The last few months have seen a rash of resignations by college presidents, most of which have been voluntary. These are no lightweights—the growing list of outgoing presidents includes those at some of the nation’s leading institutions, including Dartmouth, UPenn, Northwestern, MIT, Fordham, and most recently, my own alma mater, Columbia. Early resignation seems to […]
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In the summer of 2020, after the sensationalized killing of George Floyd burned the words “Black Lives Matter” onto America’s streets and television screens, American institutions of higher learning turned to their offices of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to pledge loyalty to the African American community with cookie-cutter press releases and affirmations. Harvard University, known […]
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Some Thoughts On the University of Chicago’s New Conservative Student Newspaper “In place of seeing a mature person as a source of rational discourse, we might see them as reacting appropriately to situations, in terms of disciplined perception. Today we have techniques of manipulation on a scale that would have made Callicles proud. If there […]
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Editor’s Note: The following is a letter from the California Association of Scholars, a state affiliate of the National Association of Scholars. The letter seeks signatures in an effort to oppose the University of California’s proposed ethnic studies requirement for all undergraduate applicants. To add your signature, see the letter and links below. Dear Friends […]
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Why is it that the more we do to promote diversity the greater the racial acrimony? It is as if a misguided patient took a medicine that only worsened his illness. This paradox is especially visible in higher education, and one can only wonder if a robust intellectual life can survive the seemingly endless quest […]
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These days, it’s increasingly common for conservatives, classical liberals, and centrists to point out the Left’s so-called “double standards.” The examples are endless: Black Lives Matter’s “fiery but mostly peaceful” protests were justified, while the Canadian trucker convoy was domestic terrorism. Feminists claim to uphold the dignity of women while encouraging promiscuity and allowing “trans” […]
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The anti-Semitic crybully becomes the whining victim. As if to further confirm that the City University of New York School of Law (CUNY Law) has become a cesspool of anti-Israel activism masked as social justice, the school chose its most radical and toxic student, Nerdeen Kiswani, to give one its commencement addresses on May 13th. […]
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The idea of merit has been thoroughly scrutinized in both the ivory tower and the public square. Harvard professor Michael Sandel presents a philosophical case against meritocracy in his best-selling book The Tyranny of Merit (2020), arguing that “the talent game generates hubris among the winners… and creates humiliation and resentment among the losers.” Sandel’s […]
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Using the U.S. Department of Education as its facilitator, the Biden Administration is running roughshod over the Constitution and federal law to implement its racist and sexist agenda. Not since Woodrow Wilson’s presidency more than 100 years ago has an administration been as committed to institutionalizing racism and segregation. The Biden administration’s overarching focus on […]
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In a previous MTC article, I discussed some of the challenges in the format and economics of modern American legal education. That format includes an elongated graduate program (three years) on top of a four-year undergraduate degree. I argued that the UK employs a better method through its three-year undergraduate LL.B (Bachelor of Laws) and […]
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John Leo passed away on May 9. This website, Minding the Campus, was founded by John Leo, I believe around 2007. He had recently taken a position at the Manhattan Institute, and he and I met around that time. He asked me to write for MTC, and I responded with an article that he posted […]
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In hopes of “reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” “Purdue University officials have begun to explore plans to build nuclear reactors on campus to establish a clean and sustainable energy source,” reports The College Fix. “The plan would include the development of Small Modular Reactors across Purdue’s campus.” University spokesman Tim Doty said that nuclear plants would […]
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Since the early 1960s, universities have sought to achieve racial equality. Initiatives have ranged from offering extra tutoring for struggling minority students to making them more comfortable on campus by providing segregated housing and black-only graduation ceremonies. Unfortunately, nothing has worked. Now, after over a half century of trying everything imaginable and sparing no expense, […]
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The opportunity to speak freely and openly – especially on controversial topics – is a cornerstone of civic education. But events that unfolded after the “Politics, Policy, and Panic: Governing in Times of Crisis” conference at Saint Vincent College demonstrate that freedom of speech at America’s institutions of higher education continues to stand on shaky […]
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In an experiment begun in 2005, Disney determined that customers would pay more—a lot more—to get a little more time at their parks. Guests paid a premium to stay at a Disney hotel to gain an extra hour of park access. Disney’s “Magic Hours” demonstrated that when customers find something valuable, they may even challenge […]
