Harvard College has a grade inflation problem. But beneath it lies a deeper scandal: the faculty who have allowed, and even encouraged, the decay. The Atlantic recently reported that the average GPA at Harvard now hovers around 3.8—a number so inflated it renders distinctions meaningless. Students today can largely count on being graded as excellent, […]
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When Nemat “Minouche” Shafik became the first woman to serve as president of Columbia University, expectations were high. Yet, in just over a year, her tenure was dominated by controversy as Columbia emerged as the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. Demonstrators occupied campus buildings, even […]
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On September 1, 1775, George III refused to accept the Olive Branch Petition, Congress’s last attempt to avoid war. When John Adams heard the word back in America, he must have breathed a sigh of relief. On July 5, 1775, almost a year to the day before our Declaration of Independence, the Second Continental Congress had signed […]
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In the third episode of VAS News Chat, I join Teresa Manning, Policy Director at the National Association of Scholars and President of its Virginia affiliate, to examine the parallels between the healthcare and education systems, how generational differences shape perceptions of hardship, the anger many young people feel in response to the exponential rise […]
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Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement was always going to make headlines. When one of the world’s most famous women says “Yes!” to an NFL star, the cultural churn is inevitable. Social media exploded, entertainment outlets fed the frenzy, and for millions of young Americans, it felt like a major life moment. That’s all well […]
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On June 11, 2025, Chinese President Xi Jinping held a highly anticipated meeting with American President Donald Trump regarding the ongoing trade war between the two nations. In this conversation, President Xi requested that Chinese students be allowed to continue their studies in American universities in exchange for reduced tariffs and continued access to the […]
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Editor’s Note: This announcement comes from the Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization and is crossposted here with permission. The Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization (AHI) is pleased to announce that it will offer two courses for the fall semester, 2025. All AHI courses are free and open […]
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Author’s Note: This article 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, enter your name and email under “SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER, ‘TOP OF MIND,’” located on the right-hand side of the site. At the University […]
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President Trump has aggressively pushed forward on reforming the Smithsonian Institution, starting with eight marquee museums located in the heart of Washington, D.C. Trump announced the reforms in a bold post on Truth Social, declaring, “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and […]
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Business and economic statecraft are not the same thing; what makes sense in one arena does not necessarily apply in another. What may be financially profitable in the near term can lead to national defeat not long after. This week, President Trump announced a plan to welcome 600,000 Chinese students into American universities. For perspective, […]
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The University of Virginia (UVA) is currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for alleged violations of anti-discrimination law. The University’s “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI)-fueled President, James E. Ryan, appeared to have stonewalled the federal investigation. He was forced to resign as a result. I received my Ph.D. and J.D. from UVA. […]
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Between late 2023 and early this year, I simultaneously juggled two roles: Managing Editor of Minding the Campus and Research Fellow at Speech First. Not to toot my own horn, but concurrently performing what were essentially two independent, full-time jobs was an experience easily characterized by insane intensity. Keeping publication editorial deadlines on track while […]
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Editor’s Note: The following is an article originally published by the National Association of Scholars on August 26, 2025. It is crossposted here with permission. Amidst public outcry for higher education to reform, along with pressure from the Trump administration and the Department of Education (ED), it seems that a divide is growing amongst college and university leadership—some are […]
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The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced that George Mason University (GMU) violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by implementing policies that discriminated on the basis of race in hiring, promotion, and other university practices. The finding comes after years of criticism regarding the university’s aggressive […]
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With college football upon us once again, diehard fans may remember—or may be trying to forget—the disappointment of 2020, when COVID-19 restrictions put a serious damper on the season. Games were cancelled, postponed, or held in half-empty stadiums. Top players opted to sit out. Some schools canceled their entire schedule. The worst part is, we now know for […]
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For more than half a century, Americans have been warned that the end of the world is near. Yet the deadlines pass, the world keeps turning, and yesterday’s warnings morph into tomorrow’s threats. The climate crisis has long been cited as one such crisis that will end the world, and it has been packaged as […]
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Editor’s Note: The following is a short excerpt of a much longer article originally published by the author on his Substack, Possum’s Substack, on July 30, 2025. With edits to match MTC’s style guidelines, it is cross-posted here with permission. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582, has an illustrious history. Famous alumni are pre-eminent philosopher […]
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The latest atrocity in the Trump War on Science™ has just dropped. Robert F Kennedy Jr. has just announced that federal funding for research on mRNA vaccines has been cut by $500 million. Outrage has predictably followed. The United Auto Workers astroturf group Stand Up for Science is demanding that Kennedy be impeached—aren’t cabinet officers […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by American Greatness on August 25, 2025. With edits to match MTC’s style guidelines, it is cross-posted here with permission. Trump’s war on self-serving colleges and universities appears to be going well. Settlements from race and sex discrimination investigations have been reached with Columbia, Brown, and the University of Pennsylvania, among others. However, one provision in […]
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Imagine being a STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology, and Math) student at a small teaching university, working on your senior thesis at 2 am. Searching through Google Scholar, you click on a journal article title to read through the abstract. You smile. It’s the perfect addition. You click the “download PDF” button, excited to finally finish […]
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In April, Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) introduced H.R. 2262, the Flexibility for Workers Education Act. The bill aims to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) to exclude from employees’ hours worked educational or skills-based training offered by employers. Under current legislation, training related to one’s job must be compensated by their employer, […]
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On June 6, the Department of Education (ED) announced plans to expand efforts to eliminate identity theft and fraud in federal student aid programs. It revealed that nearly $90 million had been disbursed to ineligible recipients over the past three years, including $30 million to thousands of deceased individuals. Additionally, fraud detection efforts have identified […]
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Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt of an article originally published by The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal on August 22, 2025. It is cross-posted here with permission. Much has been reported lately on the influence of foreign actors such as Qatar, Iran, and China on American campuses. What seems to slip under the […]
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The editor of this sainted website, Jared Gould, recently and provocatively argued that colleges are complicit in the rising frustration and rage among students indoctrinated in the fashionable wokeness of the modern academy. Case in point: the disconcerting behavior of many students who viewed Luigi Mangione, an honors Ivy League graduate and the suspected killer […]
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On August 23, 1775, King George III made it clear he was done with illusions about his American colonies. In his Proclamation for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition, he stated that “many of Our Subjects in divers Parts of Our Colonies and Plantations in North America, misled by dangerous and ill-designing Men … have at length proceeded […]
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The Fall 2025 semester has commenced at universities throughout the U.S. Many new and returning students will pursue a course of study in various STEM-related fields. I teach chemistry to two separate STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology, and Math) cohorts. One is made up of students preparing for careers in medicine, forensics, marine biology, and graduate […]
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Through the ages, humanity’s perception of weight has shifted drastically. In the 18th century, circuses brazenly boasted obese individuals as “attractions,” while later etiquette advised more tact, famously instructing: “never tell a lady she’s fat.” Today, obesity has been recast as a social justice issue, with the left treating body size as a symbol of […]
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The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) once stood as the guardian of higher education’s integrity. When it was founded in 1915, its mission was simple yet profound: protect academic freedom, defend tenure, and ensure that scholarship—not politics—guided the work of faculty. For generations, it provided a vital buffer against political intimidation, ensuring that the […]
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Author’s Note: This article 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, enter your name and email under “SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER, ‘TOP OF MIND,’” located on the right-hand side of the site. On Tuesday, I […]
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On March 19th, 2025, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) released guidance affirming that “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) related discrimination is unlawful, citing the landmark U.S. Supreme Court opinion Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (SFFA) as authority and support. The guidance marked a […]
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