An emailer to the Atlantic‘s notes section, self-described as “a graduate student in the humanities at a major Midwestern research university,” writes: The idea, to put it simply, is that the way we represent people, places, and things is as important—if not more important—than reality itself. In fact, reality is actually itself shaped by the way it […]

And we better get ready for it. It’s looking more and more like these recent campus protests are going to bloom into a real, widespread movement. That’s a wonderful development. We need to be proactive in defending this nascent movement, and we need to be completely honest with ourselves about the inevitable backlash and retrenchment. […]

So here’s a thing that’s happening at Yale. I stress: it’s really happening. It’s not a conservative media invention. It’s verified. Yale students are calling for the resignation or firing of Erika Christakis,  Associate Master of Silliman College, and her husband, Master of Silliman College Nicholas Christakis, over an email about potentially offensive Halloween costumes. Here is […]

Last month, I was contacted by representatives of Harvard University Press, inquiring about my interest in a review copy of the new book The Graduate School Mess: What Caused It and How We Can Fix It. I enthusiastically indicated my interest. Like many in the world of higher education, I have been long convinced that deep reform […]

As someone with both a professional and amateur interest in how the public talks about education, and particularly educational assessment, I’m fascinated and disturbed by a trend that I’ve noticed in popular assumptions about educational performance. Though I can’t say this with great rigor, it seems to me that many people now talk about educational […]

I have just gotten my hands on a copy of Uncivil Rites: Palestine and the Limits of Academic Freedom, the new book by Dr. Steven Salaita. Dr. Salaita is a Palestinian academic who had a tenured job at Virginia Tech, left that job to take a job at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign that he had […]

I haven’t yet read Leonard Cassuto’s new book The Graduate School Mess: What Caused It and How We Can Fix It. I’m trying to get my hands on a copy. I’m encouraged by its initial feedback, though, because it seems to offer exactly what I’ve been calling for: a non-sensationalist, clear look at a very deeply disordered […]