In September 2022, three researchers published the provocatively titled article, “Do Introductory Courses Disproportionately Drive Minoritized Students Out of STEM Pathways?” That article got loads of social media publicity for its conclusion that unequal withdrawal rates from STEM degree tracks are due to systemic racism. Co-authors Chad Topaz (“Data scientist/mathematician and activist” and co-founder of […]
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A Two-Part Essay on the University Law School in the American Legal System “The logic of the common law is really economics. The teaching of law could be simplified by exposing students to the clean and simple economic structure beneath the particolored garb of legal doctrine.” Richard A. Posner In Part 1 of this essay, […]
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Universities are supposed to be institutions of inquiry. My university’s enabling legislation declares its goal to be “the pursuit of learning.” Were universities to impede inquiry, they would betray this goal. As philosopher Charles S. Peirce admonished, “Do not block the way of inquiry.” Now more than ever, we need Peirce’s words “inscribed upon every […]
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While attending the Academic Freedom Conference at Stanford University on November 4–5, I heard for the first time about the Kalven Report. In his presentation, University of Chicago professor Dorian Abbot explained that the Kalven Report was part of the “Chicago Trifecta.” Along with the Chicago Principles (promoting free speech) and the Shils Report (defending […]
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Here’s a business plan: Sell a product that … • some of the world’s most highly educated scholars, working at some of the world’s most prestigious institutions, invest thousands of hours to create; • governments and foundations subsidize, with anywhere from hundreds to tens of millions of dollars in both direct payments and in-kind services; […]
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The Opportunity Cost of Culture “Alas poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio.” – Shakespeare, Hamlet 5.2 Most readers feel the tug of a natural law in James Madison’s Federalist 51 (1788). This effect owes to the essay’s analogy between individuals and factions. Like Locke and Defoe, Madison reduces his case against majority rule to its […]
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Below is an account of my experience being canceled as a choreographer and guest artist at Wayne State University (WSU). I was so impressed with the department’s open-mindedness while I was on campus, only to be shocked by its intolerance once I had left. Earlier this year, I read both Fahrenheit 451 and One Day […]
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Black public intellectuals who critique leftism get no attention from the leftist media. They are therefore unknown to much of the general public. This is a shame because they contribute greatly to the conversation on race in America. Many oppose critical race theory and the slogan “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI). Here is a selection […]
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Much has been said about diversity, inclusion, and equity (DIE) ideology—an amalgamation of postmodernism and critical theory—but few scholars, if any, have bothered to study the DIE bureaucratic structure itself. In The Extended Organism (2000), Dr. J. Scott Turner examined how animals “construct and use structures to harness and control the flow of energy from […]
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A Two-Part Essay on the University Law School in the American Legal System “Darwinian theory applies to many other aspects besides the natural sciences: An institution must be understood by the way it developed as well. How did it arise and what have been the stages through which it has passed? Is there any justification for […]
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Recently, a rabbi who knows of my work promoting civic education in our schools asked me, “Are you an American first or a Jew first?” At first, I didn’t know how to respond. After a moment, I said, “Well, I am Jack Miller first. I was born in America and love it for the freedom […]
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If you listened to the first day of oral arguments in the twin racial preference cases before the Supreme Court, you might have wondered whether the participants were AWI—Arguing While Intoxicated. Surely, they must have known that ‘diversity’ is an illusion. Humans have far preferred tribal, sectarian, kin, national, ethnic, linguistic, and racial categories; or, […]
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The Chronicle of Higher Education (CHE) remains steadfast in its support of social justice and liberal politics. In a typical op-ed entitled “The Right-Wing Attempt to Control Higher Ed: Demolishing independent expertise is a central goal of the Republican Party,” education professors Brendan Cantwell and Barrett J. Taylor showed their antipathy toward Republicans and linked […]
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How to Invent a False Reality in Just a Few Easy Steps White privilege has in recent years become one of the conceptual centers of much academic activity and publication. The quantity of “research” purporting to show the consequences of white privilege in this, that, or another realm of social life is now growing at […]
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On November 2, President Biden addressed the nation regarding the 2022 midterm elections with a sense of urgency, claiming that “our democracy is under threat” due to “political violence” planned by “extreme MAGA Republicans.” On November 3, the president traveled to San Diego County, where he spoke at a campaign rally for incumbent Congressman Mike […]
