Nickle and Dimed

Long before America became accustomed to corporate fat cats asking for handouts like well-dressed homeless people, a cadre of millionaires has been subsidized by Uncle Sam with precious little oversight. Of course, we’re talking about college presidents.

How Colleges Grade Themselves

“One measure of the effectiveness of higher education spending is the degree to which public universities and colleges in the state successfully competed for grants and contracts,” Dr. Ernie Gross of Creighton University alleges in a report published by the Nebraska-based Platte Institute. Apparently, literacy and the transmission of knowledge have officially taken a backseat in higher education to political logrolling.

Nevertheless, Dr. Gross does note that, “As presented there appears to be no positive link between economic performance and higher Education spending.” In fact, the latter usually pairs up naturally with low economic performance in high-spending areas. This conclusion runs counter to the claims of college administrators everywhere but affirms the case laid out by Ohio University Professor Richard Vedder.

Incidentally, Dr. Vedder’s Center for College Affordability and Productivity has published a new study which finds that:

“(a) Colleges have responded to an increase in enrollment by increasing their labor force, largely with full-time support staff and management positions and part-time instructors;”

“(b) The number of support and management positions has exploded;”

“(c) The increase in staffing levels has been disproportionate to the change in enrollment and number of degrees awarded;”

“(d) The work force at 2-year schools are more productive than their 4-year counterparts, and the for-profit sectors are more productive than the not-for-profit sectors.”

Mob Rule At Chapel Hill

The same worthies who have no trouble keeping conservatives off of their campus cannot assist those few token right-wingers it does allow there. U. S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colorado, couldn’t get through his speech at the University of North Carolina unmolested. Tancredo is a proponent of enforcement of U. S. immigration controls.

How Diverse Is My Environment

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is offering “diversity fellowships.” EDF diversity fellows will work on “discrete projects.” Hmmm.

Real Rallies For Real People

The elites are still in a state of denial over the tea party rallies that rocked the nation on tax day—April 15, 2009. “To George Soros-funded grievance professionals, 250,000 is an insignificant number,” syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin noted. “But unlike recent anti-war and pro-illegal immigration rallies padded with union workers, college students and homeless people, the Tax Day Tea Party demonstrations featured small-business owners, working taxpayers and families.”

“This wasn’t a weekend or holiday, mind you. A quarter-million people took time off in the middle of the workweek to raise their voices against reckless taxing and bipartisan spending.” And unlike some of their critics, the Tea Party protesters actually paid their taxes.

Speaking of Obama Appointees

And tracking the revolving door out of academia and media that only seems to
revolve for liberals, foreign policy analyst Nile Gardiner reports:

“In what has to be one of the most extreme appointments yet by the Obama
Administration, ex-Los Angeles Times columnist and Georgetown law professor Rosa Brooks has just been made an adviser to Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michelle Fluornoy—a move Brooks describes as ‘my personal government bailout.’

“Bailout is certainly the right word for someone who appears to have no relevant national security qualifications for the position. She does, though, have experience working as Special Counsel for George Soros’s Open Society Institute in New York, and as a former adviser to Harold Koh, the hugely controversial nominee for Legal Adviser to the State Department.”

Malcolm A. Kline is the executive director of Accuracy in Academia.

Malcolm A. Kline
Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia. If you would like to comment on this article, e-mail contact@academia.org.