Category: Education (higher ed)
-
Is Virginia’s Higher-Ed System “Inequitable”?
by James A. Bacon State appropriations per student to Virginia’s four-year colleges and universities vary widely, ranging from $14,121 in FY 2019 for the University of Virginia’s College at Wise to $4,460 at George Mason University, according to a recent report, “Higher Education School Finance Inequity and Inadequacy in Virginia.” Not only is state funding…
-
“Equity and Identity” Now at the Core of a Virginia Tech Education
by James A. Bacon A Blacksburg correspondent has forwarded to me a copy of the “Indigenous Peoples’ Day Resolution,” in which the Office for Inclusion and Diversity at Virginia Tech calls for replacing Columbus Day as a state holiday with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The resolution honors the Monacan-Tutelo people as the “historical stewards and traditional…
-
No Clear and Compelling Justification
by Donald Smith Governor Northam’s November speech to the VMI cadet corps has been widely panned for many reasons. Here I offer a new reason: The speech violated a cardinal principle of American leadership: you must be able to articulate compelling reasons for your decisions and actions. When Northam spoke to the assembled Corps of…
-
Fact Checking Northam’s VMI Speech
In his recent speech to the Virginia Military Institute, Governor Ralph Northam had a lot to say about traditions and practices at the military academy when he attended in the 1970s. He recalled numerous details that supported his narrative about the “appalling” racism that justified his launch of an investigation that wound up confirming his…
-
UVa’s Thought Police Have Taken Control
by James A. Bacon The University of Virginia is becoming a modern-day reeducation camp where the views of faculty and staff must conform to the dictates of Leftist ideology regarding social justice issues. Not only must employees adopt the Woke rhetoric of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), they must engage in activist behavior. Between the…
-
Diversity Statements Snuff Out Academic Freedom
by Allan Stam Why should you care about faculty review policies at the University of Virginia and other public Virginia universities? You should care because they affect which faculty are likely to stay at a university and which faculty are likely to move on. In other words, they affect who will teach your children and…
-
Enforcing the New Diversity Dogma
by James A. Bacon This month University of Virginia departments embark upon a four- to five-month “peer review” of faculty members. The stakes are high. Scores from the review will affect merit raises and prospects for promotion. New this year: twenty percent of the scores will be awarded on the basis of the faculty member’s…
-
Virginia Tech Student Punished for Booing at a Soccer Game
Republished by arrangement with The Roanoke Star. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) says that Virginia Tech is out of bounds. On penalty of suspension and a ban on attending athletic events, the university punished student Sean Lohr after an athletic administrator took offense to his booing during a soccer game. The Foundation…
-
Emil Faber Weeps
by Walter Smith The statue of Emil Faber, founder of Faber College (of Animal House fame), bears a quote, “Knowledge is good.” The reigning philosophy at the University of Virginia, by contrast, seems to be, “Only some knowledge is good.” By way of introduction, let us note that the University of Virginia Alumni Association this…
-
Add Affordability to List of Higher-Ed Priorities
by James A. Bacon Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin has an opportunity to restore Virginia’s public universities as beacons of free speech, free inquiry and intellectual diversity by making strategic appointments to Boards of Visitors over the next four years. As he refines his vision for higher education, he should also prioritize making Virginia colleges and universities…
-
The Memory (Hole) Project
by Walter Smith “And when memory failed and written records were falsified—when that happened, the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted, because there did not exist, and never again could exist, any standard against which it could be tested.” — George Orwell, “1984” Charlottesville…
-
What Higher-Ed Reformers Are Up Against
by James A. Bacon The incoming Youngkin administration didn’t campaign on reforming “woke” public colleges and universities in Virginia, but I am getting plenty of signals that pushing back against the leftist indoctrination and conformity on campus follows close behind fixing Virginia’s public schools as a priority. The first step will be appointing board members…
-
Young Peoples’ Attitudes About America Show that the Nation is Reaping What the Left has Sown
by James C. Sherlock Updated Dec 2, 5:34 PM. Terry McAuliffe: “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” Clearly, parents have not done so successfully. The Left has. For a dramatic lesson in what the young have learned about America at enormous public and private expense, please see the Harvard…
-
UVa Board Ponders Tuition Increase
After freezing tuition (but not room, board or fees) this academic year, the University of Virginia Board of Visitors is considering raising tuition and fees between 3.5% and 4.9% for the 2022-23 academic year and the year after that, reports The Daily Progress. The Board had considered a 3.1% boost in tuition last year, but…
-
VCU Is Top-Heavy with Administrators, Faculty Group Says
by James A. Bacon Virginia Commonwealth University is deploying the revenue from tuition increases to expand administrative staff rather than hire more tenure-track faculty and improve the educational experience of its students, charges the VCU Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) in a just-released paper, “A Report on the Administrative Structure at…