http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/ Sun, 21 Mar 2010 7:08:27 EDT PHP/5.2.6 en http://popecenter.org/images/common/xml.gif http://popecenter.org Thu, 18 Mar 2010 0:00:00 EDT http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2319 Colleges are a fertile breeding ground for all sorts of folderol, and flagship state universities especially so. At UNC-Chapel Hill, for example, students can become certified Diversity Advocates. This is just one of the many activities of the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs. Although Chapel Hill is and for decades has been the very model of a modern, diverse... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 0:00:00 EDT http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2318 A recent test-tampering scandal in Georgia has turned over a rock to reveal some nasty truths about the mindset of those in charge of teaching future teachers. Last year, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s reporters noticed a large number of erased answers and suspiciously sharp improvements in Criterion Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT). An investigation of student... Sun, 14 Mar 2010 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2317 Editor’s Note: Larry Purdy was one of the trial lawyers who represented the plaintiffs in the University of Michigan lawsuits decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003, Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz et al. v. Bollinger. He is the author of Getting Under the Skin of... Thu, 11 Mar 2010 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2316 Editor's Note: Stephen Zelnick is a member of the Department of English at Temple University and co-founder of the Association for Core Texts and Courses (ACTC). I happened to catch an interview with Richard Whitmire, author of Why Boys Fail: Saving Our Sons from an Educational System That’s Leaving Them Behind. His is the latest voice in a chorus of writers who... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2315 For the past eleven years, I have been involved in higher education, one way or another. And for the last three years, since I started working at the Pope Center, I’ve been a paid observer of academia. In that time, one thing has become increasingly apparent to me—academics think differently (for the most part). They tend to live in a theoretical universe, while the rest of... Sun, 7 Mar 2010 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2314 Editor's note: A shorter version of this article appeared in the Raleigh News and Observer on March 4, 2010. A controversy is brewing over University of North Carolina tuition hikes. And there’s plenty of bad behavior to go around. Last summer, the legislature decided to raise in-state UNC tuitions for the 2010-11 school year by either $200 or eight... Fri, 5 Mar 2010 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2313 Editor’s note: Charles Cieppo is senior fellow and James Stergios is executive director of the Pioneer Institute, a nonprofit institute located in Boston, Massachusetts. At the beginning of 2003, state finances in Massachusetts and elsewhere looked a lot like they do now—bleak. Knowing that new approaches would be needed to put the state back on a solid financial... Tue, 2 Mar 2010 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2312 On the evening of February 26, I was among the four debaters on a PBS program jointly sponsored by the Miller Center and the Lumina Foundation devoted to this question: Does the United States need more college graduates to remain a world economic power? (You can view the debate online and check the television broadcast Sun, 28 Feb 2010 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2311 When N.C. State history professor Holly Brewer learned that the North Carolina’s Department of Public Instruction (DPI) was planning to start the high school U.S. history class with the year 1877—eliminating everything from the colonial period to Reconstruction—she started a firestorm of protest. She quickly developed a Facebook following of more than 9,000 people. And she... Thu, 25 Feb 2010 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2310 Like it or not, young Americans mainly go to college because they think that’s the way to land a job. Therefore, it’s reasonable to ask how good a job the colleges are doing of helping young people toward that goal. A recent study done for the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) sheds some light on that question. The study, Tue, 23 Feb 2010 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2309 With endowments down and budgets shrinking, American colleges and universities are looking for a game changer—a reason to say, “No, we’ve got to spend more than ever!” Last year, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) tried to give them that with a report entitled “Leadership for Challenging Times.” Although AASCU has not... Sun, 21 Feb 2010 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/news/article.html?id=2308 Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is now recognized as a campus group at the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh. An alternative monthly publication, Jerk Magazine, has been allowed to its distribute copies along with the “official” publication on the Syracuse University campus. Yale has apologized for preventing students from printing an F. Scott... Thu, 18 Feb 2010 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/news/article.html?id=2307 Higher education is still being shaped by the economic downturn of 2001-2002, when state appropriations to public universities fell markedly. In response, some colleges pushed for greater autonomy, especially freedom to raise tuition and fees. This process—sometimes called privatization—may well resume during the current recession. In the state of Washington, for example,... