Articles

Most recent posting below. See other articles in the column to the right.

Oases of Excellence
April 30, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
NAS highlights new programs in American studies or Western civilization.

Swear It!
April 29, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
Ball State U's new core curriculum wants to turn students into activists.
1 comment - Last on 04/30/2009

American Character, the Remix: How College is Shaping Us Now
April 28, 2009 By Peter Wood
A nation’s manner of educating shapes the character of its people, so how does American education mold our culture today?
1 comment - Last on 04/29/2009

The Classroom Without Reason
April 27, 2009 By Douglas Campbell - Academic Questions
The following essay is a "Report from the Academy" which will be published in a forthcoming issue of Academic Questions (volume 22, number 2).
13 comments - Last on 04/28/2009

Closed Eyes
April 27, 2009 By Glenn Ricketts - Academic Questions
This article, a review of the book Closed Minds? Politics and Ideology in American Universities, appears in the spring 2009 issue of Academic Questions (volume 22, number 2).
1 comment - Last on 04/29/2009

Virginia Tech, Round 2: Staging Diversity
April 26, 2009 By Peter Wood
Two weeks after Virginia Tech announced it was dropping its diversity litmus test for faculty members, an ambitious dean plots to bring it back.

Delaware Res Life Video Soars in YouTube Popularity
April 24, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
The video’s popularity shows that this story resonates with thousands of Americans who care about freedom of speech and conscience on the college campus.

How Not to Learn from History
April 24, 2009 By Carol Iannone
A look at how the case of Alger Hiss illustrates the Left’s readiness to stifle “embarrassing” facts of history and turn anti-Americans into martyrs and heroes.
2 comments - Last on 05/23/2009

Noose Professor Cites NAS in Lawsuit
April 24, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
Madonna Constantine, the formerly tenured professor who was fired last year for plagiarism, is now filing a lawsuit against Columbia Teachers College. Her claim mentions an NAS article, "The Copyist and the Noose.”
1 comment - Last on 04/24/2009

New Fear at the New School
April 23, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
A letter from President Bob Kerrey to the New School community evades the real problems behind the student protests.
2 comments - Last on 04/23/2009

Green Goblins
April 22, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
Kids fear a looming eco-apocalypse and learn in school, "every day is Earth Day."

Hucksters and Con Men: The NYT Goes to School
April 21, 2009 By Peter Wood
Education Life publishes epiphanies and sales pitches.
1 comment - Last on 05/02/2009

A College Board Does Its Job
April 21, 2009 By Steve Balch
DuPage adopts a policy statement based on the Academic Bill of Rights.
1 comment - Last on 04/22/2009

Affirmative Spoils
April 20, 2009 By Ashley Thorne and Peter Wood
Is affirmative action today mainly about equal opportunity, equal results, or neither?
3 comments - Last on 04/21/2009

Friday Fromage
April 17, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
Jesus at Georgetown, recession ed, higher ed's mortality, more student protests, and backsliding.
2 comments - Last on 04/20/2009

Millennium Falcon: The Bias Birds of Prey
April 17, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
The University of Arizona's Millennial Student Project targets "unconscious bias."
2 comments - Last on 04/20/2009

Thursday Thé Complet
April 16, 2009 By Ashley Thorne and Peter Wood
Tea Parties, maintaining a belief system, UNC apologizes, grade inflation, coming soon, and Atkinson's war
1 comment - Last on 04/17/2009

Chairman Stephen H. Balch Receives the Kirkpatrick Award - VIDEO
April 16, 2009
Here is the video of remarks by NAS Chairman Steve Balch in accepting the Jeane Jordon Kirkpatrick Academic Freedom Award on February 27, 2009 from the American Conservative Union Foundation and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.
1 comment - Last on 04/20/2009

The Happy Classroom: Grade Inflation Works
April 16, 2009 By Thomas C. Reeves
Why college students get too many A's.

