News
New UNC policy requiring syllabi be posted online takes effect
The move is designed to increase public transparency, with recent polling showing growing skepticism toward institutions of higher education.
Opinion
Who’s afraid of American history?
The terror that administrators and quite a few faculty at University of North Carolina’s flagship campus at Chapel Hill display over a wholesome curricular reform reveals staggering irrationality. The documents of the American Founding hardly deserve such apoplexy. If it becomes law, House Bill 96, the Reclaiming College Education on America’s Constitutional Heritage (REACH) Act,...
Opinion
Groups out themselves on speech
A basic liberal understanding of the rights of free expression and free association would lead inevitably to the kind of policy that the UNC system just adopted.
Opinion
Where’s the Intellectual Diversity?
Administrators should recognize both the social biases that hurt students of certain backgrounds and the growing biases within their institutions that stunt intellectual inquiry, sterilize campus life, devalue research and diplomas, and deprive the public of the kinds of places they want to send their offspring.
News
Facts and Figures Expose Higher Ed Shortcomings
RALEIGH — A quick review of the facts reveals that American universities often deliver content that is easy, biased, or of questionable value — at great expense to students, parents, and taxpayers.
News
Specialization of Labor Boosting Faculty Productivity
RALEIGH — A new trend in higher education seeks to put this principle to use. Universities are hiring nontenure-track teaching specialists, who differ from those on the track toward tenure in that they are not expected to conduct research but to concentrate solely on teaching. This approach can deliver admirable results.
News
Report: UNC Faculty Pay on Par
RALEIGH — UNC faculty compensation compares favorably with pay at peer institutions around the country, a new report from the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy says.
News
Academic Rights Movement Growing
RALEIGH — The American Council on Education's “Statement on Academic Rights and Responsibilities” has been endorsed by dozens of affiliated groups, including the American Association of University Professors, Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, the College Board, and others. In the statement, ACE and other signatory organizations outline their support for intellectual diversity on college campuses.
News
Reports Rate Freedoms on Campus
RALEIGH — Two recent reports sound warnings about freedom on campuses. A report by the American Association of University Professors centers on threats to academic freedom since 9/11. And a report by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education finds a lack of knowledge of the First Amendment protection of religious liberty. A majority of students said they would allow religious individuals to spread their religious beliefs only if they did not give offense in doing so. Administrators were split on the issue.
Opinion
Next year, UNC, why not an unscholarly book that’s conservative?
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill hit a public-relations goldmine last year with its Summer Reading Program controversy. The PR-savvy officials at the public institution recognized at the time that they had hit upon a good formula. Little wonder why the program's in the news again this summer.
News
UNC System Pay Ranks Well
RALEIGH — Faculty salaries in the University of North Carolina system compare well with those of their peers, according to a study released in May by a Virginia public-policy think tank. The study, “Compensation of Campus Faculty: How Virginia Compares Within the Region,” was published by the Thomas Jefferson Inistitute and conducted by Pope Center for Higher Education Policy analyst Jon Sanders. It compares faculty salaries and compensation at colleges and universities in Virginia with those at peer institutions nationally or regionally.
Opinion
Obscenity for Fun or Salvation
This spring Bill O'Reilly, host of Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor," devoted several segments to the obscene goings-on in a human sexualities class at the University of Kansas. Viewers were told how Prof. Dennis Dailey showed "highly explicit" material including nude images of little girls, said he understood how some could be pedophiles, held a "wheelchair sex day" in class, showed pornographic films, compared one photograph of a female's spread genitals to the Virgin Mary, and also made obscene gestures to students who demonstrated offense.
