higher education

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• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  2/1/2023
  

  We've Reached the Execution Stage of the Profession's Demise

  by Jacques Berlinerblau

  "The decisions which ravaged the future for coming generations of Ph.D.s were made not just by consultants and suits, but by those with Ph.D.s and likely a few peer-reviewed publications. This was scholar-on-scholar violence."

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• SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
  1/31/2023
  

  If the Courts Won't Stop DeSantis Attacks on Higher Ed, What Will?

  by John Warner

  Academics have turned to the rhetoric of academic freedom to condemn the governor's moves to increase control over higher ed. The problem is that the public doesn't care about academic freedom—but they might be made to care about politicizing state colleges. 

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• SOURCE: Los Angeles Review of Books
  1/21/2023
  

  Julia Schleck on The Function of the University Today

  by Michael Meranze

  Julia Schleck's work ties the idea of academic freedom to the social role of the university and its internal labor practices, which threatens scholars with attacks from inside and outside the campus. 

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• SOURCE: Wall Street Journal
  1/17/2023
  

  Ilya Shapiro and Chris Rufo Urge State Legislators to Force Colleges to Change

  by Ilya Shapiro and Christopher Rufo

  Two prominent critics of "wokeness" and "critical race theory" in higher education lay out their suggestions for how state legislators can enact the changes they want to see in public colleges and universities—outside of changes to the curriculum. 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  1/19/2023
  

  Colleges are Vulnerable to Political Attacks Because They've Abandoned their Roots

  by Christine Adams

  "Despite the persistence of conservative campaigns against higher education, American colleges and universities have never really hit on an adequate response to these attacks."

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  1/15/2023
  

  Affirmative Action Cases May Force Colleges to Rethink Everything

  Some experts warn of a possible lost generation of college students from underrepresented backgrounds if race-conscious admissions are prohibited. 

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• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  1/11/2023
  

  DeSantis's New College Coup Will Fail

  by Adam Laats

  Transforming colleges along ideological lines is much more difficult than amassing political power or appointing allies to governing boards. Conservatives are able to operate successful and ideologically friendly institutions when they accept that they will be occupy a niche, not change the ecosystem. 

• 
• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  12/9/2022
  

  Are Conservative Courts Giving Professors a Right to Mistreat Transgender Students?

  by Andrew Koppelman

  Under the guise of an expansive view of "religious freedom," courts are enshrining the ability of professors to engage in discriminatory conduct. 

• 
• SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
  12/12/2022
  

  Defenders of Affirmative Action at Harvard Need to Confront Anti-Asian Biases

  by Jonathan Zimmerman

  It's clear that Harvard's criteria for rating prospective students connect with cultural traits and stereotypes in ways that disadvantage Asian American applicants. But keeping affirmative action and fixing these issues aren't mutually exclusive.

• 
• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  12/9/2022
  

  Neither Neoliberal nor Woke: What's Really Going on in Elite Higher Ed

  by David A. Bell

  Critics from the right and left who argue that universities are captured by some interest group or other ignore the way that universities pursue their own distinct instutitonal imperatives. 

• 
• SOURCE: Academe Blog
  12/5/2022
  

  Who Controls the Curriculum in Florida?

  by Timothy V. Kaufman-Osborn

  A federal court's ruling that Florida can't enforce it's "Stop WOKE" Act is a win for academic freedom, but not a total victory. Faculty must reassert the prerogative of setting curricular guidelines against administrators who see their role as serving the state. 

• 
• SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
  12/5/2022
  

  How Freaked Out Should Professors Be About Artificial Intelligence Language Tech?

  by John Warner

  ChatGPT can crank out essays full of plausible "content," but it can't engage in contextualization, analysis, or intuitive connection of ideas. The problem it reveals is an education system where outcomes have overtaken process and students are encouraged to write mechanically. 

• 
• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  11/29/2022
  

  Can Universities Protect Diverse Admissions and Excellence?

  by John Thelin

  The vastly improved technology available to college admissions officers means that a handful of selective institutions can serve the interest of both nominal diversity and elite reproduction, while exacerbating the divide in elementary and secondary educational quality in the nation. 

• 
• SOURCE: Vox
  11/21/2022
  

  Demographics and the Shrinking Future of College

  As the number of students promises to contract in coming years, the workforces and communities that depend on small colleges and regional public universities face dire prospects. 

• 
• 11/20/2022
  

  Should We Burst the Campus "Bubble"—Or Balance It?

  by Elizabeth Stice

  "It is fine for a university to be unusual compared to other environments. That does not make it inherently incapable of preparing people for the real world."

• 
• SOURCE: AL.com
  11/9/2022
  

  U of Alabama Gen Ed Curriculum Under Debate Could Strip out English, Humanities Requirements

  "If faculty approve the current proposal, some students may be able to graduate without taking a college-level history, literature or language course."

• 
• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  10/31/2022
  

  History Makes the Best Argument to Keep Affirmative Action

  by Glenn C. Altschuler and David Wippman

  "The Supreme Court’s continued focus on educational benefits as the legal justification for affirmative action has led the policy’s supporters to play down what may well be a more compelling argument: the need to overcome past and continuing discrimination."

• 
• SOURCE: Vox
  10/30/2022
  

  Inside the Affirmative Action Cases Before SCOTUS

  Edward Blum is a longtime conservative legal activist who is leading lawsuits claiming that affirmative action in admissions violates the requirement that the constituiton be color-blind; whether there is any such principle is debatable. Includes insights from historians Hugh Davis Graham and Eddie R. Cole. 

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• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  10/31/2022
  

  A Roundup of Affirmative Action Takes as SCOTUS Hears Arguments in Harvard, UNC Cases

  From left, right and center, and from pundits and legal scholars, a roundup of analysis on the oral arguments in Supreme Court cases that could eliminate race-conscious admissions policies. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  10/31/2022
  

  Defendant in Michigan Admissions Case: Ending Affirmative Action Would be Disastrous

  by Lee C. Bollinger and Geoffrey R. Stone

  The former President of the University of Michigan says that diversity in higher education remains a compelling reason to allow race as one factor in college admissions.