Higher education serves many purposes. One purpose dominates, however: to students, their parents, future employers, government officials, and many academic administrators, higher education is all about preparing students for the professional workforce. Other requirements, such as general education programs, are considered to be of lesser…

Numerous degree programs throughout the UNC System equip students with the requisite knowledge and skills for meaningful careers that generate excellent returns for both alumni and the North Carolina economy. This talent pool attracts businesses and residents to the state, expanding job opportunities, further developing the labor force, and…

Critical Social Justice (CSJ) poses a threat to higher education and to the American way of life. This ideology divides the world into aggrieved minorities and oppressive majorities, reducing people to a group identity grounded in immutable characteristics such as race and sex. It is based on a distorted view of what a human being is, compromising…

In this Martin Center policy brief, "Scholastic Gag Orders: NDAs, Mandatory Arbitration, and the Legal Threat to Academics," Stephen Baskerville explores how non-disparagement agreements (NDAs) and mandatory arbitration (MA) provide a veil of legally enforced secrecy, shielding administrations from negative publicity, professional…

University students are America's future leaders in business, science, politics, philanthropy, and education. It is essential that universities provide for them an environment where the pursuit of truth and open inquiry are uninhibited. They must be exposed to differing ideas, engage in civil debate, and learn to appreciate America's tradition of…

Academia's primary mission is the discovery, preservation, and dissemination of knowledge in a free, neutral, and unbiased manner. The expression of dissenting opinions is crucial to this mission and to achieve a well-examined understanding of the world. Thus, "Institutional Neutrality" is a guiding principle that states institutions of…

Viewpoint diversity is essential to the academic mission of colleges and universities. Academic freedom, open inquiry, honest debate, and the search for truth rely on diverse viewpoints being welcomed and protected on campus. In the past three decades, university faculty and administrators have become overwhelmingly liberal. This orthodoxy of…

This report examines five of North Carolina's largest universities -- University of North Carolina (UNC)-Chapel Hill, UNC Charlotte, North Carolina State University, Wake Forest University, and Duke University -- and finds that discrimination on the basis of sex is rampant at these higher education institutions. Tens of thousands of male students,…

A trigger warning is an early notification of any subject matter which might be considered traumatizing for the audience. It has been particularly common in university lectures and reading lists, and is either issued verbally prior to lectures or presentations, or is part of the syllabus. Trigger warnings have been enormously controversial.…

In 2017, the North Carolina legislature passed House Bill 527 (now State Law 2017-196) in order to foster free, open inquiry in the state's colleges and universities. One of the provisions ordered the University of North Carolina (UNC) system Board of Governors to produce an annual report on two major categories of intellectual freedom: free…

This report examines the speech and assembly protections for students and faculty members at North Carolina's universities, both public and private. It is a follow-up to the 2010 report, "Do North Carolina Students Have Freedom of Speech? A Review of Campus Speech Codes." In the eight years since the publication of that report, North…

In 2017, the North Carolina legislature passed House Bill 527 (now State Law 2017-196) in order to foster free, open inquiry in the state's colleges and universities. One of the provisions ordered the University of North Carolina system Board of Governors to produce an annual report on two major categories of intellectual freedom: free speech and…