A Most Unusual Violence on Campus Story

On the evening of August 20, two students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign went to the emergency room of the local hospital with darts in their arms. The students had been walking several blocks away from each other. Each reported feeling a sudden sharp pain in the left forearm and looking down to…

A Critique of Richard Vedder’s Recommendations for Higher Education, Made in Response to President Obama’s Recent Proposals

Part 3: Reduce the Cost of a Degree by 40% by Reducing Labor and Capital Costs. [Explanatory lead to the first post in this series: Richard Vedder is distinguished professor of economics at Ohio University, director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, and an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. In an…

Amateur Detectives Featured in Mystery Novels and Series Who Are College and University Administrators, Staff, and Students

Cultural Representations of Higher Ed, No. 11 College and University Administrators: Anne Packer-Brown, a dean (created by Virginia Crosby); Grace Forrester, a retired dean (created by Ruth Galbraith); Peter Haas (created by Robin Wilson); Isabel Macintosh, a dean of the faculty (created by Herbert Resnicow); Jack Troutbeck, a president of a women’s college (created by…

A Critique of Richard Vedder’s Recommendations for Higher Education, Made in Response to President Obama’s Recent Proposals

Part 2: Deliver Half of a Baccalaureate Degree by MOOC [Explanatory lead to the first post in this series (): Richard Vedder is distinguished professor of economics at Ohio University, director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, and an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. In an earlier post, I pointed out,…

A Critique of Richard Vedder’s Recommendations for Higher Education, Made in Response to President Obama’s Recent Proposals

Part 1: Three-Year Baccalaureate Degrees Richard Vedder is distinguished professor of economics at Ohio University, director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, and an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. In an earlier post, I pointed out, as others have, that he is hardly an unbiased or objective commentator on the state…

Ohio House of Representatives Creates “Higher Education Reform Study Committee”

Earlier this month, the Ohio House of Representatives announced the creation of the “Higher Education Reform Study Committee,” chaired by Rep. Cliff Rosenberger (R-Carksville), who also served as chair of the House finance Higher Education Subcommittee during the budget process. The committee has embarked on a “road show,” traveling all over the state to public…

State Law to Open Public Colleges and Universities to For-Profit Companies? Not a Good Idea.

A statement from the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education: http://futureofhighered.org/ Despite the praise heaped on California Senate Bill 520 by Phil Hill and Dean Florez in a recent panegyric published in Inside Higher Ed, the bill was not the right answer for California’s higher education access woes; and it is a poor model for other…

AAUP President Releases Statement on Obama Higher Ed Proposal, Sign the Petition for Faculty Inclusion!

Last week, President Obama released a higher education reform proposal, citing the goals of making college more affordable and reining in student debt. While the AAUP applauded the President for raising these concerns – ones that we share – AAUP President Rudy Fichtenbaum called the plan “little more than a version of the failed policy of ‘No Child Left…

The New Faculty Majority’s Statement in Response to President Obama’s August 22, 2013 Speech at SUNY Buffalo

While New Faculty Majority appreciates the efforts of the Obama administration to address the critical problem of the skyrocketing cost of higher education and its effects, particularly on the students and faculty who are saddled with crippling student debt, we call on the administration to consider more carefully the full ramifications of the policies it…

Gauging the Probable Impact of President Obama’s New “Plan” for Higher Education

President Obama’s new “plan” for higher education is, of course, largely a sparely detailed sketch of a proposal, especially when one considers what any legislation that might actually result from it will end up looking like. In fact, many commentators on both the Left and the Right have expressed serious doubts about whether the “plan’…