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Decisions regarding the hiring and firing of professors seldom make headlines. At most, a tale about a professor suspended for using the N-word may appear in an academically oriented outlet. But headlines in big-city dailies? Not so much. Yet, this is exactly what occurred when New York University summarily fired Professor Maitland Jones, Jr., a […]
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It is no secret that American higher education is in crisis due to a lack of affordability, growing irrelevance, and the ideological conformity that prevails in today’s classrooms. Less well-known is the pervasive foreign influence, particularly from authoritarian countries, on today’s college campuses. China has its Confucius Institutes (CIs) to project soft power, while Middle […]
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President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan is currently being evaluated by the courts. While we wait on them to rule on whether Biden’s actions are legal, we should make sure not to forget about the top five underappreciated scandals that accompanied the announcement: No. 1: Even liberals object to Biden’s abuse of emergency powers Biden […]
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Hyper-partisanship has made our already-contentious politics all the more hostile. Numerous media outlets have been sounding the alarm in recent days over politically charged threats of violence, and far too many are attempting to normalize events like the January 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol. Issues like crime and inflation strike at the core of […]
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In examining various efforts to “cancel” professors and their work, one often sees anonymous letters and social media campaigns employed in the crusade. This was true of the attempts to cancel a research paper written by University of Cape Town economics professor Nicoli Nattrass, who was denounced by the “Black Academic Caucus” for asking why […]
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News of the University of Oregon’s October 14 conference on academic freedom sparked a furor. The lineup of conference speakers was totally unbalanced politically, made up entirely of leftists and radicals. Because of the format, there would be no opportunities for tough questions from the press or for debate with conservatives. As a result, dozens […]
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Maine Governor Janet Mills’s administration recommends that elementary schools carry pornographic books such as Gender Queer, a graphic novel (what we used to call comic books) depicting, among other vivid illustrations, a boy with his penis in another boy’s mouth. The text is as explicit as the pictures. Statements like, “I’m gonna give you the […]
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Editor’s Note: “Assessing the REAL Reforms Act” is a Minding the Campus symposium that is closely analyzing the Responsible Education Assistance through Loan (REAL) Reforms Act, a bill recently introduced by Representatives Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and Jim Banks (R-IN). The bill “offers commonsense and fiscally responsible reforms to benefit students and borrowers […]
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Ignorance in America regarding her basic economic and political principles—the vitality of free markets and limited government, for example—is ironic given their proven ability to raise standards of living and defend human rights. This disparity suggests that our hyper-successful democratic society is cursed by its own peculiar knowledge problem. On the one hand, as a […]
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Yale Law School has seen a series of attacks on conservative speakers by leftist students. Rather than firmly address the disruptive students’ violations of school policies, time and time again Yale administrators found ways to excuse the wrongdoers and intimidate the victims. Yale certainly isn’t alone in this shameful behavior, but it has elevated to […]
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In the “Who I Am” section of her course syllabus, a Virginia Tech faculty member introspects: I am a Caucasian cisgender female and first-generation college student from Appalachia who is of Scottish, British, and Norwegian heritage. I am married to a cisgender male, and we are middle class. While I did not ‘ask’ for the […]
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In the wake of the recent opinions in Dobbs, Bruen, Carson, West Virginia v. EPA, and Kennedy, there is no serious question that originalism is not only ascendant but firmly in control in the Supreme Court. As a result, most seasoned court watchers and constitutional law scholars agree that it is highly likely that SCOTUS is going to overrule Grutter, Fisher II, and perhaps even Bakke, and hold […]
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It is perfectly reasonable for the public to think that colleges and universities are filled with progressive activists. Campuses are overflowing with liberal messaging, from banners to large-scale displays advocating for so-called “justice” and “equity.” Even off campus, media coverage of controversies at Oberlin College and my own Sarah Lawrence College belies any notion of […]
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The link between higher education and economic growth is well established: build the schools, attract smart students, and behold, a booming economy. There is, however, a less obvious but equally important link: build the schools, attract smart students, these smart students marry each other and eventually have super-smart children, and the economy will flourish for […]
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In her majority opinion in the 2003 Supreme Court case Grutter v. Bollinger, in which the court decided on the narrow tailoring of race considerations in admissions, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor argued against perpetual race-based affirmative action: We expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to […]
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