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/inquiry_papers/article.html?id=2306 A complete copy of Do North Carolina Students Have Freedom of Speech? is available for download as an Adobe Acrobat file compatible with Tue, 16 Feb 2010 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2305 Author's note: Minutes before this article was published on the Pope Center site, the story broke that Erskine Bowles has been named co-chair of a presidential panel to cut the budget deficit, perhaps explaining the timing of his resignation. I was feeling rather intimidated at my first University of North Carolina Board of Governors meeting in the fall of 2007. It was... Mon, 15 Feb 2010 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2304 The erosion of core curricula in the humanities and social sciences is widely discussed, but it’s also important to examine the natural sciences and mathematics, which are critical to a liberal education as well. The problem is that it’s challenging to develop substantial, engaging science and mathematics courses for students who for the most part... Thu, 11 Feb 2010 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2303 Editor’s note: This is the third essay in a series by Thomas F. Bertonneau, who teaches literature at SUNY Oswego. His previous essay, “Literacy Lost,” can be found here. The phrase je me souviens, “I remember,” is not just French but particularly... Tue, 9 Feb 2010 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2302 The old arguments about why there are so few conservative college professors got a new twist recently. Neil Gross, professor of sociology at the University of British Columbia and Ethan Fosse, a doctoral student at Harvard, argued in a paper (available on Professor Gross’ website) that the key reason why few... Fri, 5 Feb 2010 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2301 Editor’s note: This is the second story in a Pope Center series exploring finances of the UNC system in order to better understand whether the system is properly acting as a fiduciary of taxpayer money. Despite warnings from the AAUP’s yearly study on faculty compensation suggesting that faculty salaries are dangerously low, the fact is that professors in the UNC... Thu, 4 Feb 2010 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2300 Editor’s note: This is the second essay in a series by Thomas F. Bertonneau, who teaches literature at SUNY Oswego. The first essay in the series was “Can’t Read, Can’t Watch, Can’t Comprehend." Recently at SUNY Oswego, an online conversation burst forth among faculty... Tue, 2 Feb 2010 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2299 UNC-Chapel Hill obviously considers Martin Luther King, Jr. to be important, since the school devoted an entire week of activities to his memory.Why, then, did its officials choose an unscholarly celebrity—actor Danny Glover—to deliver the keynote speech about King? He was not an associate of King’s, nor has he established himself as a King “expert” by... Sun, 31 Jan 2010 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2298 Why doesn’t Johnny graduate from college? There are two perspectives on this topic. One suggests that the answer lies within Johnny—he doesn’t study hard enough, he was ill-prepared for college by his earlier education, or he even lacks the aptitude for college-level work. This view is favored by the growing number of reform-minded critics who suggest that college... Thu, 28 Jan 2010 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2297 Editor’s Note: This is the first in a three-part series by Thomas F. Bertonneau, who teaches at SUNY-Oswego. The second part can be found here. In response to complaints about the steadily declining preparation of incoming freshmen and the performance and interest levels of college students in... Tue, 26 Jan 2010 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2296 It’s a very rare thing for a Supreme Court justice to look back at a major case and cast doubt on the decision. One of the most contentious Supreme Court cases of the last decade was the decision involving the use of racial preferences by state universities seeking greater student body “diversity.” The issue in Grutter v. Bollinger was whether it was... Mon, 25 Jan 2010 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2295 Editor’s Note: Tony Fels is associate professor of history at the University of San Francisco. The nation’s recent financial crisis has highlighted the importance of regulatory watchdogs in exercising oversight of the nation’s financial institutions. Given my university’s experience with its educational regulator, the Western Association of Schools and... Thu, 21 Jan 2010 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2294 The January 8, 2010, press conference announcing the new N.C. State chancellor, William Randolph Woodson, was upbeat—too upbeat, perhaps. Yes, it’s great to have a respected person from a major university head the school’s second flagship, but his accession doesn’t mean that everything is going to be rosy. At the press conference, UNC president Erskine Bowles... Tue, 19 Jan 2010 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2293 A great deal of freedom comes with being an emeritus professor—you can say what you think because school administrators can do almost nothing to you. You can write books and articles advocating the most politically incorrect ideas without worrying that offended people will retaliate. Mon, 18 Jan 2010 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2292 At the January Board of Governors meeting, the UNC system seemed to be in conflict with itself. On the one hand, UNC president Erskine Bowles acknowledged that the system is not serving middle-class students well when it comes to providing access. He said that the system’s demographics are changing, with more students coming from the top of the income ladder and more from the... Fri, 15 Jan 2010 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2291 Editor’s Note: Anthony Papalas is professor emeritus of history at East Carolina University. His specialty is ancient Greece and Rome. Gloria Steinem, the feminist icon of the 1970s, delivered a lecture entitled “Reflection on Feminism” on Nov. 6 to a packed audience of about 1,300 in Wright Auditorium at East... Tue, 12 Jan 2010 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2290 Who is William Woodson? And how did he get to be the chancellor of North Carolina State University?Nobody seemed to know on Friday morning, January 9, when the UNC Board of Governors confirmed his appointment. They knew his previous job title—provost at Purdue University—and a few other items... Sun, 10 Jan 2010 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2289 William Patrick Leonard is at war with himself. As a teacher of economics, he instructs his students to look for examples of waste and inefficiency and to come up with alternatives. But as an administrator, he knowingly participates in wasteful practices, because—well, because he is a university administrator. Leonard, now acting dean at Solbridge International School of Business... Thu, 7 Jan 2010 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2288 Editor's note: This article originally appeared on The American Thinker website on December 31, 2009. In 2008, Congress disbanded the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) because