BY JOHN K. WILSON Pennsylvania House Bill 1532, introduced earlier this month, has received widespread criticism after Jeffrey Sachs on Twitter wrote that “not only does it prohibit universities from promoting any of the usual forbidden concepts, it also prohibits them from hosting speakers or assigning readings that do.” If anything, Sachs and other critics understate…
BY JOHN K. WILSON Jennifer Ruth, who is a contributing editor here at AcademeBlog as well as a professor of film studies at Portland State University (PSU) and a member of the AAUP’s Committee A, published an important op-ed this week in the Chronicle of Higher Education, and so I wanted to offer my critique…
BY AARON BARLOW Dr. Bruce Gilley, are you trying to pick a fight? You are a professor of Political Science at Portland State University and have penned a disturbing piece, “Was It Good Fortune to be Enslaved by the British Empire?” that appeared on September 30, 2019 on the website of the National Association of…
BY JOHN K. WILSON Stanley Kurtz is at it again: He has another bad idea for unnecessary and counterproductive legislation. In the past, he’s sought to impose mandatory penalties on disruptive protesters and rules for institutional neutrality. This time, it’s an attempt to force public colleges to have more debates and conservative speakers by enacting…
BY JOHN K. WILSON The National Association of Scholars today issued its 11th annual “Beach Books” report critiquing common reading programs. The NAS press release is shockingly titled, “Study Finds College Common Reading Programs Indoctrinate Students.” And it declares, “American colleges and universities run common reading programs designed to indoctrinate students with progressive propaganda….” Exactly how…
This past weekend, I was invited by the National Association of Scholars to speak on a panel at their conference at Grove City College, “Capitol Ideas: Government Overreach and Higher Education.” As a progressive, I probably agreed with the title about fearing government overreach in higher education more than almost anyone there, and I spoke…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH In an article for Forbes, Tom Lindsay reports on the scope of the student debt problem as a preface to discussing H.R. 4508, legislation introduced by Virginia Foxx (R-NC) to “reform” higher education ostensibly to make it more affordable. Titled the “Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform Act,”…
BY JOHN K. WILSON The National Association of Scholars (NAS) has issued its annual “Beach Books” attack on colleges for their common reading programs. According to the NAS, “Common readings frequently emphasize progressive political themes—illegal immigrants contribute positively to America, the natural environment must be saved immediately…” In reality, the NAS found that few of…
BY JOHN K. WILSON The National Association of Scholars (NAS) has issued a tentative set of recommendation for amendments to the Higher Education Act. While claiming to offer “freedom from overregulation,” in reality the NAS proposals would impose the most restrictive, intrusive, and repressive regulations on higher education in American history. The vast number of…
BY STEVE MUMME The author of this guest post is Steve Mumme, Co-President of the Colorado Conference of AAUP. One week into Donald Trump’s presidency it is clear that the new administration intends the harshest attack on American universities since the McCarthy Era. Enamored of Alt-Facts and an unhealthy skepticism of science itself, the new administration has…