Higher Education of Tomorrow

Without stretching the imagination, it is easy to envision the college of tomorrow by simply extrapolating from the trends of today. There will remain five basic types of higher-education institutions: Two-year schools. Much as they are today, these will have a dual purpose. First, they will prepare students for ‘hands on’ careers requiring a base…

The Rise and Decline of Faculty Governance

Today’s Inside Higher Ed features an article about shared governance that focuses on a new book by Larry G. Gerber, Professor Emeritus of History at Auburn University, entitled The Rise and Decline of Faculty Governance: Professionalization and the Modern American University. Gerber is a talented and distinguished historian and a longtime AAUP activist and leader,…

National (In-)Security: Fifty Notable American Espionage Novels: 33.

Mailer, Norman.  Harlot’s Ghost.  New York: Random, 1991. Mailer reportedly spent seven years writing this massive novel which treats the activities of the Central Intelligence Agency from the Berlin Airlift to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. What is more surprising than the book’s size is that, despite its size, it closes with the words…

Becoming Intentional About College Retention

One of the biggest concerns at colleges and universities is how best to improve retention. Retention means something quite different depending upon the institution. At elite colleges, for example, retention rates below 85 percent in four years are a cause of concern. At two-year and four-year colleges that are overwhelmingly first generation, highly diverse, adult-learning…

Should You Attend an Ivy League College?

I wrote a short essay for a Minding the Campus symposium about William Deresiewicz’s recent essay, “Don’t Send Your Kid to the Ivy League,” from his soon-to-be-released book, Educating Sheep. The symposium includes Peter Augustine Lawler (who praises religious colleges for providing the education of the soul Deresiewicz desires), Samuel Goldman (who argues that college doesn’t…

Doubling Down on the Exploitation of Adjunct Faculty

In an article titled “Outsourced in Michigan” written for Inside Higher Ed, Colleen Flaherty chronicles the movement among Michigan’s community colleges to outsource the hiring of adjunct faculty and the management of related “payroll duties” to a corporation called EDUStaff. EDUStaff had previously specialized in providing substitute teachers for K-12 systems. So, if you have…

Another Story about Sexual Abuse Related to Collegiate Athletics—This One Involving One of the Most Highly Regarded Marching Bands in the Nation

In response to a complaint by a parent, Ohio State University launched a two-month investigation of its nationally renowned marching band. That investigation led to the firing of band director, Jonathan Waters. Waters had served as band director since October 2012, but he had been an assistant band director for a decade previous to that.…

The Emotional Wellbeing of Non-Tenure Track Faculty

A recently released research article in the July issue of Frontiers in Psychology, authored by Gretchen M. Reevy and Grace Deason, finds that the nature of non-tenure-track employment—now a reality for some 70% of higher education faculty members in the U.S.—brings with it an increase in stress, depression, and anxiety. Appropriately titled “Predictors of depression, stress,…