In 2020, based on my many decades of studying cultures of the Middle East, including years of living in a Middle Eastern tribal society, I wrote an article for a general audience about the nature of that region. Before spelling out the details, I offered a summary statement about the politics: The Middle East is […]
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Florida is in a novel situation: A national organization has allegedly committed a felony and explicitly said that its student chapters are part of the felony. What should happen in this case? According to an October 24 letter to presidents of the State University System (SUS) of Florida penned by SUS Chancellor Ray Rodrigues, the […]
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The leafy quads and collegiate student gatherings of the current fall semester hide deep ties between American universities and the new war being waged on Jews by Hamas and Iran. Anti-Israel protests by college students and weak excuses for anti-Semitism by university administrations are nothing new. Affection for terrorism and the Iranian theocracy runs deep […]
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Prologue One year ago, I attended a pre-football game tailgate party on the Saturday of my 40th reunion weekend in Evanston, Illinois. Students at the party later complained about my words, and Northwestern University (NU) canceled me without speaking to me. I escalated to the President, the General Counsel, the Chair, and the Vice-Chair of […]
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The age-old struggle between the individual and society is not merely a question for political philosophy. This struggle results in a personal virtue, civility, the mean between regarding oneself too much and regarding others too much. This virtue is the subject of Alexandra Hudson’s new book from St. Martin’s Press, The Soul of Civility: Timeless […]
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Remember those pathetic photographs of polar bears standing on tiny ice floes, scanning the horizon for the tasty seals that were no longer there? Those viral photos of an emaciated polar bear, starving because its prey has disappeared along with the sea ice that has melted away due to climate change? The very same […]
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The student loan payment pause is officially over, with payments resuming this month. What was the student loan payment pause? One of the policies enacted when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020 was a student loan repayment pause. During the pause, loan payments were not required, interest did not accrue, and involuntary collections […]
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Mahzarin Banaji and Frank Dobbin, a Harvard psychologist and sociologist, explain in a recent Wall Street Journal article, “Why DEI Training Doesn’t Work—and How to Fix It.” The article is based on something called the Implicit Association Test (IAT), invented in 1998 and available to all on a Harvard University website. The IAT is a […]
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The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) recently hosted “FIRE in Boston,” a reception and panel discussion with Q&A. Members and guests filled the hall at Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor on the evening of September 20. Some fourteen months have passed since the organization originally known as the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education […]
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While the cabal of far-left ideologues and interest groups complain that America’s zealous pursuit of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is not far-reaching or radical enough, a coalition of oppositional forces are pushing back against this dominant narrative. Public interest law firms, advocates, scholars, and activists are increasingly utilizing litigation to challenge the incorporation of […]
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“It is desirable, in short, that in things which do not primarily concern others, individuality should assert itself.” —John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (London, 1859) Jorge Luis Borges’s story “El Aleph” (1945) contemplates the struggle for personal liberty in Argentina, a subject he conjures more formally a year later in his essay “Nuestro pobre […]
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Until recently, on its faculty hiring page, Ohio State University’s (OSU) College of Arts and Sciences listed a form called the “Faculty Search Diversity Recruitment Report.” The document describes itself as a requirement for faculty hiring in the college. Per its own instructions, search committees must send the report to their division’s dean—and the dean […]
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The once-sleepy topic of accreditation continues to take shape as perhaps the most important frontline topic in the battle for higher education reform. For those who aren’t familiar with accreditation, a previous piece provided a short summary: On paper, accreditors are private entities that review the quality of colleges. They serve as one of the […]
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School districts have begun to invite motivational speakers for their convocation ceremonies at the beginning of the school year. In the past, these speeches were given by actual educators, but today they are usually delivered by well-paid self-help gurus, positive psychologists, and corporate pep consultants who tell demoralized teachers to turn their frowns upside down […]
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Greetings, faithful Minding the Campus readers. If you write for MTC or read our weekly newsletter, you’ll recognize my name—otherwise, you may not. I have served as MTC’s managing editor for the last three years, and I regret to inform you all that today is my last day. (“Drat!” all the readers said.) The reason […]
