At Fayetteville State University, adult students make up about 48 percent of the overall student population. At Elizabeth City State, administrators have seen a nearly 50-percent increase in adult-student enrollment in just the last two years. Adult learners now account for 22 percent of the university’s student population. That growth has prompted administrators to take … Continue reading
Filed under Diversity …
Why Higher Education is Failing to Close The Racial Wealth Gap
For all too many Black students, a college degree isn’t a ticket into the middle class….As our society engages in a historic reckoning over its persistent racial disparities — in employment, income, healthcare, life span, on-time high school graduation, homeownership, incarceration, political representation, poverty rates, school suspensions and wealth — we, in the academy need … Continue reading
These Colleges Are Betting That Culturally Relevant Textbooks Will Improve Student Outcomes
Millie González and her colleagues aren’t here to argue about whether open educational resources are on par with traditional textbooks一she says research has borne that out. González and Framingham State University, where she is interim director of Whittemore Library, are part of a consortium in Massachusetts looking to answer different questions. Like: What would happen if students … Continue reading
Community Colleges Becoming Prime Destination for Faculty
After spending nearly 20 years working in corporate America for companies like General Electric and Digital Equipment Corporation (Hewlett Packard), Dr. Winston Maddox wanted to make a difference — so he turned his attention to teaching. “I was a late bloomer and many traditional educators thought I was not college worthy,” says Maddox, who is … Continue reading
The Supreme Court’s Rehash of Fisher and Affirmative Action
After the Supreme Court’s second go-round with the Fisher vs. UT-Austin case last week, the big headline to emerge isn’t about whether the high court sends it back to the lower court, or if this is the start of the beginning or the end of the use of race in admissions. No, instead we’re hearing … Continue reading
Hip-Hop Stars Support Mississippi Rapper in First Amendment Case
Musical tastes at the Supreme Court run toward opera. On Monday, a glittering array of hip-hop stars will try to expand the justices’ musical horizons.In a brief supporting a Mississippi high school student who was disciplined for posting a rap song online, artists including T. I., Big Boi and Killer Mike will explain to the … Continue reading
Affirmative Action Has Got Nothing on White Privilege
Conversations about affirmative action underscore an ugly truth about America — that a country founded as a racial apartheid continues to dance around issues of race. On Wednesday December 9th, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas, in what may turn out to be a landmark case regarding affirmative action … Continue reading
Moody’s Predicts College Closures to Triple by 2017
Closure rates of small colleges and universities will triple in the coming years, and mergers will double. Those are the predictions of a Moody’s Investor Service report released Friday that highlights a persistent inability among small colleges to increase revenue, which could lead as many as 15 institutions a year to shut their doors for … Continue reading
What Is the Point of College?
… [A]s higher education expands its reach, it’s increasingly hard to say what college is like and what college is for. In the United States, where I now teach, more than 17 million undergraduates will be enrolling in classes this fall. They will be passing through institutions small and large, public and private, two-year and … Continue reading
Want to Change The World? Start With Community Colleges
Community college is often perceived as the underdog in American higher education. Many are plagued by treacherous drop-out rates, poor teaching standards and dismal job prospects. And that’s if you’re lucky enough to graduate. But inside some of these institutions, revolution is stirring. A lack of opportunities for ordinary Americans is driving colleges to rebuild and … Continue reading
Professor Van Ry 