New York, NY; September 9, 2024—Minding the Campus (MTC) is excited to launch its new Research Internship Program, designed to cultivate the next generation of skilled writers and researchers focused on critical issues in higher education. This intensive four-week internship allows aspiring scholars to engage deeply with pressing topics while contributing to MTC’s mission of […]
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As a country, in celebrating resistance, we have lost sight of the important difference between resistance and resolution. For example, even before Donald J. Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2017, plans were afoot to thwart his agenda. Those plans coalesced under the hashtag #Resistance, and included marches, demonstrations, plots for electors to ignore state election […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by the National Association of Scholars on September 6, 2024, and is cross-posted here with permission. The original article includes audio acquired by the National Association of Scholars that describes allegations of coverup. Allegations of a “coverup” of widespread “discriminatory hiring” erupted at the University of Washington in June, according to audio acquired by […]
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Editor’s Note: The following is a short excerpt from an article originally published on the author’s Substack Purpose and Desire on August 21, 2024. With edits to fit MTC’s style, it is crossposted here with permission. Jennifer Hernandez has a useful piece in a recent City Journal, about how the Green New Deal is actually harmful to the poor. Well, […]
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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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The First Continental Congress convened on September 5, 1774, in Carpenters’ Hall, Philadelphia. It brought together delegates from twelve of the thirteen North American British colonies to discuss what they might do collectively in response to the “Intolerable Acts” passed by the Crown in May and June. The Congress was not a revolutionary act. Indeed, […]
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Editor’s Note: The following is a short excerpt from an article originally published by James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal on September 4, 2024. With edits to fit MTC’s style, it is crossposted here with permission. For decades, aspiring college students have had to submit with their applications scores from standardized tests, such as the SAT […]
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Given the power that trustees of a college possess, one must ask why trustees are so negligible a factor in the institution’s operations. Trustees oversee matters of personnel, finance, curriculum, athletics, building construction, and overall mission—or at least that’s what they are supposed to do. Of course, they aren’t the only voice, but they are the final voice on many […]
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For months, the Massachusetts Governor’s allies plotted to strip citizens of their arms. Legislators said they sought only to enhance public safety. But they labored as far from the public eye as possible. Then revealing, “debating,” and passing their legislation in the space of one day, they hurried it to the Governor for signature. The […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by The College Fix on August 30, 2024 and is crossposted here with permission. PHOENIX — Two professors discussed dismantling capitalism and electing a female president to restore reproductive rights, and warned of a dystopian future with “cannibalism” and “forced breeding camps,” at an event held Wednesday at Arizona State University. […]
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In June, more than 100 deans signed a joint letter calling for law schools to support constitutional democracy by teaching students to disagree respectfully and engage across ideological divides. As around 40,000 new law students begin their professional education this fall, it is fair to question whether law schools have demonstrated a commitment to this […]
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When members of the U.S. Supreme Court return from their three-month vacation this October, they will hear several major education-related cases. Issues on the docket include Biden’s income-driven student loan repayment plan, school choice, a memorandum on parental behavior, race-based school admission, displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms, the Bible as a teaching tool, and two […]
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An old professional friend, Richard Phelps, asked me in late April to write a review of his latest book. I agreed to write a full-length review without a deadline or remuneration. The book is accurately described in the 2023 Choice Review excerpt reprinted online, although one might quibble about 2001, the year given for the […]
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The National Association of Scholars (NAS) joined the Heritage Foundation for a panel discussion, “Unveiling DEI: Examining Its True Impact on Higher Education,” on August 20 in Washington, D.C. A recording of the full event, which featured Jay Greene, Heritage senior research fellow; Scott Yenor, professor of political science at Boise State University and Washington […]
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Academic boycotts targeting ideas, individuals, and institutions deemed problematic are no longer just in vogue for faculty. This illiberal and anti-intellectual tactic has now been adopted by students—presumably taking a cue from faculty and administrators—to cancel faculty who hold views they disagree with. I encountered this personally during the most recent course interview week at […]
