Was last week a bad week for the liberal arts and liberal arts majors? Not really, but it was hard to tell with headlines such as Liberal Arts Majors are Screwed, (More) bad news for liberal arts majors, and New Study: Is No Degree Better Than a Liberal Arts Degree. All three headlines were referring…
There has been a good deal of discussion lately on America’s college campuses about how to strengthen the reputation of an institution. Much of the conversation focuses on the decision by the Obama administration to publish a consumer scorecard to help applicants and their families better understand their choices, relying in part on an intensified…
Last month, a small herd of bison was running along a highway in Yellowstone National Park and happened to run past a film crew from a local television station that was there to do another story. The footage of the bison soon went viral, fueling endless speculation about what the bison were running from. Initially,…
Clifford Adelman’s recent essay featured by Inside Higher Ed, “The Continued Coming of Second Language Students,” put both a smile and a frown on my face. I know that kind of display does not count as a formal or sufficient response in the field of education, so let me be more specific. I smiled because…
In the current frenzy of cost-cutting and budget slashing, many administrators are quick to blame what they determine are “less valuable” programs like the humanities and social sciences and cut funding to those programs accordingly—witness the governor of Florida recently saying that the state didn’t really need more anthropologists, anyway. Similarly, North Carolina governor Pat…
I doubt my college is unique in having offered over the years “events” too numerous to count where free pizza, ice cream, or doughnuts have been, if not the main course, at least one served up as part of some kind of learning experience. The publicity posters–first paper, now double-blasts of paper and email graphics–have…
Guest poster Michael McDevitt is professor in journalism and mass communication at the University of Colorado Boulder. He conducts research in political communication and is working on a book, Where Ideas Go to Die: Anti-Intellectualism in American Journalism. His e-mail address is mike.mcdevitt@colorado.edu. The killing of a school is never pleasant—especially when it’s your school—but a…
Yesterday, I was in Dayton, Ohio, meeting with several leaders of the Ohio Student Association (OSA). The Ohio Conference (OCAAUP) and our chapter at Wright State University have been supporting the group very enthusiastically. The OSA formed during the We Are Ohio campaign to repeal Senate Bill 5 as a mechanism for reaching voters 18-30.…
Guest blogger Alisa Roost is assistant professor of the humanities at Hostos Community College in the South Bronx. Her e-mail address is aroost@hostos.cuny.edu. Here, Roost writes about “Supporting Veterans in the Classroom,” an article that appeared recently in Academe. The United States has benefited from an all-volunteer military with both more professionalism in the armed…
Wow. Thank you all. Thank you so much. (Applause.) Thank you. “Dr. Obama”–I like that. (Laughter.) I think I’ll have everybody at home start calling me that. (Laughter.) Thank you. I am so honored to help you celebrate this wonderful day. And thank you, Ally; thank you, Dr. Knapp, for your generous introduction. I also…