In 2015, when Kamala Harris was California’s Attorney General, she imposed implicit bias training on California law enforcement personnel. In 2020, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed into law a bill imposing implicit bias training on Minnesota police. In 2016, even Senator J. D. Vance wrote far too credulously of implicit bias theory: “The data consistently […]
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Editor’s Note: This essay is the first installment of a two-part series. You can read Part 2 here. Probably the most important federal funder of traditional advanced research is the National Institutes of Health (NIH). President-Elect Trump has appointed a remarkable man to head that key branch of the federal government, Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., and Ph.D. […]
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Most of the problems with student loans are due to a misalignment of incentives. There are three parties to a student loan: the student, the lender—meaning the federal government because we use a government-as-lender system—and the college. A good student loan system would align the incentives so that no party can benefit by making the […]
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When checking my Yahoo emails in the morning, I always inevitably pass by the news section on the front page. I almost never actually read the articles, though—until recently. I was struck by the title and could not help but click it. My approach was certainly one of skepticism—clickbait is all too common on the […]
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Consumer rights advocate and Harvard Law graduate Ralph Nader once addressed a group of law students at his alma mater. Among other criticisms of legal training, he suggested that there are two law schools: a school of the law and a school of the unlawful. He had the right observation but the wrong diagnosis—he focused […]
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In recent years, activism has become increasingly visible in academia, often permeating classrooms, faculty hiring practices, and research agendas. This trend has generated both support and concern across university campuses. While, in some cases, activism can be a powerful force for social change, its growing presence in academic settings has raised important questions about its […]
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Editor’s Note: This article presents two essays on Boston University’s decision to “pause” admissions to its doctoral programs. The first is by Cassandra Nelson, a visiting fellow in literature at the Lumen Center in Madison, Wisconsin, and an associate fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. Her book A Theology […]
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Editor’s Note: This statement was originally published by the National Association of Scholars on November 20, 2024. With edits to match Minding the Campus’s style guidelines, it is crossposted here with permission. The National Association of Scholars (NAS) welcomes the nomination of Linda McMahon to serve as the next Secretary of Education. Her character, her experience, […]
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For decades, there have been complaints that states have been cutting funding for colleges, often referred to as state disinvestment. But in my annual report tracking trends in state funding, I show that state disinvestment is a myth. The figure below shows state funding per student over the past 43 years. The dashed blue regression […]
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For decades, international testing data have shown that the United States, for all its leadership in technological innovation and economic success, has been, at best, so-so in teaching fundamental knowledge to young Americans. Moreover, the situation appears to have worsened, aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has not recovered to anemic pre-pandemic levels since. […]
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Research misconduct. It is defined by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as “fabricating, falsifying, and/or plagiarizing in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results.”[1] It is deplorable and shameful behavior, grounds for serious disciplinary action. And it is alarmingly on the rise in the science world. In mid-September, science journalism was […]
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The trouble really begins when the fishermen and the fox hunters prepare to fight. The First Continental Congress had already met but hadn’t called for armed resistance. After all, they were still petitioning the king to withdraw the Intolerable Acts and were only calling for a boycott of British goods. But plenty of Americans had […]
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Author’s Note: This excerpt 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, sign up on Minding the Campus’s homepage. Simply go to the right side of the page, look for “SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER, ‘TOP OF MIND,’” and […]
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Over the past week, I’ve had challenging conversations with many students. While they recognize that Donald Trump won re-election fairly and that the country’s mood differs from the campus atmosphere, they still feel frustrated and anxious. I try to reassure them that our future is bright and that we live in a great country, yet […]
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Harvard University has taken heavy criticism in the last year for not responding adequately to disruptive protests, encampments, and acts of anti-Semitism on its campus. Under the leadership of new president Alan Garber, it set out to ensure this year would be better. New and clearer rules pertaining to free expression, particularly protest and its […]
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The president of Brigham Young University (BYU), a Christian university located in Provo, Utah, issued an exciting announcement this past summer for the Christian higher education sector: BYU will be developing and opening a faith-based medical school. It will be the first of its kind in the American Southwest and seventh in the entirety of […]
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“Any society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools.” — Thucydides (4th Century BCE) When thanked for my service, I respond saying that my 34 years in the Air Force were an honor. My service included extraordinary opportunities: a bachelor’s from the […]
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University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) is discriminating against prospective and current students because it is on a mission to raise its percentage of Hispanic students high enough to qualify for millions in federal aid. Why? The federal government leads colleges and universities into achieving racial and ethnic quotas by dangling the money in front of […]
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“Expect to bring a cot into the lab because research will become your life.” These were the words spoken to me last spring by a potential research advisor for a Neuroscience Ph.D. program to which I had applied. As a devout Christian, the first thought that entered my mind at that moment was how I […]
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Author’s Note: This excerpt 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, sign up on Minding the Campus’s homepage. Simply go to the right side of the page, look for “SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER, ‘TOP OF MIND,’” and […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by the National Association of Scholars on November 4, 2024, and is crossposted here with permission. Higher education has lurched from crisis to crisis over the past five years. The COVID-19 pandemic kept many would-be students from attending college while seriously straining university budgets. Colleges continue to face demographic declines, with one million […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Liberty Unyielding on November 1, 2024 and is crossposted here with permission. It has been edited to fit Minding the Campus’s style guidelines. Kamala Harris will make campus censorship worse through her judicial appointments as president. Progressive judges appointed by Joe Biden have upheld punishment and investigation of moderate, conservative, and libertarian […]
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Having witnessed profound political changes under America’s first “Common Man” president – Andrew Jackson, Alexis de Tocqueville issued stern warnings against the “tyranny of the majority” in his otherwise glowing account of American Democracy: If liberty is ever lost in America, it will be necessary to lay the blame on the omnipotence of the majority […]
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In today’s academic hiring process, “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) statements are a common requirement for faculty hiring across the United States. As seen in a rubric obtained by Minding the Campus through a public records request, the University of Oregon evaluates DEI statements by awarding points to applicants based on their demonstrated “knowledge” of […]
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The decline of civic education in this country has led to an alarming lack of understanding among young people about how our government works. Pair that failure with the leftwing voices in media, government, and academia constantly clamoring about “our democracy,” and it’s easy to see why so many young people today embrace potentially destructive […]
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The fight over student loan forgiveness has consumed most of the attention of the higher education policy world, and as a result, other policies are receiving much less attention than they should. One such neglected topic is borrower defense to repayment, which is a method of waiving repayment requirements for student loan borrowers who were […]
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“What kind of a friend could pull a knife When it’s him or you and his kids need shoes? What kind of friend would do you in When the bomb goes off and the shelter’s his? … What kind of friend would tell you lies To spare you from the bitter truth? And what kind […]
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As a medical practitioner applying for a faculty position at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Chan Medical School, it is no longer satisfactory to demonstrate a curriculum vitae of excellent merits in research and medical practice. One must also be actively involved in promoting “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) to a level that penalizes individuals […]
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Eastern Nazarene College. Clarks Summit University. The University of Saint Katherine. What do these universities have in common? They were all private Christian colleges. And they were among the latest victims to succumb in the college closure crisis. The recent trend of faith-based university closures is troubling. Young adulthood is an incredibly formidable era, characterized […]
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On what was likely a crisp autumn day in Philadelphia in 1774—before muskets and Minutemen—the American colonies chose diplomacy. They sent a carefully crafted petition to King George III, born out of frustration and hope, as a final effort to mend a relationship that had been fraying for years. Their grievances? Numerous. Following the French […]
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