The word "liberal" derives from the Latin "liber," meaning "free," and describes a mind unencumbered by either prejudice or indoctrination. The adjective "liberal," however, has become, at least in some circles, synonymous with anti-capitalism, anti-business, and therefore anti-American. This author has…

The thought on many an academic's mind today is how to stop it. The "it"? The barrage of reports, papers, and interviews stating that higher education needs to embrace "disruptive change," treat students like customers, and become more entrepreneurial. In short, colleges must adopt a business model, or like blacksmith…

Looking back over three centuries of American higher education, one can see both strengths and weaknesses in the changing attitudes toward teaching goals. In this article, the author discusses the Truman Commission's (President Harry Truman appointed the higher education commission in July 1946, and charged the commission members to examine…

Discussions of higher education in the U.S. are driven today by the language of finance rather than of pedagogy--more specifically, the language of financial hardship. Terms like "shortfall," "cutback," and "retrenchment" set the tone and shape the policies that force austerities and lead to "triage" in…

What is the task of educators at a time when mainstream American culture is increasingly characterized by a declining interest in and misgiving about national politics? How one answers this question will have a grave impact not only on higher education but on the future of democratic public life. There are no simple solutions says author Henry…

College campuses around the country reacted to the September 11, 2001, terrorist acts with rallies, vigils, discussions, and a wide range of debates about the causes and cures for terrorism. Yet the story told about academia in the media was often quite different. Conservatives claimed that the reaction to 9/11 in academia was another example of…

Alexis Pogorelskin, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth and chair of the History Department, recounts her experience in 2004 after making a controversial comment in her History of the Holocaust and 20th Century Russia class. Her comment was in reference to President Bush making no mention in the 2000 campaign about the…

Throughout the 20th century, academic freedom was a foundational value for the academy in the United States. The concept of academic freedom pertains to the right of faculty to enjoy considerable autonomy in their research and teaching. The assumption that drives academic freedom is that the country benefits when faculty are able to search for…

What is the role of higher education when a nation moves toward a political climate in which the government has a free hand to do whatever it wants in the name of national security? If society faces a real threat that could destroy life as we know it, then we should all--including higher education--rise to its defense. However, if national…

This article describes the events surrounding the University of South Florida's (USF) involvement with Sami Al-Arian, who was a professor at USF prior to accusations of involvement in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). The seeds of the Al-Arian controversy were planted in the early 1990s when USF--an ambitious but underfunded…