Jim Cullen, a history teacher at Greenwich County Day School and a Current contributing editor, talks to his class: We’re in my “Money and Morals” elective, where we’ve been reading Hernan Diaz’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning 2022 novel Trust, a fun-house mirror of postmodernism […]
liberal arts
Cornerstone University president Gerson Moreno-Riaño says the quiet parts out loud
I was going to take some time off from the blog this weekend to get some work done on a book manuscript, but this story pulled me back, Michael Corleone-style. (Not familiar with what is going on these days at […]
More questions about Cornerstone University’s decision to fire humanities professors
Not familiar with this story? Get up to speed here and here and here. Cornerstone University is trying to refute our claims that it has eliminated all arts and humanities programs. In an interview with MinistryWatch blogger Warren Cole Smith, Cornerstone spokesperson Heide […]
Cornerstone University alumni react to the termination of Arts, Music, and Humanities programs
Cornerstone University recently terminated its Arts, Music, and Humanities programs. Tenured faculty were fired. Get up to speed here and here. Some of our sources in Grand Rapids have gathered these comments from Cornerstone alums and former students: A Journalism […]
“Welcome to East Beltline Trade and Vocational School”
David L. Turner, a former professor at Cornerstone University’s Cornerstone Theological Seminary (formerly Grand Rapids Theological Seminary), reflects on the recent cuts to Humanities and Arts programs at Cornerstone. Here is a taste of his blog post: Bad news about […]
Cornerstone University responds to our story on faculty cuts and the termination of humanities and arts programs
Earlier this week, we called your attention to Cornerstone University’s decision to fire tenured professors and terminate all humanities and arts programs. Get up to speed here. Yesterday, WOOD TV-8 the Grand Rapids NBC affiliate, did a story on our […]
Cornerstone University fires tenured professors and terminates all humanities and arts programs
I recently finished Rick Ostrander’s memoir focused on his career in evangelical higher education. Among Rick’s many stops in Christian college leadership was Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He served as provost at the university from 2009 to 2015. […]
Birkin bags and Ferraris: Elizabeth Stice rethinks our efforts to sell the liberal arts
Here is historian and Current writer Elizabeth Stice at The Front Porth Republic: If we believe that the liberal arts are great, we should act like it. A first step would be to stop trying to sell them as if […]
Another liberal arts college closes its doors
In the 1970s, Goddard College, a liberal arts school in Plainfield, Vermont with roots that go back to 1863, had 1900 students. Last week the Goddard administration announced the college is closing. It has 220 students. As David Jesse reports […]
A liberal arts education is good for your mental health
Rosario Ceballo is a psychologist, expert on adolescent development, and dean of Georgetown University’s College of Arts & Sciences. Here is a taste of her piece at Inside Higher Ed: I began my role as dean of the College of […]
What is going on at the University of North Carolina?
Here is Brianna Atkinson at WUNC-North Carolina Public Radio: “The UNC System Board of Governors allocated $3.7 billion of operating expenses from the state budget. The two-year funding plan includes money for new university programs, rural healthcare partnerships and faculty […]
Mintz: “A hard rain is about to fall” on higher education
Here is the University of Houston historian at Inside Higher Ed. He is talking about higher education in the wake of this and this and the first paragraph of this. The events of the past few days will, I think, […]
Steven Mintz on ethics education in American universities
I am a regular reader of University of Houston historian Steven Mintz’s blog at Insider Higher Ed. In his most recent post, he responds to Ezekiel Emanuel’s New York Times op-ed on ethics education in American universities. We wrote about […]
UPenn administrator: “Students spouting ideological catchphrases have revealed their moral obliviousness and the deficiency of their educations”
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel is a physician and vice provost for global initiatives and a professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania. Here is a taste of his New York Times piece: “The Moral Deficiences of […]
Tabor College chapel talk
Yesterday I had a great visit to Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas. Thanks to David Faber for hosting me and to Ryan Loewen and Erik Noren for opening up their classes to this visitor. One of my assignments was to […]
SUNY-Potsdam puts 14 degree programs on the chopping block. Mostly liberal arts.
The hits keep coming. Most of these proposed cuts are liberal arts programs. I am sure Daniel K. Williams, Christopher Gehrz, Sarah Huffines, Daniel Hummel, Dixie Dillon Lane (see here), Shirley Mullen, Betsy Lasch-Quinn, and Brad Frey might have something […]
On becoming a perpetual student
I always enjoy reading Wesleyan College president Michael Roth‘s reflections on liberal arts education. In his recent piece at The New York Times, he reminds us that learning and freedom are always connected, regardless of age. Here is a taste: […]
A college without the liberal arts is a vocational school
Historian Bret G. Devereaux asks, “Is a university a university without the liberal arts?” Here at The Way of Improvement Leads Home we have been asking this question for nearly a decade and a half. Here is Devereaux at The […]
What is going on at Marymount University?
Marymount, a Catholic university in Arlington, Virginia, is eliminating degrees in theology and religious studies, philosophy, mathematics, art, history, sociology, English, economics, secondary education, and M.A. programs in English and the humanities. Ouch. Marymount University should now be considered a […]
The president of the AAC&U responds to the the Advanced Placement African American Studies controversy in Florida
Not familiar with what is going in Florida regarding this course? Get up to speed here. Lynn Pasquerella is president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities. Mary Dana Hinton is immediate past chair of the AAC&U Board of […]