Because the undergraduate education I received at Wellesley College has been so important in my life, and because I believe all college students deserve the intellectual engagement Wellesley gave me, I can no longer donate to Wellesley College. The education Wellesley College gave me has been central to how I understand what it is to…
At least for the moment, this one report did more than anything previously to change the conversation on increased college costs from faculty salaries and productivity to bloated executive salaries and to some extent administrative bloat. Unfortunately, the earlier report from the Young Invincibles on the steep declines in state support did not receive the…
Clancy, Tom. The Cardinal of the Kremlin. New York: Putnam, 1984. Tom Clancy’s novels have proved so popular that they have spawned a large number and range of imitators. Bridging the action-adventure and espionage genres, Clancy’s novels have come to define a new genre, the techno-thriller. Most of Clancy’s novels have featured C.I.A. analyst Jack…
It is not easy being online education or J. Alfred Prufrock. As you may recall from reading the poem, Alfred was obsessed with whether or not he would “have the strength to force the moment to its crisis.” He was, of course, referring to whether or not he would have the balls to engage in…
Avallone, Michael. Shoot it Again, Sam. New York: Curtis, 1972. One of the most prolific novelists of the post-war era. Michael Avallone wrote novels, usually published as paperback originals, in almost every popular genre and under a veritable catalog of pseudonyms. He wrote so much that even he could not keep track of everything he…
Once upon in the ’80s, a time of undergraduate education I experienced as a student and can vouch for, dorm rooms at colleges looked surprisingly dingy. This was the case also at very expensive liberal arts schools, one of which I attended. I remember being slightly taken aback upon seeing my dorm room for the…
My students come to college with only the most muddled idea of how things were in the past. They see historical change in terms of style and let it go at that. At least part of the blame for this, believe it or not, lies with standardized testing and with the lists it is based…
Aarons, Edward Sidney. Assignment to Disaster. New York: Fawcett, 1955. This novel is the first of more than forty featuring San Durrell, a C.I.A. operative whose assignments take him to all corners of the world. The most conspicuous gimmick of the series is that every title begins with the word “Assignment.” Aarons was so prolific…
Some books just lend themselves to the classroom. They’ve sufficient complexity, wit, style, and gravitas to carry students in the myriad directions students like to wander as they learn. Though they can be broken down, they can’t be broken, “formulated, sprawling on a pin,” killed through close reading. No matter what you do to them,…
University of Oregon President Michael Gottfredson has signed a new policy protecting academic freedom, which is being called one of the best policies in the country for defending academic freedom. The passage of this policy also refutes the false notion that academic unions undermine policy-making by a faculty senate. In this case, the AAUP/AFT union president chaired…