Author: Jared Gould

Jared Gould is the Managing Editor of Minding the Campus. Follow him on X @J_Gould_

Cut the Bloat, Graduate Faster

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. Students haven’t been […]

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WATCH: Title IX, China’s Cloud Wars, and the Bill That Could Save Higher Ed

In the third episode of VAS News Chat, Teresa Manning and I examine the mounting pressure on American universities from both legal and geopolitical fronts. Manning, who serves as Policy Director at the National Association of Scholars and leads its Virginia affiliate, unpacks a series of federal actions—from Title IX enforcement battles to investigations into […]

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How U.S. Universities Helped China Build Its Weather Warfare Program

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. For decades, weather […]

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To Die Free Men

On July 6, 1775, the Continental Congress issued a declaration—not of independence, but of necessity. With British troops already marching and colonial blood already spilled, Congress laid out its reasons for taking up arms. The declaration’s title was as direct as its purpose: A Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms. It […]

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July 4th Was the World’s Revolution. The Next One Starts Here.

Two hundred forty-nine years ago, a determined band of colonists didn’t just declare independence—they dismantled the old world order. They rejected the centuries-old belief that power comes from bloodlines, conquest, or divine right, and proposed something audacious: that legitimacy flows from the governed, not the governor. That moment was not merely the birth of America—it […]

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Welcome to the Unemployment Line, Graduate

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. “I’m 22 years […]

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WATCH: Science Bargains with Trump, Protesters Storm NSF, and Slugs Go Solar

In Episode 9 of The Week in Science, Director of Science Programs at the National Association of Scholars (NAS) Scott Turner takes us on a tour of scientific upheaval—political, bureaucratic, and biological. We begin with the five stages of grief—not for people, but for scientists, who are still grappling with the Trump administration’s supposed war […]

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The Mississippi Miracle Needs a Reality Check

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. “In order to […]

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WATCH: What Happened to the Liberal Arts? Plus Religious Revival, College Sports, and UVA’s Viewpoint Diversity Problem

In the second episode of VAS News Chat, I join Teresa Manning, Policy Director at the National Association of Scholars and President of its Virginia affiliate, for a conversation on some of last week’s most important developments in higher education. We begin with my recent article on the decline of the liberal arts—and how conservatives […]

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WATCH: Science Sells Out, Math Gets Political, but the Stars Still Shine

In Episode 7 of The Week in Science, host Scott Turner, Director of Science Programs at the National Association of Scholars, takes on how science strangled its own intellectual independence, why Trump-era budget cuts aren’t the end of the world, and what a new study says about boys, girls, and math. First up: Science magazine […]

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Ask Them About Their iPhone

Author’s Note: This article is from my weekly “Top of Mind” email, sent to subscribers every week. 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. In 2011, the […]

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Before the Flag, the Fight

On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress took its first bold step toward becoming a nation: it created a national army. Until then, each colony had relied on its own militia. But after the violent clashes at Lexington and Concord, it was clear that isolated efforts wouldn’t be enough. A unified defense would require […]

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WATCH: Turner on Science Funding Facts, Native Epidemics, and Dinosaur Calls

In Episode 6 of The Week in Science, host Scott Turner, Director of Science Programs at the National Association of Scholars, explores a trio of fascinating topics.  Science magazine decries “massive cuts” to the National Science Foundation (NSF) budget, slashing it from $9 billion to $3.9 billion—a 57 percent reduction. The chance of a research […]

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Trump Allows Chinese Students into U.S. Universities in Exchange for Rare Earth Minerals

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. Commentators have been […]

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Vedder’s Case for Creative Destruction

The United States has long been the gold standard for higher education. Its colleges and universities top global rankings and draw students from every corner of the world. But the shine is fading fast. Public support for these institutions is in free fall, and it’s not just a vibe: enrollment is dropping, even at some […]

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The Activists Graduate—and Influence Everything

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. National Association of […]

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WATCH: Why Scientists Aren’t Really Leaving—and Why Chimps Aren’t 99% Human

In Episode 5 of The Week in Science, Scott Turner, Director of Science Programs at the National Association of Scholars, offers a timely critique of the growing media narrative around a so-called “Trump brain drain”—the claim that scientists are fleeing American institutions due to MAGA-led funding cuts. Turner says that what is actually driving scientists away […]

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WATCH: Credentialism’s Toll on American Prosperity

In this first episode of our new podcast, VAS News Chat, I join Teresa Manning, Policy Director at the National Association of Scholars and President of its Virginia affiliate, for a deep dive into my recent article, “America’s Obsession with Diplomas Is Killing Opportunity,” in which I argue that credentials have become an illegitimate precondition […]

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‘Money Does Not Grow on Trees’: Taxpayers Must Cap Student Loan Lending

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. The “One Big […]

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WATCH: Philanthropy, Fossils, and Flailing Climate Summits

In Episode 4 of The Week in Science, Scott Turner, Director of Science Programs at the National Association of Scholars, asks whether private philanthropy can rescue science from declining federal support. Before 1950, most scientific research was funded by private donors—not the government. That changed after WWII, when federal agencies like the National Institutes of […]

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WATCH: AI Rewrites Science, Cuttlefish Whispers, and the Science Deep State Panic

In Episode 3 of The Week in Science, Scott Turner, Director of Science Programs at the National Association of Scholars, examines the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in scientific writing, the scientific deep state’s concerns over the politicization of science, and the federal government’s controversial changes to research funding rules. The episode also revisits the […]

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America’s Obsession with Diplomas Is Killing Opportunity

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. A Social Media […]

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WATCH: Science Magazine Decries Trump’s Science Cuts and Bad Surgeon’s Deadly Fraud Exposed

In Episode 2 of The Week in Science, Scott Turner, Director of Science Programs at the National Association of Scholars, dissects Science magazine’s critical response to the first hundred days of the Trump presidency. The magazine describes a “chaotic 100-day push” that they claim has dismantled scientific and public health infrastructure, including the erasure of […]

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The National Association of Scholars Has Launched a New Podcast

The National Association of Scholars (NAS) has launched a new podcast. It features Scott Turner, NAS’s Director of Science Programs, who will cover topics that strike his fancy each week in the world of science. Watch for a new episode every week. In Episode 1, Turner looks at two articles published in the May 1, […]

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After University, Censorship Looms

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. It was this […]

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Ohio Is a Microcosm of Our Nation’s Educational Tug-of-War

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. Ohio has become […]

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The Blue Bubble Elite

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. Scott Galloway, the […]

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Advocating Violence Is Permissible—If You’re a Campus Leftist

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. The saga over […]

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GMU PhD Student’s Call to Kill Trump Sparks Free Speech Debate

On April 16, 2025, Nicholas Decker, a PhD student at George Mason University (GMU), published a Substack essay titled “When Must We Kill Them?,” which calls for violence against President Donald Trump and his administration. Decker, who identifies as a liberal and open-borders advocate in his X bio, bases much of his argument on Trump’s […]

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The Economist Flops on Higher Ed

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. I’d rather dodge […]

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