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The best defense is a good offense. Wokeists in cultural elite circles know this well. Some critics of their radical agenda began noticing that there is a body of long-established academic writing about revolutionary politics, known as cultural Marxism, behind their efforts and launched an attack on those ideas and thinkers. The Wokeists responded with […]
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On April 22, 2022, the Mount Royal Faculty Association (MRFA)—the union that is representing me in my wrongful dismissal case against Mount Royal University—sent out a “preface” for its Spring Retreat Program. The Spring Retreat is an annual event designed to help Mount Royal University (MRU) faculty members connect with one another and improve their […]
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Recently, a San Diego school district superintendent attempted to explain the overall good educational performance of Asian students by highlighting these students’ alleged rich immigrant backgrounds. She said: “people who’re able to make the journey to America are wealthy.” Once her bigoted comments were exposed, the superintendent first apologized and then doubled down and advocated […]
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Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from The Problems with Student Loan Forgiveness, a new report from the Texas Public Policy Foundation that argues against universal and complete student loan forgiveness. This is the sixth in a series of six excerpts from the report. Part 6: Legal Problems With Student Loan Forgiveness The Executive […]
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Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from The Problems with Student Loan Forgiveness, a new report from the Texas Public Policy Foundation that argues against universal and complete student loan forgiveness. This is the fifth in a series of six excerpts from the report. Part 5: Political Problems With Student Loan Forgiveness There are […]
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Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from The Problems with Student Loan Forgiveness, a new report from the Texas Public Policy Foundation that argues against universal and complete student loan forgiveness. This is the fourth in a series of six excerpts from the report. Part 4: Moral Problems With Student Loan Forgiveness Student loan […]
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Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from The Problems with Student Loan Forgiveness, a new report from the Texas Public Policy Foundation that argues against universal and complete student loan forgiveness. This is the third in a series of six excerpts from the report. Part 3: Economic Problems With Student Loan Forgiveness Student loan […]
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Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from The Problems with Student Loan Forgiveness, a new report from the Texas Public Policy Foundation that argues against universal and complete student loan forgiveness. This is the second in a series of six excerpts from the report. Part 2: Educational Problems With Student Loan Forgiveness The next […]
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Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from The Problems with Student Loan Forgiveness, a new report from the Texas Public Policy Foundation that argues against universal and complete student loan forgiveness. This is the first in a series of six excerpts from the report. Part 1: Logical and Rhetorical Problems With Student Loan Forgiveness […]
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When future historians examine the Left’s capture of the academy, a key question will be “Why was it so easy?” And why so quickly, from top to bottom, even at the most prestigious schools, where, most oddly, resistance was almost non-existent? No military historian could find a parallel in which an invading army prevailed similarly […]
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Last week, George Leef of the James G. Martin Center took issue with Kenin M. Spivak’s article in Minding the Campus that advocated normalizing college admissions data for socioeconomic status. Leef’s thesis was that students denied admission to selective colleges have not been harmed. Last year, I wrote “Socioeconomic Status—The Good Kind of Affirmative Action?” […]
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The COVID-19 pandemic appears to be reaching its natural end, but the careers of those educators who helped to incite panic and hysteria are not. Before we close this chapter in history, it is worthwhile to reflect on what has occurred these past two years at schools and universities. George Mason University was the center […]
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In Review: Jeffrey M. Bale and Tamir Bar-On’s Fighting the Last War: Confusion, Partisanship and Alarmism in the Literature on the Radical Right Aesop’s fable of the boy who cried “Wolf!” may have been originally addressed to children, but of course, adults are the ones who are in most desperate need of its lesson. This […]
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On April 9-11 the Center for Political and Economic Thought (CPET) at St. Vincent College held a conference on “Panic, Policy, and Politics.” I was an invited speaker. When I first read the proposed schedule, I saw that nearly half the presentations focused on the panicked response to COVID. That made sense, and was a […]
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Late last month, an Ohio appellate court affirmed the $31.2 million judgment in favor of Gibson’s Bakery and members of the Gibson family against Oberlin College and its former Dean of Students, Meredith Raimondo. While Oberlin and Raimondo can (and probably will) ask the Ohio Supreme Court to review the decision, that Court grants only […]
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