Chinese universities are gripped in a debate about whether students should be exposed to “Western values”. A campaign was ignited in late January by Yuan Guiren, China’s minister of education, who sought to ban the use of textbooks promoting what he termed “Western values” in university campuses and classrooms. Despite the lack of a clear […] … learn more→

So you’ve been sent a paper to review. Before you even start thinking about what to do, and before you start thinking about reading beyond the abstract, it’s a good idea to check the stance you are about to take. As an editor I see a lot of reviews. Many of them are productive and […] … learn more→

“There will never be a nigger SAE … You can hang him from a tree, but they will never sign with me … There will never be a nigger SAE.” That vile chant has reverberated in my head throughout these last couple of days. And as it has, my thoughts have drifted to the students, […] … learn more→

So today I’ll look at an official report to congress, written by the Poo Bahs controlling higher education, criticizing all the regulation our institutions receive, in exchange for $160 billion dollars of official federal tax money (and many more billions of tax dollars in other ways). The compliance problem is exacerbated by the sheer volume […] … learn more→

A recent report by the American Council on Education (a university lobbying group) may set a record for the most hypocritical document of 2015. The report’s hysterical findings are that universities are overregulated, and that regulation needs to be cut back. I’ve discussed an earlier torrent of tears from a Poo-Bah who cried similarly. It […] … learn more→

Calculating How High Is Too High and the Extra-financial Implications of That Cost. I subscribe to a number of newsletters related to online education. They very seldom include articles that question increased institutional investments in digital technology. So this one caught my attention. Writing for eCampus, Meris Stansbury surveys studies that have addressed the question […] … learn more→

As a rational academic, living in one of the most conservative states, where legislators are planning to allow firearms in virtually all public places, including the University of Wyoming, I have labored to understand my own deep antipathy to the idea of my students and colleagues being armed. Gun advocates and opponents can each fire […] … learn more→

I am on the precipice of submitting a journal article for consideration, and so it is timely that I should read Writing for Peer Review Journals: Strategies for Getting Published (2013) by Pat Thomson and Barbara Kamler, a fantastic text for the PhD student or early career researcher wanting to improve the success rate of […] … learn more→

I have taught courses in the energy and environmental sciences at Boston University for 27 years. For most of that time I have remained “above the fray” when it comes to activism, preferring to let others, including many of my students, engage in the political process. I can no longer stand on the sidelines. Climate […] … learn more→

Ending the bank-based federal student loan system in 2010 was all about cost savings. Taking subsidies banks received to make loans and putting them toward increasing the maximum Pell Grant award was a sensible policy. And students would be unaffected because they could always borrow straight from the U.S. Department of Education. But the White […] … learn more→