American universities entered the 1960s with the hope of bringing a high-quality system of universal higher education to all comers. But by the early 1970s hope turned to despair as universities gave way to neoliberalism, corporatism, and a powerful conservative […]
academic life
Faculty respond to the “great faculty disengagement”
Earlier this month we called your attention to what Kevin R. McClure and Alisa Hicklin Fryar called “The Great Faculty Disengagement.” Since the McClure and Fryar’s piece appeared at The Chronicle of Education, the Chronicle has been collecting faculty responses […]
College and university faculty members are disengaging
Here is a taste of Kevin R. McClure and Alisa Hicklin Fryar’s recent Chronicle of Higher Education piece, “The Great Faculty Disengagement.” Sadly, I can relate to some of it: …most faculty members aren’t making big job moves. For them, the Great […]
Male burnout is real
Here is Jonathan Malesic, author of The End of Burnout: Why Work Drains Us and How to Build Better Lives, at The New York Times: Eight years ago, I had a great job as a tenured professor at a small […]
“A university that is only good at STEM education is nothing more than a trade school.”
Avi Kak came to Purdue to work in a university, and not in a trade school. In a letter to the editor of the Purdue Exponent he says that the Purdue English Department deserves more respect. Here is a taste: […]
The forgotten virtue of gratitude
Our annual Thanksgiving tradition here at The Way of Improvement Leads Home.  I wrote this Inside Higher Ed piece on gratitude in November 2008. I have had to remind myself of this piece a lot in the last couple of years.–JF It was a typical […]
Robert Zimmer and Steven Pinker resign from the University of Austin’s Advisory Board
See my commentary on this new university here and here. Zimmer is chancellor of the University of Chicago. Pinker is the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard. Here is Zimmer’s statement: I was asked to serve in an advisory […]
Critics of the University of Austin prove why such an institution may be necessary
Yesterday I wrote about the University of Austin, a new university founded by intellectuals concerned with academic freedom in the larger academy. I am not familiar with all of the people behind this venture, but any initiative that includes Niall […]
Well, I guess the University of North Carolina blew that one
Did you hear that the University of North Carolina finally gave tenure to former New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones? Hannah-Jones is the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of the controversial 1619 Project. After North Carolina’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media […]