Highlights from NAS's 2009 Fall Semester

Ashley Thorne

Dear readers,

            We hope you’ve had a wonderful fall semester. As we head into the New Year, we look back on some of our most memorable articles from each month this fall. For your long weekend perusal, here are our top 30:

September

 

Seven Imaginary Curricula 
09/01/09 By Peter Wood

Most colleges don't seize the opportunity to do something original. We suggest they try a new approach, such as the labyrinth curriculum. 

Sustainability is a Waste

09/03/09 By Peter Wood and Ashley Thorne 

10 reasons to oppose the sustainability movement on your campus: College students hear a lot about sustainability these days, but do you know what it really means?

Dem Bones, Dem Barebones Education

09/03/09 By Peter Wood and Glenn Ricketts

Online education gains respectability as the wave of the future. This article received a number of in-depth comments from our readers. We take this as a sign that of this topic’s significance to our readers, and we hope to provide a platform for more discussion of online education.

Paglia’s Scimitar

09/10/09 By Peter Wood 

The feminist-lesbian-leftist called higher education out as a "rote regurgitation of hackneyed approved terms."

Tray Chic

09/11/09 By Ashley Thorne

Colleges experiment in trayless dining...and mind manipulation.

The Shape of (Academic) Things to Come

09/17/09 By Peter Wood

It’s 2029. Do you know where your university is?

Inadequate and Superfluous
09/18/09 By Ashley Thorne

A Princeton professor feels too white to talk about diversity.

Diversity's Doom & Pluralism's Plans
09/29/09 By Ashley Thorne
A new book, The Politically Correct University, features chapters by NAS's president Peter Wood and NAS chairman Steve Balch. 

Horowitz vs. Islamo-Billikenism
09/30/09 By Peter Wood and Ashley Thorne
Perhaps St. Louis University's pointy-eared mascot was behind SLU's recent decision to disinvite David Horowitz from speaking on campus.

October

 

Academic Freedom and Discontent
10/01/09 By Peter Wood
NAS President Peter Wood delivered this presentation at the Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization in February. In it he contrasted two images of academic freedom, the highway vs. the can opener.

Encyclopedia of Sustainability
10/08/09 By Ashley Thorne
NAS presented an encyclopedia of the key names, terms, and organizations in the sector of sustainability activism aimed specifically at re-centering elementary and higher education around sustainability practice. 

Politicizing the NEH
10/10/09 By Peter Wood
The new chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities wants to correct Americans' "disrespectful" attitude towards Muslim culture by “building bridges.” He is also annoyed at culture warriors and excitable people at town halls. NEH seems next on the list of government agencies to be politicized. 

The Dark Side of Diversity
10/16/09 By Ashley Thorne
"Being white and straight, I felt doubly cursed with a dearth of fascinating material. What story could I tell to prove my worth?" One woman's college experience provides a glimpse at how the diversity movement punishes even its supporters.

Any Racists Here?...No Comment
10/19/09 By Ashley Thorne
A psychology professor declares, "I make it a point to ask my students, 'So, are there any students in here who see themselves as racist?'" 

Sustainability Skepticism Has Arrived
10/23/09 By Ashley Thorne
Two controversies this week wrought an unexpected clash between sustainability ideologues and universities that decided to stand on fundamental principles of higher education.

Richard Steiner Responds

Neander-Thoughts: NAS Reply to Steiner

November 

 

LEAPs and Bounds
11/03/09 By Ashley Thorne
An initiative spawned of the outcomes assessment movement, Liberal Education & America's Promise (LEAP), sounds boring enough. But what is really going on when the lords of of education go a-LEAP-ing? NAS investigates. 

NAS President’s Report
11/18/09 By Peter Wood
President Peter Wood tells what's next for the National Association of Scholars and gives five ways new members can help our work.

Climate Conspiracy
11/23/09 By Peter Wood and Ashley Thorne
Hacked emails show evidence of longstanding scientific misconduct by advocates of global warming theory. This scandal should alter the burden of proof in the global warming debate.

Teeth-Bared Teachers' Ed
11/23/09 By Peter Wood
The University of Minnesota looks to make race, class, and gender politics the “overarching framework” for teacher education. 

Diversi-Oaths: Creedal Admissions in the American University
11/30/09 By Glenn Ricketts and Peter Wood
"Diversity" essays in college applications teach students how to bow to an anti-intellectual idol. At Berkeley, the bow is becoming for would-be grad students a full-scale grovel.

December

 

Signing on to FEAR
12/02/09 By Peter Wood
NAS endorses the AAUP statement "Free Expression at Risk, at Yale and Elsewhere."

Guided by a Red Star: Ed Schools Bring Frankincense to the Cradle of Marxism
12/15/09 By Ashley Thorne

A journal of Marxism and critical pedagogy erodes the distinction between classrooms and class struggle. Be sure to check out the comments section, where Marxist apologists for the journal respond. Even more responses are in the comments section of Che Lives?

The Philomath Speaks: An Interview with Anu Garg
12/15/09 By Ashley Thorne and Peter Wood
"Words are like air — they are all around us even though we can't see them, and they are just as essential," says Anu Garg, creator of Wordsmith.org.

Hetero Huh?
12/16/09 By Ashley Thorne
What is 'heteronormativity' anyway? 

Virginia Tech Reasserts 'Diversity' Folly

Part 1 12/18/09

Part 2 12/22/09
By Peter Wood and Ashley Thorne
Virginia Tech is campaigning to impose a comprehensive regime focused on “diversity" - an ossified doctrine of antipathy towards the American social order. 

Seventh Generation Sustainability - A New Myth?
12/28/09 By Peter Wood

One of the favorite metaphors of the sustainability movement is a phrase from the Iroquois Great Law. Or is it?

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