the coming weekend will feature a fascinating range of panels at the National Association of Scholar’s general conference at the Washington Marriott. Can you miss Peter Wood debating Cary Nelson on “The Meaning of Academic Freedom”? Christina Hoff Somers on the Expansion of Title IX? A Keynote address from Victor Davis Hanson? […]

Happy Holidays

Happy holidays to our readers. We’d encourage you to catch up on material from recent months: Wondering how to read College rankings? – When College Rankings Are A Marketing Ploy by Edward Fiske. About the collapse of endowments? Ivy-Covered Hedge Funds by Joe Malchow Looking for current arguments in the SAT debate? Downgrading SATs Makes […]

And More Plunges

Duke’s Endowment down 19%. Yale’s down 25%. More blows to the “Yale model” of investment. If you didn’t catch it, read more from Joe Malchow on the topic here.