according to the website Inside Higher Ed, the panel "had become too politicized." If... Wed, 6 Jan 2010 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2287 Back in October, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan gave a speech that surprised and pleased many in the education reform community. Speaking at Columbia University’s Teachers College, Duncan said that we need to “raise the bar” for teacher training programs so that we’ll have a new generation of... Tue, 5 Jan 2010 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/students/article.html?id=2286 Internships Are you looking for a summer internship in North Carolina? If so, you can apply at The John Locke Foundation, the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, the Civitas Institute,... Tue, 5 Jan 2010 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/students/article.html?id=2285 Apply for the Constitutional Academy, a six-week long distance learning program which culminates in a week-long residential program in Washington, D.C.! Attend Acton University in Grand Rapids Michigan to explore the intellectual foundations of a free... Tue, 5 Jan 2010 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/students/article.html?id=2284 Statewide & National Student Organizations: Start a chapter at your school! (Here's some great advice on how to do it!) Tue, 5 Jan 2010 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/students/article.html?id=2283 Links Alliance Defense Fund The Alliance Defense Fund directly litigates carefully chosen, strategic cases to challenge speech codes, speech zones and unfair funding laws on college campuses. America's... Mon, 4 Jan 2010 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/students/article.html?id=2282 Admissions Legacy Admissions – Affirmative Action for the Rich?: Should Junior Get In Just Because Daddy’s a Graduate? Bias on Campus Mon, 4 Jan 2010 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2281 Cameron Stracher, a professor at the New York Law School, was on target when he suggested in the Wall Street Journal in 2007 that law schools are not preparing their graduates to be lawyers. That is, graduates don’t learn the balanced practical judgments that seasoned lawyers must make every day in... Fri, 1 Jan 2010 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2280 What does 2010 have in store for higher education? Well, we can expect strange, troubling, and radical things to happen, as they did this year. Unfortunately, we can’t... Tue, 29 Dec 2009 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2279 Another year has ended in higher education, and fortunately, there were no catastrophes as in years past: no student massacres and no massive plummeting of endowments, for example. But there were big changes politically and economically, with a new administration in D.C. (also here in North Carolina) and with the recession settling in for a long spell. And big changes in politics mean big... Mon, 28 Dec 2009 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2278 Like other universities, N.C. State features highly politicized lecturers. Long-time radical Angela Davis spoke in September and Tucker Max, author of “I Hope There’s Beer in Hell,” gave a predictably vulgar rant in... Thu, 24 Dec 2009 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2277 To give, or not to give? That is the question raised by my boss, Jane Shaw, in her recent article, "Should I Give to Wellesley?" She describes her growing hesitancy to contribute to her alma mater’s endowment, although she has done so most years in the past. This is in large part because Wellesley’s... Tue, 22 Dec 2009 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2276 Once or twice a year, Wellesley College, my alma mater, asks me for money—usually via a polite note and once through a “student telethon” phone call. For the past forty years or so, most of the time I have responded with a check. That check isn’t very large, though, mainly because I didn’t like Wellesley when I went there. And I don’t see a lot... Sun, 20 Dec 2009 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/news/article.html?id=2275 Relationships between universities and governments are changing in Europe. Policy makers recognize that colleges and universities need greater latitude if they are to remain globally competitive. But a new research paper, University Autonomy in Europe, has found that governments still retain too much control over... Thu, 17 Dec 2009 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2274 Organizations committed to reforming state government know that transparency is critical: sunshine is the best disinfectant. At a recent meeting of the State Policy Network, a national group of such organizations, it became evident that transparency is also the way to reform college campuses. Hidden in the dark, financial scandals have grown and festered on college campuses. At Tue, 15 Dec 2009 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2273 Does “political correctness” predominate in American higher education? If so, is that a bad thing? And if it’s a bad thing, can anything be done about it?A new collection of sixteen essays, The Politically Correct University, digs deeply into those questions. The editors (Robert Maranto of the University of Arkansas, Frederick Hess of the American... Mon, 14 Dec 2009 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2272 Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series on historically black colleges and universities. Here is the first article. The nation’s historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have a remarkable legacy. They were the main vehicle for lifting the former slave... Fri, 11 Dec 2009 0:00:00 EST http://popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2271 The obsession with “diversity” in American higher education has spread like an epidemic, beginning in the humanities and social sciences and moving on to most undergraduate education and grad schools. There have been a few pockets of resistance like mathematics and the physical sciences where answers are right or wrong and getting them wrong has serious... Tue, 8 Dec 2009 0:00:00 EST http://www.popecenter.org/clarion_call/article.html?id=2270 A recently filed lawsuit alleges that officials at the SUNY (State University of New York) College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill deliberately lowered academic standards in an effort to increase enrollment and student retention. Then, when a dean complained about the policy, he was demoted in retaliation. I’m not going to take a position on the merits of the suit,...