Remembering Don

Remembering and Appreciating Donald Kagan, Yale Professor, Scholar, and Mentor, Daily Signal, August 18, 2021. "Sadly, with his passing—and the death just a few months earlier of Ambassador Charles Hill—Yale now has no identifiably conservative senior scholars. Yes, there are some who are not clearly party-line progressives, but by and large, the cleansing is complete, and it is now possible to graduate from Yale without even the opportunity to meet a senior scholar who definitely disagrees with the prevailing consensus."

It's Not Just Asian-Americans . . . .

Base College Entry on Credentials, Newsday, August 24, 2018. "This month, millions of students will head to college. But some — including many Asian-Americans — won’t be going where they wanted to. A lawsuit against Harvard University has the potential to change that, and to expose one of the ways colleges discriminate against the best and brightest."

Spend It, and They Won't Come

Blame Washington for Skyrocketing College Costs, Newsday, January 16, 2016. "In a matter of days, college applications will be due. No family can look at those applications without thinking of the opportunity college represents. But they also can’t look without thinking of the bills. A new research paper helps explain why those costs are so high."

University Travel and Totalitarians

Blue State Travel to Cuba, Contentions, January 3, 2012. "A friend has forwarded me a solicitation from the University of Michigan’s Alumni Association to join them on a “Cultural Connection” visit to Cuba. It is a depressing piece of moral blindness. For $3,845, Wolverines can enjoy an eight day trip, complete with “a visit to a local health clinic” to “learn about socialized medicine and the delivery of social services in Cuba,” a trip to an art institute to “compare and contrast the role of the arts in Cuba and the United States” and “identify any differences in the opportunities for artistic expression,” and a “substantive discussion” with the management team of a dance company to explore “the political and financial challenges they face” (i.e. the U.S. embargo) in exporting Cuban dance culture. There is a good deal more in the same vein, including a visit to the Museum of the Revolution and dinner at the Restaurante Vieja Havana, “formerly the American Club,” but you get the picture. It would be pleasant if moral blindness was all that was involved here, but sadly, it’s not."

More Good Choices at Yale

Yale Names Its World Fellows, Contentions, April 30, 2010. "Yale’s just announced its 2010 class of World Fellows, its pallid imitation of the Rhodes. Two biographies caught my eye . . . ."

Yale: Living Up To My Expectations Since 1991

What the Yale World Fellows Did on 9/11, Contentions, September 11, 2009. "Yale has a World Fellows Program. When launched, it was talked about on campus as a kind of mid-career equivalent of the Rhodes Scholarship: bring the rising thinkers and doers of the world to Yale for a semester (people with careers, unlike newly minted undergraduates, usually can’t afford to take more than four months off), expose them to American higher education and all its wonders, recruit them into the Yale cadre, and toss them back into the lake to fructify and rise to run the world."

The YUP Scandal, Continued

An Update on Yale, Contentions, September 4, 2009. "Last month, the story broke that Yale University Press was censoring one of its own books—by Jytte Klausen on the Danish cartoon controversy—out of fear that if it published the cartoons in question, it would, in the words of John Donatich, the press’s director, put “blood on my hands.” In other words, there would be riots and murders by outraged Islamists. Since then, there have been several developments that are worth following up on. Martin Kramer has done sterling detective work assembling circumstantial—but plausible—evidence that Yale’s decision had at least as much to do with its desire to win a big donation from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal as it did with cravenness."

The Problem With A Core Curriculum

When ACTA Speaks . . ., Contentions, August 21, 2009. "I hope that everyone listens, though there’s not much chance of that. On Wednesday, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni released a new study—”What Will They Learn?”—accompanied by a very spiffy site of the same name. The study, timed to hit the market as the annual U.S. News and World Report rankings appear, grades colleges and universities not by easily manipulated and subjective criteria but by doing what is most damaging to academia: taking it at its word."

On Academic Freedom

Freedom Without Responsibility, Contentions, July 11, 2009. "The facts of the case are not in dispute. On January 19, 2009, UCSB Sociology Professor William Robinson, then engaged in teaching a course on globalization, 'sent an email to students comparing the Israeli occupation of Gaza with the Nazi-controlled Warsaw Ghetto during World War II.' The email contained 42 photos, which Robinson, who specializes in Latin America, had pulled off of the internet, and, among other commentary, the following passage: 'Gaza is Israel’s Warsaw . . .' "

Cutbacks at Harvard

Harvard Cuts Back, Contentions, June 30, 2009. "Last year at about this time, Harvard’s endowment was $35 billion. In the first four months of the fiscal year, through October 2008, it lost $8 billion. Observers believe the losses may actually total $18 billion. Harvard relies on income from its endowment to cover about 35% of its budget. Late last week, a memo from Harvard President Drew G. Faust put two and two together. The result: 275 layoffs. Harvard had already skipped raises for 9,000 faculty and non-union staff and shed 500 employees through a voluntary early retirement program. It wasn’t enough. The reaction from union organizers at Harvard was predictable. . . ."

Iran, So Helpful . . . .

Want Help Understanding Islam? Iran Stands Ready, Contentions, May 20, 2009.

For God, For Country, and for Community Service?

Yale’s Jackson Institute and ‘Public Service’, Contentions, May 18, 2009.

Who's Responsible for Credit Card Solicitations in Higher Education?

Higher Education, Inc., and the Credit Card Bill, Contentions, May 14, 2009.

Academia's Protests (Again) Against Conservatives

Get Out, He Explained, Contentions, May 12, 2009.

Was Edmund Burke A Conservative?

Edmund Burke and Grinnell College, Contentions, May 7, 2009.

Yale Wants 'Fundamental' Questioning of Values

Yale Surveys Its Seniors, Contentions, April 30, 2009.

On the Death of Prof. Samuel Beer

Sam Beer, RIP, Contentions, April 20, 2009.

How Yale Supports 'Independent' Political Activity

Yale Passes the Plate for ‘Service’ Donations Among Students, Contentions, April 17, 2009.

Middle Eastern and Chinese Money in British Universities

Who Pays the Bills at British Universities?, Contentions, April 3, 2009.

What Use is Knowledge?

Young Recants (Sort Of), June 14, 2008, Contentions.