Latest Articles

Letter to the Editor: The Real Threat to Grads Isn’t AI—It’s College

Editor’s Note: The following is a response to Jared Gould’s recent piece, “Welcome to the Unemployment Line, Graduate.” The author—a retired scientist and former recruiter for engineering and research roles in the U.S., Europe, and China—offers a critical perspective on the current higher education model and shares a more optimistic view of how young people […]

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What Should We Look for in a College President?

Editor’s Note: The following is an article originally published by RealClear Education on July 25, 2025. It is crossposted here with permission. College presidencies turn over quickly. The American Council on Education (ACE) says the average tenure is now less than six years, a decline from 2006, when the rascals hung around for nine years on average. I’m […]

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Declining Patriotism Signals a Civic Education Crisis—But Reform Is Possible

A striking new Gallup poll reveals a sobering truth: just 58 percent of Americans describe themselves as “extremely” or “very” proud to be American—the lowest level since the question was first posed in 2001. The decline is sharpest among two groups long seen as pillars of our civic and cultural institutions: young Americans and Democrats. […]

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A New ‘Anti-Semitism Scale’ Reveals the Perils of Politicized Social Science

Should we measure and scale anti-Semitism? Do we really need to know whether Harvard is the most anti-Semitic college in the United States or whether Egypt ranks number one in the Middle East—or is it Jordan? ­Anyone can see that those places are steeped in Jew-hatred, regardless of who “wins” the competition. The Netherlands records […]

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In Memoriam: Marilyn Penn

Editor’s Note: The following is an article originally published by the National Association of Scholars on July 25, 2025. It is crossposted here with permission. Marilyn Penn, wife of attorney, art collector, and eclectic investor Arthur Penn, passed away on July 20, at age 84. Marilyn was an important figure in the history of the National Association of Scholars […]

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An AI Experiment: Visualizing Tiresias’ Melancholy in a Neuro-Symbolic Clash with Zeus and Hera

I imagine that many instructors experiment with artificial intelligence (AI). Perhaps to create or modify a syllabus. Perhaps to create writing assignments. Tests. Collaborative assignments that are part student, part AI. Other instructors are still in the resistance. All told, we find ourselves in a transitional period with this new stage of AI’s development and […]

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Presentation: A Libertarian Analysis of Law

In this 2008 lecture at Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law, economist Walter Block delivers a defense of libertarian philosophy. He outlines its core principles—the non-aggression axiom and private property rights rooted in homesteading—and applies them to various controversial issues, including blackmail, libel, insider trading, incitement, antitrust, hostile takeovers, the exclusionary rule, affirmative action, unions, […]

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Blacks 6X More Likely Than Higher-Scoring Asians to Get Into Wisconsin Med School

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by the American Spectator on July 22, 2025. With edits to match MTC’s style guidelines, it is crossposted here with permission. Medical schools hold the weighty responsibility of deciding who can become a doctor. So one would hope that they would approach this task with the goal of selecting […]

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Foreign Rulings May Push U.S. Courts to Clearly Define and Defend Women’s Spaces

Two important legal cases, one in Australia and the other in the United Kingdom, may soon influence how American courts and policymakers address a central question in today’s culture war: What is a woman? Both cases examine whether women and girls have the legal right to female-only spaces. One involves a digital platform, while the […]

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Today’s Students Juggle Jobs, Kids, and Long Commutes—Colleges Need to Adjust

Higher education is navigating a significant demographic evolution. The once predominant “traditional” student is now part of a broader, more complex picture known as the “New Majority learner.” This diverse cohort is not an outlier but rather a core component of our academic communities. For institutions committed to meaningful reform and fostering student success, understanding […]

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Harvard’s Fight Isn’t About Democracy. It’s About Federal Funding and Constitutional Principle

I was surprised by Emily Chamlee-Wright’s paean to Harvard, “Harvard’s Fight Is a Defense of Democracy and Civic Virtue,” as the university stands up to its federal benefactors. I should mention at the outset that I’ve known Dr. Chamlee-Wright for almost 20 years. She has provided the best practical articulation of Austrian economics that I have […]

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What If the University Didn’t Fear the Machine?

In a recent Chronicle of Higher Education essay, philosopher Megan Fritts offered a stark meditation on her experience serving on a university artificial intelligence (AI) committee: “If this robot can write these books better than we can,” she writes, “then what are we doing here?” The question lingers not only for humanities professors defending their […]

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These Top Science Officials Love the Copy-Paste Function

Why is it that Sethuraman Panchanathan became director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) after republishing work and passing it off as novel? And why did Victor McCrary become chair of the National Science Board (NSB)—NSF’s oversight provider—after he did the same thing? Moreover, previous NSF Director Kelvin Droegemeier took credit for students’ work, and the paper […]

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Academia: The Worst-Managed Industry in America

In the field of management science, numerous theories and practices exist. Our business schools—generally regarded as the finest in the world—have created magnificent bodies of research, case history, and most of all, the constant feedback and input from business managers about the problems they face and the ways those many problems can be solved or […]

