In June 2009, North Carolina's Guilford College, a small liberal arts college with strong Quaker origins and a decidedly progressive image, announced that it had accepted a large grant from the BB&T Charitable Foundation--$500,000 over a ten-year period. As has been the case at some, but not all, of the colleges and universities that in recent…

A frequent refrain in Utah County, which prides itself on being one of the most conservative communities in the country, is that its public institution of higher education, Utah Valley State College, should reflect "community values." Generally, the argument goes something like this: local taxpayers, who support the school, should not…

It is argued that, when higher education views publications as the major measure of college faculty productivity, it encourages anxious deference to authority, ritualizes compulsive behavior, promotes academic narcissism, and stands in the way of useful inquiry, authenticity, and personal growth. (MSE)

The position paper of a subcommittee of the American Association of University Professors' Committee W on the Status of Women in the Academic Profession gives a brief history of the intellectual origins and organization of women's studies and discusses the implications for faculty of the discipline's structural and political issues. (MSE)

A discussion of the influence of Russel Nye, a college English professor at Michigan State University and journalist, focuses on the values that shaped his teaching, scholarship, and writing and his defense of democratic values, especially in education. It is concluded that Nye's experience suggests that public service can be a source of personal…

The power of academic freedom lies in the ambiguity between its existence as a universal principle and as a historically circumscribed relationship. Its greatest threat is dogmatism, which seeks to banish ambiguity by appealing to absolute truth. Academic freedom is an ethical practice aimed at both protection of individuals and advancement of…

A national survey cited in the "New York Times" last November reveals that "Democratic professors outnumber Republicans by at least seven to one in the humanities and social sciences." These numbers, astonishing as they may seem, simply confirm what many in the academy have long known: that the ivory tower is tinged blue. With…

A feminist educator discusses contradictions, inconsistencies, and inadequacies in college policies concerning sexual harassment. It is argued that the fundamental question is whether women students are taken seriously, not whether sexuality enters into the relationship between students and teachers. (MSE)

The director of a University of Virginia Arabic language program in Jordan discusses issues, sometimes unfamiliar, with which the administrator must deal. In addition to logistical and administrative tasks, in this context these include the role of women in the Arab university and students' questions about the universality of social values. (MSE)