Journalism programs across the country have rolled out new curricula and courses emphasizing complex social issues, in-depth reporting, and "new media" such as online news sites with streaming audio and video. Journalism education has rightly taken its cue from media outlets that find themselves not relevant enough for a new generation of readers,…

While giving a presentation on his book about living things and the functions they perform ("The Tinkerer's Accomplice"), this author was faced with a heckler who asked intrusive "questions" and demanded "clarifications" that were intended not to illuminate the discussion, but rather to disrupt and distract from the presentation. The author…

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) recently commissioned a study to review the research that finds liberal bias run amok in academe. Believing that the AFT is not a dispassionate observer of this debate, this article provides "The Chronicle of Higher Education's" survey of the genre. The studies reviewed include: (1) "Political Bias in the…

This article focuses on gender gap as a current trend in student population among schools. The author presents an honors course in statistics at Elon University--a class of 10 women and just one man--as an example. The imbalance is becoming more familiar at Elon and on many other campuses where women constitute a firm majority of undergraduates…

When students take introductory courses in cultural anthropology, they learn the techniques necessary for understanding daily life in peasant villages or among bands of hunter-gatherers. Professors teach them about the importance of building rapport with informants, the insights gained from cultural immersion, and the benefits of linguistic…

In late December, the question, Who took the "Judeo" out of "Judeo-Christian?" hung over Mishkenot Sha'ananim, Jerusalem's distinguished guest house. Inside the complex, more than 130 attendees from nine countries attended the colloquium on "Political Hebraism: Jewish Sources in the History of Political Thought." Political theorist Yoram Hazony,…

Coming up with ideas for major donations that are not only enticing to the most generous philanthropists but are also aligned with an institution's goals is a vexing problem for many colleges. With 28 colleges now in the midst of capital campaigns with goals of $1-billion or more, finding the right ideas has never been more important. To find…

In this article, the author discussses his participation in a round-table discussion held in Denver at the invitation of the secretary of education, Margaret Spellings. Their discussion focused on the establishment of a national commission for the future of higher education. They talked easily and candidly about higher education's strengths and…

Erica A. Seldin finished in the top 5 percent of her class at Cherry Creek High School in suburban Denver, while taking a demanding curriculum that included 10 Advanced Placement courses. She received the highest score possible--five--on most of her AP tests. Seldin was also president of the school's Thespian Society, acting in and directing a…

Cho Seung-Hui was the 23-year-old English major who calmly and methodically gunned down 32 students and faculty members at Virginia Tech last week before killing himself, leaving the campus and the country stunned and sorrowful. Along with the grief have come questions about what, if anything, could have been done to prevent Cho's rampage. Some…

Last December saw another predictable report from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a self-described watchdog group, highlighting how higher education is supposedly under siege from a politically correct plague of so-called hate-speech codes. In that report, FIRE declared that as many as 96 percent of top-ranked colleges…

When he conducted the Stanford prison experiment, Philip G. Zimbardo wanted to know who would win--good people or an evil situation--when they were brought into direct confrontation. The situation won; humanity lost. Out the window went the moral upbringings of the young men involved in the experiment, as well as their middle-class civility. Power…

Nearly 300 leaders from the worlds of business, higher education, and philanthropy convened in Washington last week to discuss how to carry out the recommendations of the U.S. Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education. By the end of the day, they had produced a list of 25 "action items" but no plan for how to put them…

With plans for a sweeping federal immigration bill stuck in Congress, Arizona and a growing number of states have decided to try to deal with the in-state-tuition issue themselves. This spring lawmakers in at least 22 states have already considered or are debating legislation concerning in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. In about half of…

Virginia recently became the first state to pass legislation that bars public colleges and universities from punishing or expelling students "solely for attempting to commit suicide, or seeking mental-health treatment for suicidal thoughts or behaviors." While well intentioned, the law adds nothing to current law and will, in fact, make a bad…