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Inside Higher Ed

Is College Too Hard?

Is College Too Hard?

December 14, 2022

David Wippman, president of Hamilton College (NY), and Glenn C. Altschuler, the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University (NY), write:  With final exams again upon us, students across the country seem more stressed than ever, even as study after study has found they’re spending far less time on schoolwork than students once did.  As educators, our job is to meet students where they are, without sacrificing standards. That requires renewed efforts to foster a culture of learning that prioritizes academic work over other pursuits and ensures that students have access to adequate support services.
 
David Wippman, president of Hamilton College (NY), and Glenn C. Altschuler, the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University (NY), write:  With final exams again upon us, students across the country seem more stressed than ever, even as study after study has found they’re spending far less time on schoolwork than students once did.  As educators, our job is to meet students where they are, without sacrificing standards. That requires renewed efforts to foster a culture of learning that prioritizes academic work over other pursuits and ensures that students have access to adequate support services.
 

December 14, 2022

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The New York Times

Are the U.S. News College Rankings Finally Going to Die?

Are the U.S. News College Rankings Finally Going to Die?

November 28, 2022

Colin Diver, a former dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a former president of Reed College (OR), writes:  Yale’s law school made the stunning announcement last week that it would no longer participate in the influential rankings published annually by U.S. News & World Report. Given the outsize importance attributed to the rankings by prospective applicants and alumni, Yale’s decision sent shock waves through the legal profession, and indeed all of higher education. Yet the law schools at Harvard, Berkeley, Georgetown, Columbia, Stanford and Michigan quickly followed suit. Will the universities of which they are a part join the boycott? Will other colleges and professional schools do the same? Could this be the beginning of the end for college rankings? I sure hope so.
Colin Diver, a former dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a former president of Reed College (OR), writes:  Yale’s law school made the stunning announcement last week that it would no longer participate in the influential rankings published annually by U.S. News & World Report. Given the outsize importance attributed to the rankings by prospective applicants and alumni, Yale’s decision sent shock waves through the legal profession, and indeed all of higher education. Yet the law schools at Harvard, Berkeley, Georgetown, Columbia, Stanford and Michigan quickly followed suit. Will the universities of which they are a part join the boycott? Will other colleges and professional schools do the same? Could this be the beginning of the end for college rankings? I sure hope so.

November 28, 2022

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The Chronicle of Higher Education

Higher Ed’s Prestige Paralysis

Higher Ed’s Prestige Paralysis

November 28, 2022

Brian Rosenberg, president emeritus of Macalester College (MN) and a visiting professor in the Harvard Graduate School of Education, writes: The recent announcement by the law schools at Yale and Harvard that they would “no longer participate” in the rankings offered up annually by U.S. News and World Report is, I suppose, worthy of at least polite applause. Berkeley Law followed soon after, then Columbia, Georgetown, and Stanford. As of today, 10 of the publication’s top 15 law schools have said they will stop taking part. Apparently crises of conscience are contagious. 
Brian Rosenberg, president emeritus of Macalester College (MN) and a visiting professor in the Harvard Graduate School of Education, writes: The recent announcement by the law schools at Yale and Harvard that they would “no longer participate” in the rankings offered up annually by U.S. News and World Report is, I suppose, worthy of at least polite applause. Berkeley Law followed soon after, then Columbia, Georgetown, and Stanford. As of today, 10 of the publication’s top 15 law schools have said they will stop taking part. Apparently crises of conscience are contagious. 

November 28, 2022

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Inside Higher Ed

When a College President Decides to Leave

When a College President Decides to Leave

November 28, 2022

Roger Martin, former dean at Harvard University Divinity School and a past president of Moravian University (PA) and Randolph-Macon College (VA), writes:  Hardly anyone wants to write about the end of a college presidency. Leaving is not as glamorous as arriving. But eventually, all presidents leave their institutions, either to retire or to take on new responsibilities. In many ways, leaving is just as important as arriving.
Roger Martin, former dean at Harvard University Divinity School and a past president of Moravian University (PA) and Randolph-Macon College (VA), writes:  Hardly anyone wants to write about the end of a college presidency. Leaving is not as glamorous as arriving. But eventually, all presidents leave their institutions, either to retire or to take on new responsibilities. In many ways, leaving is just as important as arriving.

November 28, 2022

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The Chronicle of Higher Education

Does It Matter if Our Universities Look Like America?

Does It Matter if Our Universities Look Like America?

November 01, 2022

Marvin Krislov, president, Pace University (NY), writes: I was vice president and general counsel at the University of Michigan when we defended our admissions process in the paired cases brought by Jennifer Gratz, against our undergraduate-admissions policy, and Barbara Grutter, against the admissions policy at our law school. We lost the undergraduate case, with the court finding the system too formula-based, and we won the law-school case, where our holistic policy was found to be appropriately narrowly tailored. Indeed, for the half-century since Bakke — through our two cases, and the two Fisher cases in Texas — the thrust of Supreme Court precedent has been consistent: that student-body diversity is an educational good, that it is acceptable to take race into account as one factor among many in a holistic process that aims to achieve that goal, and that the questions to be adjudicated are about the appropriate tailoring of those policies.
Marvin Krislov, president, Pace University (NY), writes: I was vice president and general counsel at the University of Michigan when we defended our admissions process in the paired cases brought by Jennifer Gratz, against our undergraduate-admissions policy, and Barbara Grutter, against the admissions policy at our law school. We lost the undergraduate case, with the court finding the system too formula-based, and we won the law-school case, where our holistic policy was found to be appropriately narrowly tailored. Indeed, for the half-century since Bakke — through our two cases, and the two Fisher cases in Texas — the thrust of Supreme Court precedent has been consistent: that student-body diversity is an educational good, that it is acceptable to take race into account as one factor among many in a holistic process that aims to achieve that goal, and that the questions to be adjudicated are about the appropriate tailoring of those policies.

November 01, 2022

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