If you have been watching lately, you will see a major dustup developing at Texas A&M over the watering down of the terms of hiring a new proposed dean of its college of journalism.  It seems routine enough, but read deeper and you will see that this is a sign of a major battle brewing […]

This is another “I never thought I would see the day” moment.  The Supreme Court has eliminated affirmative action as it applies to the use of racially discriminatory admissions policies  at U. S. colleges and universities.  On a 6-3 decision in a case brought by Students for Fair Admissions on appeal, the Court ruled that […]

Since my last post on the campaign for free speech in higher education (“Fiduciary  Duty in Higher Education”, October 2022) and in case you missed it, I am pleased to note the exciting news that the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System, in a unanimous vote at its November 17 meeting, adopted […]

Many of us would agree that, for all its esteemed worldwide reputation, American higher education is in dire need of reform, if not complete overhaul.  And one of the elements on most reformers’ list is academic tenure, the century-old concept that provides job security in academic freedom for qualified professors.  In Texas, Lt. Gov. Dan […]

In February, the Faculty Council of The University of Texas at Austin voted 41-5 in favor of a resolution “affirming the fundamental rights of academic freedom in its broadest sense, inclusive of research and teaching of race and gender theory”.  The response from Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick was immediate as he issued a statement […]

Cornel West is a professor of the practice of public policy at Harvard University.  Over the years of observing his written and spoken commentary I have concluded that there is not much of philosophy or public policy on which he and I agree.  But now I have found one exception.  Howard University, the historically black […]

“You can have diversity or a meritocracy, but you can’t have both”–Heather MacDonald, author of The Diversity Delusion Given the binary choice suggested by MacDonald, my alma mater, The University of Texas at Austin, has opted for diversity, so we’ll see how that works out.  It’s not surprising, given the fact that the mantra of […]

Given the assault on free speech, prevalent and growing on American college campuses over the past several decades, we should welcome any victory we can call, small or large, and the one last week was pretty big.  A big debt of thanks goes to the non-profit organization Speech First, which has been working in this […]

For the past several months I have been working with the American Council of Trustees and Alumni on their objective of improving the generally poor status of free speech on the campuses of our colleges and universities.  As I have previously noted, the gold standard for policy in this area is generally considered to be […]

Some years ago I led an essay with this opening: “We continue to be besieged by commentary in the battle over the humanities in higher education–do we need more emphasis?, do we need less?, is it all about jobs?, is it all about competency in a skill set?, what about critical thinking?, what about making […]