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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For learning and discovery communities to flourish, there has to be a diversity of ideas that are explored and debated, with multiple perspectives discussed civilly by veteran scholars—the faculty—as well as inquisitive young learners—the students. While campuses in recent years have obsessed over what are intellectually relatively unimportant dimensions of diversity, such as the skin […]
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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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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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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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“Tú sola comprendiste que el hombre y el tigre se diferencian únicamente por el corazón.” —Horacio Quiroga, Juan Darién (1920) At an event at Stanford Law School last year, Associate Dean Tirien Steinbach shut down Federal Judge Kyle Duncan’s speech because his ideas hurt people’s feelings. More recently, officials in the United Kingdom have indicated […]
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I teach at an Ivy League university. I can’t count how many colleagues have told me that they “just give everyone an A.” This mindset doesn’t belong to just one instructor, department, discipline, or generation. I do not “out” any one or two particular people when I describe my experience with grade inflation. It’s happening […]
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With colleges and universities reopening in a few short weeks, I want to remind fellow faculty that educating students is one of the most important tasks they are charged with performing. For faculty to provide a responsible college education today, we professors must help our students learn how to find and then embrace the truth […]
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Billy Beane revolutionized the game of baseball by determining which factors improved the performance of players. The book Moneyball details how he strategized to develop winning players rather than accept the untested school of thought prevalent at the time. When Beane came on the scene, most of those involved in decision-making in the sport judged potential […]
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A new academic year is upon us. With that, new faculty and graduate students will be delving into research applications, especially through the largest higher education funder of scientific research: the National Science Foundation (NSF). This year, those applying for research funds will have to consider whether their projects “may impact tribal resources or interests,” […]
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In a bizarre incident in California, a seven-year-old girl found herself banned from drawing, suspended from recess for two weeks, and forced to apologize after presenting a drawing to a black classmate. What sparked such controversy? In her colorful creation, she boldly wrote “Black Lives Mater [sic]” (BLM) at the top and, beneath it, sketched […]
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The rising cost of college has dissuaded many from pursuing a degree and caused millions more to go deep into debt. One important factor contributing to this trend is the amount many institutions spend on intercollegiate athletics. About twenty large universities, such as Penn State and the University of Alabama, have successful football teams that […]
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Depending on which side of the political aisle you choose, “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” better known as DEI, stands for very different things. For the far-left, who have largely coopted and infected their less radical comrades, it is something inherently good and imbued in America’s DNA. In response to increasing demands for dialing down DEI […]
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The firing of football coach Mel Tucker from Michigan State University (MSU) following a sexual misconduct scandal that involved allegations from Brenda Tracy, a sexual assault awareness speaker, threw the team into turmoil. Left without a head coach mid-season, the Spartans needed a new coach and someone who could rebuild trust within the team and […]
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In 2008, the voters of the United States elected their first and, to date, only President of color, Barack Obama. We were told at the time that his elevation to the highest office in the land would herald a new age of race relations in our nation. The country would no longer be defined by […]
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The West is in the midst of a crisis, not just a cultural one but a political one as well, and it is happening right now. Every patriot must ask himself a series of serious questions. Where are we headed? Where is the limit? When are we going to wake up? Are we willing to […]
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Editor’s Note: The following article was originally published by Ford Forum on July 25, 2024. With edits to match MTC’s style, it is crossposted here with permission. It is the fatal habit of college professors to seek out and try to exploit “teachable moments,” occasions when events that grip the attention of our students can be made […]
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Editor’s Note: The following article was originally published by Cato Institute on August 1, 2024. With edits to match MTC’s style, it is crossposted here with permission. Note, this post updates last month’s post. The biggest changes from last month include: the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals halting the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan; added insights from Jason […]
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Joseph Aoun advocates for revising higher education to adapt to artificial intelligence (AI) challenges. I have also advocated for this revision. Aoun presents a rationale and a buffet of possibilities. Here, I will extract a core recommendation to explore how combining disciplines with AI might work. Aoun writes: Since AI has extended its tendrils into […]
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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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In the first days of August 1774, the Association of the Virginia Convention met and promulgated a series of resolutions that would guide its delegates to the First Continental Congress. These endorsed the policy of embargo with Britain—including slaves—until the Intolerable Acts were rescinded. The resolutions also endorsed in advance actions that would be taken […]
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Over the last two years, I’ve written more than a few stories drawing from public records requests. But sometimes, an institution’s response to those requests—or labored, muddled, confusing non-response—becomes a story of its own. Case in point: The Ohio State University. In August of last year, I received a tip that the university had abruptly […]
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It’s time that leftists take their heads out of the sand. Whites are not the only group of people that can be racists. Black racism—racism against whites by blacks—is real, and “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) makes it worse. From birth through the first grade, I lived in Chicago Heights, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. […]
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On July 13, America experienced what seemed like another “shot heard around the world.” Former President Donald Trump avoided death by mere centimeters after a shooter attempted to assassinate him at a Butler, PA, rally. As news exploded across every social media platform, newspaper, and broadcasting station, one institution decided to stay silent: Marquette University. […]
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A high cumulative grade point average, multiple majors, impressive summer internships, and extensive study and travel abroad no longer guarantee an entry-level job after college graduation. According to a recent study by Intelligent, corporations are hiring fewer recent graduates, believing they are unprepared for the workforce. Unfortunately, a college record that sounds impressive on a […]
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In recent years, intercollegiate college athletics has become an expensive activity for many American colleges and universities. Even at 68 Power Five Conference schools whose teams generate significant football and basketball income, very few typically even claim to make a profit, and that is using accounting procedures that, if followed by Fortune 500 companies, would […]
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“Everything goes when anything goes all of the time.” —Paul Westerberg Alexis de Tocqueville noted in Democracy in America (1835/40) that upon the advent of written constitutions and electoral politics, the aristocracies of the Western world had to rediscover their purpose. He saw the United States as the most acute example of a society in […]
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Thomas Jefferson wrote A Summary View of the Rights of British America in 1774, basically the first draft of the Declaration of Independence. That’s how he got to the drafting Committee of Five for the Declaration in 1776. Fine job you did in 1774, Thomas; why don’t you write another version now? Back in 1774, […]
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Recent polling by College Pulse for the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) reveals that college-aged Americans are abysmally ignorant of our rich historical heritage and knowledge of our most important civic institutions. An implication is that the colleges neglect to instruct students to remedy that scandalous deficiency. While that is no doubt correct, […]
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