A distinguished panel of academic thinkers discussed academic freedom in the wake of September 11 as part of the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy’s conference in Chapel Hill Oct. 26. The conference focused on “challenges facing higher education in North Carolina.” By Jon Sanders.
The Education Leaders Council, born in 1995, is an advocacy group that describes itself as an action tank, not a think tank, reports Karen Palasek. The result was the beginning of an organization that in September 2002 brought more than 400 state school superintendents, teachers, policymakers, education analysts, and consultants…
Jon Sanders writes that more than 100 faculty members worked with a handful of students and staff members at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to produce a proposed new general education curriculum for the university.
Paul Chesser reports that the use of economic incentives by governments as a tool for luring business and industry, but professor Dennis Rondinelli said recently that very little research has been done to measure the success of such enticements.
Karen Palasek writes that the Princeton Review, long known for preparing students to take college and graduate study admissions tests like the SAT, the LSAT, and the MCAT, has ranked North Carolina at the top in their first annual evaluation of state testing and accountability.
Don Carrington reveals that when Johnson & Wales University and Charlotte officials announced a new $82 million school for downtown Charlotte they said it was being subsidized by local tax dollars and private funds, but neglected to mention subsidies from the state which now appears to be in the neighborhood…
Paul Chesser writes that the number of people suing the state increased by two, because of the way Gov. Mike Easley tried to balance the state’s budget the last fiscal year by transferring $80 million from the state’s Highway Trust Fund.
Contributing editor Karen Welsh says the Institute for Justice — a nonprofit public-interest law firm dedicated to economic liberty, school choice, private property rights, unlawful taxation, freedom of speech, and constitutional limits on the power of government — is coming to North Carolina early next year.
The faculty at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro has provided state legislators and others a lesson in responsibility and charity in the face of dire fiscal times, writes Jon Sanders.
Paul Chesser reports that after the North Carolina House majority swerved to Republicans, political observers at a John Locke Foundation luncheon in Raleigh Monday heard election analysis from state and national pundits.