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(For don Pedro Schwartz, a great economist and a true gentleman) For sociological, political, and economic reasons—family breakdown, information overload, technological innovation, chemical and behavioral addiction, etc.—skills-based learning, along with instruction in practical areas like science, math, engineering, music, nutrition, finance, logic, and personal psychology, makes more sense today than cultural, gender, or literary studies. […]
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On August 14, 2023, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division (CRD) jointly released guidance titled “Questions and Answers Regarding the Supreme Court’s Decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard College and University of North Carolina.” Designed to help colleges and […]
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Conservative Christian education is being born again. Arcadia Christian Academy, which opened in Arizona on Aug. 8, is one of dozens of Christian micro-schools popping up across the country, offering a hybrid in-class and at-home education to keep costs down and the odds of survival up in an increasingly competitive K-12 sector. What’s more, many long-established Christian […]
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On August 8, the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR), which governs Arizona’s public universities, confirmed that it has ended the use of diversity statements in faculty job applications. Common but controversial, these statements require faculty applicants to explain their past and planned contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). ABOR’s decision comes after a Goldwater Institute report showed that […]
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When James Taranto edited the Best of the Web Today feature on the Wall Street Journal Opinion page, there was a recurring trope: “Everything seemingly is spinning out of control.” This featured hysterical reactions to ordinary things, such as a new Heinz ketchup recipe “shaking up” fans of the condiment. It seems now that we […]
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If you’re considering graduate school in the humanities, I suggest a dose of wide-open thinking. You’ll see shortly what I mean by that, but first, let’s be sure you understand the conditions that await you. I’ll assume you’ve been told about the academic job shortage. It’s severe, and it won’t be getting better. Your chance […]
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While college empties your wallet, it can divide your family. During a recent discussion of my book Brutal Minds, someone remarked, “It never occurred to me that deviant worldview training began at university welcoming events. I thought it emanated from professors, not office bureaucrats.” Likewise, many folks routinely pummel the faculty for “indoctrination” in colleges […]
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With first-year orientations already underway and classes starting shortly at thousands of colleges and universities, it is critical to remember that despite the ubiquitous rhetoric of “openness,” “inclusion,” and “respect for difference” in American academe, Republicans are not welcome. At first glance, statements from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices seem to promote viewpoint diversity. […]
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Betraying the premises and ethics of anthropology, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) has thrown its weight behind the anti-Israel, antisemitic Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. This is the final act in transforming a field of honest academic study into a program of far-left ideology and propaganda. For most of the 20th century, anthropology defined its purpose […]
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You may not want to hear this, but the fall semester is fast approaching. Most of the students I teach are freshmen, and their high school chemistry class was most likely spent sitting at home in front of a computer during COVID. In other words, they have learned next to nothing about chemistry. To help […]
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One of the key stories in higher education finance is so-called “state disinvestment,” which alleges that states have made relentless cuts to college and university funding. But state disinvestment is a myth—states have not, in fact, disinvested in higher education. In this debate, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here is a figure […]
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“Stopping first at Ephesus he made sacrifice to Artemis …” —Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War (fifth century BC) “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.” —Eagles, “Hotel California” (1976) America depends on and produces a large supply of freaks. This causes anxiety as well as comfort. Eric Hoffer—the “longshoreman philosopher” […]
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Over the past three years, the general public has been inundated with appeals to “Trust the science.” In spite of this, many have grown increasingly distrustful of both science and scientists. It is the height of hypocrisy to expect people to put their blind faith in scientific authority—for that is what “trust the science” amounts […]
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In July, five college presidents resigned in a week—one for each workday. Some ran small to mid-sized eastern colleges and universities: Seton Hall University, Thomas Jefferson University, and the Berklee College of Music. Others led large research powerhouses: Stanford and Texas A&M universities. Only one, Marc Tessier-Lavigne of Stanford, had been in office for more […]
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“All sentiment is right; because sentiment has a reference to nothing beyond itself, and is always real, wherever a man is conscious of it. But all determinations of the understanding are not right; because they have a reference to something beyond themselves, to wit, real matter of fact; and are not always conformable to that […]
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