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Sustainability Links

March 04, 2010 By Ashley Thorne

In the same vein as the higher education articles of interest posting, we offer here a few sustainability-in-higher-ed articles of note for this week. Regular NAS readers know that we have been tracking the campus sustainability movement and its implications for the future of higher education for the past several years. Based on this research, our sense is that sustainability is a concept that sells stewardship of the earth but in fact distorts education, subverts individual liberties, and undermines Western civilization as embodied by the Judeo-Christian tradition, the family, and freedom of choice.

Here are some articles that show how sustainability plays out on campus today:

UF Asks Gators to Mark 40 Days of Change to Commemorate Earth Day, UF Sustainability
The University of Florida’s Office of Sustainability is celebrating “40 days of change” leading up to Earth Day. So has Earth Day become the new Easter?

Hands-On Learning Fuels Sustainability Class, Shane Arman, UW Oshkosh Today
Students at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh study the role of the university in the sustainability movement. They read Greening the Ivory Tower (1998), conduct a campus environmental audit, and participate in Recyclemania and Earth Day. See the syllabus for Environmental Studies 390: Campus Sustainability.

Maine Students Gather for Sustainability Institute Led By Bowdoin Students, Bowdoin Campus News
Students held sustainability training sessions at Unity College last weekend. See also Bowdoin’s statement of commitment to sustainability: “Sustainability is more than an intellectual concept at Bowdoin. It is at the heart of our enduring commitment to “the common good.”

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Take Back the Classroom from PowerPoint
September 02, 2010 By Jason Fertig
Restrict PowerPoint use in teaching to pictures and videos, writes Jason Fertig. Too much PowerPoint usurps professors' authority and accustoms students to lazy thinking.

Collegiate Press Roundup 9-2-10
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Student journalists examine topics from presidential speeches to campus smoking bans.

Will You Promote Diversity? Virginia Tech Tests Faculty Candidates’ Commitment
September 01, 2010 By Peter Wood and Ashley Thorne
A major public university has fashioned a “diversity” litmus test for faculty hiring

FIRE Educates for Free Speech on Campus
August 31, 2010 By Glenn Ricketts
FIRE will offer a Free Speech Seminar in NYC on September 14.

University Speaker Series: Arab Feminism, Black Feminism, and "A Southern Queer Love Story"...No Comment
August 30, 2010 By Ashley Thorne
A program on gender and diversity at the University of Richmond will explore "emancipatory ideas of social justice" this fall.

How Scholarships Morphed into Financial Aid
August 30, 2010 By Jackson Toby
This excerpt from Jackson Toby's latest book, The Lowering of Higher Education in America: Why Financial Aid Should Be Based on Student Performance, will appear in the forthcoming fall issue of Academic Questions (vol. 23, no. 3).

Common Reading Controversy at Brooklyn College
August 27, 2010 By Ashley Thorne
Is Brooklyn College using freshman reading for ideological goals?

Question of the Week: How Many Colleges Should You Apply To?
August 27, 2010 By Ashley Thorne
To answer, leave a comment on this article, email us, or respond via Facebook or Twitter (no more than 140 characters).

Atlas Black Shrugs
August 26, 2010 By Jason Fertig
The first comic book textbook combines management jargon and theories and packages them into a story about a slacker student's attempt to become an entrepreneur.
1 comment - Last on 08/27/2010

Collegiate Press Roundup 8-26-10
August 26, 2010 By Glenn Ricketts
Student journalists have a look at the Ground Zero mosque controversy, reducing your carbon footprint and the pitfalls of "sexting."

A Regulatory Assault on For-Profit Higher Education
August 25, 2010 By Richard J. Bishirjian
How the attacks on for-profit higher ed are squashing needed competition.

New Excellent Programs: Tocqueville Program and Center for Statesmanship
August 24, 2010 By Ashley Thorne
Check out our list of excellent programs as we add new ones at Indiana and Richmond.

The Glut of Academic Publishing: A Call for a New Culture
August 23, 2010 By Stanley W. Trimble, Wayne W. Grody, Bill McKelvey, and Mohamed Gad-el-Hak
This article will appear in the forthcoming fall issue of Academic Questions (vol. 23, no. 3). A short version of this paper appeared under the title “We Must Stop the Avalanche of Low-Quality Research” in the June 13, 2010 Chronicle of Higher Education.
1 comment - Last on 08/25/2010

Building a 21st Century Syllabus
August 20, 2010 By David Clemens
Professors these days have to cover their backs when writing syllabi, writes David Clemens.
2 comments - Last on 08/20/2010

Question of the Week: Why Did You Choose Your College?
August 20, 2010 By Ashley Thorne
We're starting a new "Question of the Week" series. We'll have a new higher-education-related question every week. To answer, leave a comment on this article, email us, or respond via Facebook or Twitter (no more than 140 characters).
2 comments - Last on 08/20/2010

Dictatorships and Double Standards, Part II
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Professor Paquette responds to the controversy generated this summer after Hamilton College sought to censor his NAS article.

Real Ethics Education
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Ethics courses should make moral decisions personal, argues Jason Fertig.

Collegiate Press Roundup 8-18-10
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Student journalists tackle gay marriage, weird psycholgy studies and state liquor regulations.

5 Consequences of Administrative Bloat
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What happens to higher education when universities are dominated by administrators?

Ravitch Repentant
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Peter Cohee reviews Diane Ravitch's book, a partial volte-face, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education.