Tag: Reed Fawell
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Re-Examining the Role of Elite Higher Ed in American Society
by Reed Fawell III “Going to Yale Could Make You Rich, or Lonely,” by Lyman Stone, published in The Federalist on Dec. 19, 2018, exposed some surprising findings regarding the costs and benefits of college attendance. Stone is worth quoting at length: There’s a long-standing economic consensus that, for high schoolers smart enough to get…
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Charlottesville’s Path to Polarization, Part 2
by Reed Fawell III This is the second of five posts on the events surrounding the white nationalist protests against efforts to remove the Lee and Jackson statues that occurred in the spring and summer of 2017 in Charlottesville, Va. The facts asserted are based on the narrative found in the “Independent Review of the…
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Charlottesville’s Path to Polarization, Part 1
by Reed Fawell III This is the first of five posts on the events surrounding the white nationalist protests against efforts to remove the Lee and Jackson statues that occurred in the spring and summer of 2017 in Charlottesville, Va. America’s national and local media constantly make references to the August 11/12, 2017, white nationalist…
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The Higher-Ed Cost Crisis As Research Cost Crisis
Why is college so unaffordable? Here’s one reason: Universities are funding sponsored scientific research with billions of dollars of institutional funds derived in part from undergraduate tuition payments. by Reed Fawell III On January 23, Jim Bacon raised the question, “Does Undergraduate Education Subsidize University R&D?” In the post he concluded: Here’s the problem: We…
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Toxic Brew: Relativism and Globalism
by Reed Fawell III For the past six years, I have warned about the damage that unrestrained and hyper-competitive academic research is inflicting on the quality of higher education in the United States. The tenor of my complaints has grown more strident over the years. Initially, these complaints were jump-started by a May, 2011, memo…
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How Higher Ed Is Failing Faculty and Students
by Reed Fawell III Higher education is corrupt. Each year the rot degrades the system’s ability to educate our kids. The problem is not criminal activity, malfeasance, or bad intentions. Rather, the system is losing focus on its core mission. Last month I suggested on this blog that higher education needs a total overhaul, especially in elite undergraduate…
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A Mortgage on NoVa’s Future
Dulles’ speculative bid to become a national air-cargo hub dominates the transportation, growth and economic-development agenda of Northern Virginia. Can it succeed? And if it does, will it crowd out other paths to prosperity?
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Dulles’ Grand Plan
How is it that Northern Virginia, with some of the worst traffic headaches in the country, has embarked upon an economic development plan to bring thousands more trucks into the region? by Reed Fawell III In October 2005, the Washington Airports Task Force (WATF) got a wake-up call. Its transportation consultant reported that traffic heading east…
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Sullivan’s Risky Bet on STEM
by Reed Fawell III Teresa Sullivan’s proposed four-year financial plan will forever alter the character and mission of the University of Virginia, undermining the financial model that has enabled the university to thrive. If adopted by the Board of Visitors, the plan will raise student tuition to fund the conversion of the University from a…
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The Agenda behind the Attack on UVa’s Accreditation
by Reed Fawell III The Southern Association of Colleges and Universities (SACU) is threatening to revoke the University of Virginia’s accreditation on the grounds that the Board of Visitors improperly removed President Teresa Sullivan last year. Why does this obscure organization propose to dictate governance policy to one of the oldest and most respected universities…
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Inquisitor, Investigate Thyself
The Southern Commission on Colleges has far better subjects for its oversight activities than the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors. by Reed Fawell III Despite the fracas last summer between University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors and President Teresa Sullivan, or perhaps because of it, the university has charted a bold new course, as…
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Who Runs UVa?
By Reed Fawell Last month, the University of Virginia received the extraordinary news that the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges was investigating the integrity of its Board of Visitors for the manner in which it had removed President Teresa Sullivan last summer. The Commission informed the university that it would refer…