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University of North Texas Faces the Music

Editor’s Note: The following is an article originally published by the National Association of Scholars on July 22, 2025. It is crossposted here with permission. The insidious force that is cancel culture has not prevailed in a five-year ongoing legal battle between a University of North Texas (UNT) professor and the university. The National Association of Scholars (NAS) tracks instances […]

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Ames v. Ohio Affirms Equal Civil Rights for All, Undercuts DEI Legal Basis

On June 5, 2025, the Supreme Court decided Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, a case about judicial standards for determining whether employment discrimination occurred, which favored or disadvantaged persons of different genders. What implications, if any, does this unanimous decision have for the “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) movement? DEI’s Momentum and Judicial Pushback Central […]

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Trey Yingst Can’t Bring Himself to Condemn Hamas

Is there any news that is not fake news? The question is not rhetorical. Some media sources are admittedly engaged in partisan politics under the guise of news reporting, but many at least give an obligatory nod to the notion of journalism as something in principle separable from propaganda. One wonders, though, if any news […]

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When Anti-Semitism Is Claimed, Facts Must Follow

As a professor with over twenty years of experience in higher education, I’ve watched with growing concern—not only at the rise of anti-Semitism on campus, but also at the shallow, reactive ways many institutions have responded. Nationwide, Jewish students are encountering levels of hostility and marginalization that would have been nearly unimaginable just a few […]

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Turns Out My Students Know More About Social Media Than I Do

Don’t let young people trick you into believing they are digital experts because they are so adept at texting, taking photos, and incessantly tinkering with their smartphones. My experience teaching college students suggests that they are consumers of everything digital, with little understanding of how the digital world works or how it affects them. Since students are […]

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The Left Can’t Land a Punch on the Big Beautiful Bill’s Higher Ed Reforms

The more I learn about the higher education portions of the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), the more I like it. But recognizing that we tend to fall into information bubbles, I do try to seek out opposing views. So, I was pleased that Inside Higher Ed ran an op-ed by Rachel […]

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Coaching the College Essay in the Age of AI

This year marks my ninth year coaching students on their college essays. It also marks my first year coaching ChatGPT. Passionate about the transformative power of writing, I signed up to teach three high school students how to outline and draft their college essays back in 2017. After studying countless Ivy League college application files […]

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Congressional Hearings on Campus Anti-Semitism Need to Have a Point

For Americans living in the age of social media and instant clicks, Washington often feels like a nonstop, partisan version of the Jerry Springer Show. A recent Time article about the long-running show—which aired from 1991 to 2018—described its format as a place “where guests went on to discuss their deepest, darkest secrets and confront […]

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What My Dinner Date With Evil Taught Me About Anti-Semitism

You see it in horror movies all the time when the hero’s loved one gets bitten by a vampire, or a zombie, and then slowly becomes a monster. It is such a classic feature of the genre that it borders on cliché. The plot of Bram Stoker’s Dracula revolves around it. The characters of Abraham […]

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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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Most College Degrees Don’t Pay Off

Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from an article originally published on Heterodox Stem on July 6, 2025. With some edits to match Minding the Campus’s style guidelines, it is crossposted here with permission. The primary function of universities is to educate skilled labor. Within universities, skills are esteemed mainly by awarded degrees or titles and the […]

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Rethinking AI in the Classroom Starts Now

It’s just too easy. “Here’s a picture of my homework, what are the answers?” “Write me a 500-word essay on Catcher in the Rye that sounds like me (I’m in 8th grade).” As humans, we build things that allow us to take the path of least resistance. From the wheel to the printing press, we […]

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A Surveillance University Is Rising in the Desert—And the West Is Helping Build It

In the sprawling deserts of Saudi Arabia, a new city-state is slowly rising from the sands. This city, named NEOM, is part of Saudi Arabia’s ambitious 2030 Vision Plan to make the oil-rich kingdom one of the world’s most technologically advanced nations. The project is estimated to cost the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) $500 billion and […]

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People Like Mamdani Are Made in the Academy

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by PJ Media on July 7 2024. With edits to match Minding the Campus’s style guidelines, it is crossposted here with permission. The newly elected Democrat candidate for mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, is a perfect exemplar of an American college graduate: an anti-Semitic communist. Mamdani, who refuses to disavow […]

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Your Campus Cause Was Made in Moscow

On college campuses across the United States, the chant “Free Palestine” has become a rallying cry. Many students, faculty members, and activists insist that Israel is a settler-colonial state and that the land known as Palestine has been unjustly taken from its indigenous Arab inhabitants. The left accuses Jews of colonizing a land that never […]

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In Memory of Sol Stern

Sol Stern passed away on July 11 at age 89. Sol was my good friend, and I mourn his loss. Long before I met Sol, I reviewed one of his books, Breaking Free: Public School Lessons and the Imperative of School Choice. Years later, when we chanced to meet one another, he remembered that review […]

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