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The conversation around neurodiversity has gained substantial momentum over the past few years, challenging traditional views and methods of learning and teaching. Neurodiversity refers to the natural variations in the human brain and encompasses conditions such as autism deficit disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, and others. While individuals with such conditions bring […]
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Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from the author’s debut article on his Substack, Ideology Detective, shared here with permission. The 20th century was driven by revolutionary ideologies. Sure, there were social and military reasons for the ugly birth of communism in Russia, as there were for the repulsive rise of fascism in Italy. […]
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While the Biden administration has at least nine plans to forgive student loans, some are much bigger than others. And the two biggest have now run into legal buzzsaws. The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) eventually threw out its first plan in 2022. The second plan introduced a new income-driven repayment plan called SAVE, which, in practice, […]
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Between August 25 and August 27, 1774, the First North Carolina Provincial Congress met in New Bern, North Carolina. There they passed resolutions that they would not import any goods from Britain, including slaves, until the Intolerable Acts were rescinded. They also selected delegates for the First Continental Congress, which would meet the next month. […]
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As September approaches, several topics need your attention. At the top of the list, I hope our Middle Eastern experts will address curriculum issues related to 9/11. The terrorist attack continues to shape international relations curricula, but I believe that history, political science, and international relations programs largely fail to teach the history and politics […]
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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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The National Association of Scholars (NAS) mourns the loss of Adam Andrzejewski, the visionary Founder and CEO of OpenTheBooks. Adam was a friend to the National Association of Scholars. He inspired our vigorous use of freedom of information requests to pry important information from public universities that are often reluctant to divulge facts that belong […]
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Dedicated to my father, Lee, on his 96th birthday—my first philosophy teacher “By speculating upon causes, we could solve no difficulty about origin and purpose. Our real business is to analyze accurately the circumstances of phenomena, and to connect them by the natural relations of succession and resemblance.” Comte, Positive Philosophy (tr. Martineau, 1858) “Most […]
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I scanned the first message I received in my Columbia University MA English group chat. Bookmarking my copy of Ayn Rand’s We the Living, a novel about the ills of post-Revolutionary Russia, I recoiled. Reviewing the text, sent by a researcher of “imperial conspiracy” in a “postcolonial context,” I felt my vision blurring. This couldn’t […]
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As anti-Israel protests convulsed American campuses in the spring semester—likely to reappear soon in the fall—one might be forgiven, judging from the headlines, for thinking that the Ivy League and a handful of major state universities constitute the entirety of American higher education. Not infrequently, even commentators on these events hailed from the same set […]
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Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from the author’s book Lies My Liberal Teacher Told Me: Debunking the False Narratives Defining America’s School Curricula. It is posted here with permission. A widely accepted contemporary belief, prevalent throughout American secondary and higher education, is that post-1800 Western colonialism was an unmitigated evil. Notably, this does not hold […]
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When I began my academic career, my colleagues regarded the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) as the great proponent and bulwark of academic freedom. The senior colleague I admired most—a gentleman and scholar, the embodiment of what it meant to be a professor—was a long-time member. My, how times have changed. Yes, the AAUP […]
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Editor’s Note: The following is a short excerpt from an article originally published by The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal on August 7, 2024. With edits to fit MTC’s style, it is crossposted here with permission. Legal battles over President Biden’s various schemes to forgive student debt continue. In July, the Eighth Circuit Court of […]
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Although our national motto, E Pluribus Unum, appropriately reflects how diverse peoples have melded together to form a tribe that we call “Americans,” that does not negate the fact that there are numerous different ways we carry out the business of life across our vast land. That is especially true regarding the provision of higher […]
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Editor’s Note: The following is a short excerpt from an article originally published by The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal on August 5, 2024. With edits to fit MTC’s style, it is crossposted here with permission. For nearly five decades, American universities systematically discriminated against white and Asian Americans. Quotas, “holistic review processes,” and “factors” […]
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