Wednesday? Oui, Monsieur
April 15, 2009 By Peter Wood
Vapor trails, lifeboats, higher ed on the brink, filtration at Virginia Tech, death to apostates, disappointment at Chapel Hill, and new Cognitive Science Network

Tuesday Tout Compris
April 14, 2009 By Peter Wood
Be clear, nation of debtors, political science

Free to Agree
April 14, 2009 By Peter Wood
A reprint of the article in which NAS broke the story about Virginia Tech's diversity policy. This article was originally published March 17, 2009. Following its publication, we published a follow-up piece ("Suitable for Framing") and a three-part series on "Virginia Tech, Academic Freedom, and Employment Law."
2 comments - Last on 04/15/2009

Caltech Competes
April 14, 2009 By Peter Wood
The California Institute of Technology wants to retain its high academic standards, but it is also trying desperately hard to get on the diversity bandwagon.
1 comment - Last on 04/14/2009

Monday, Mon Ami
April 13, 2009 By Peter Wood
The sultan's retainer speaks, old noise from the new school, white student orientation, woe, and sinisterly speaking

Smoked Out in Latrobe
April 10, 2009 By Peter Wood
Academics, tobacco, banana splits, guns, slag heaps, and Shangri-La: NAS President Peter Wood goes home.
1 comment - Last on 04/13/2009

Proven Commitment to the Climate
April 09, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
Colleges get ready to use a “climate action litmus test” in hiring new campus leaders.
1 comment - Last on 04/15/2009

Now It Can Be Told! Revelations from the Secret Annals of Sexual Harassment
April 09, 2009 By Glenn Ricketts
A glimpse back to the Golden Age of sexual harassment hysteria.
1 comment - Last on 04/13/2009

Virginia Tech, Academic Freedom, and Employment Law: Part 3
April 09, 2009 By Tom Wood
In the third and final part of this series, Tom Wood examines the many non-legal objections to Virginia Tech’s proposed guidelines for faculty assessment.    Open PDF file (164.73KB) . . .

Virginia Tech, Academic Freedom, and Employment Law: Part 2
April 08, 2009 By Tom Wood
A look at how the current controversy over the tenure policy at Virginia Tech exemplifies the intersection of academic freedom and public employment law.

Virginia Tech, Academic Freedom, and Employment Law: Part 1
April 07, 2009 By Tom Wood
Faculty members at public universities are state employees, but public universities are not like other public institutions. So what are the governing principles for faculty employment?
1 comment - Last on 04/08/2009

B School Postmodernism: A Gambler's Education
April 07, 2009 By Peter Wood
The financial crisis traces its roots to postmodernist "value-creating" and removal from reality.
1 comment - Last on 04/12/2009

Lies in California
April 07, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
John Ellis uncovers the deceptions propagated by UC Berkeley's race-obsessed chancellor.
1 comment - Last on 04/09/2009

“The Only Work I Can Get Here Involves Diversity Programs”
April 07, 2009 By Margaret Matthews
"There I was, just one person sitting there, but she was seeing a group." An administrator longs to escape the racial labeling that characterizes her department.

Letter to VT from Virginia Association of Scholars
April 06, 2009 By Carey Stronach
A letter from NAS's Virginia affiliate to Virginia Tech President Charles Steger urging the university "to abandon its requirement that, in order to prosper, faculty must demonstrate attachment to the doctrine of diversity."
1 comment - Last on 04/19/2009

Friday Freeze-Frames
April 03, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
Ward Churchill verdict, UC Berkeley chancellor calls percentage decrease in Caucasian males "a triumph," Why students love college, and Compliments guys at Purdue    Open MP3 file ( 6.39MB) . . .

Acknowledging the "Knowledge-Politics Problem"
April 02, 2009 By Steve Balch
A response to a working paper by Neil Gross which asserts that professors do not try to force their views on students and which surveys faculty understanding of academic freedom.

Harvey for Harvard
April 02, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
Harvey Silverglate is running for Harvard’s Board of Overseers as a petition candidate. We encourage our Harvard alum readers to vote for him in this election.

Icy Memories: A Scrapbook of our Winter Articles
April 01, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
As wintry days turn to spring, be sure not to miss a thing!

Slouching Toward the Therapeutic University: Part 3
April 01, 2009 By Tom Wood
A university is about self-discovery, but in a sense quite different from person-centered therapy. It involves stretching the self and the mind with the thoughts of the great minds of the past and present.
2 comments - Last on 04/02/2009