Editors’ Corner – The College Fix

The ‘OK, boomer’ arrogance strikes again

Dave Huber - Associate Editor — Sat, 13 Jan 2024 16:21:31 +0000

Four years ago I took issue with the phrase “OK, boomer,” and the resulting feedback is the most I’ve ever gotten regarding a column to date. The Fix comments alone numbered almost 600, and there were many responses on social media — mostly unfavorable. Of the negative reactions, the one with the most merit was how discipline and behavior have deteriorated over the decades. Indeed…

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APPLY NOW: Summer 2024 paid D.C. journalism fellowships

College Fix Staff — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 05:14:21 +0000

During the summer of 2024, the Student Free Press Association, parent organization for The College Fix, will offer paid internships at Washington, D.C.-based media organizations. The internships are open to all college students and recent college graduates. SFPA will match its intern with an appropriate host organization. Previous fellows have worked at National Review, Real Clear Politics…

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Three takeaways from the Claudine Gay resignation

Dave Huber - Associate Editor — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 16:32:32 +0000

Take #1: The mainstream media is a bigger joke than ever. On Wednesday, the Associated Press headlined “Harvard president’s resignation highlights new conservative weapon against colleges: plagiarism.” Later that day it sort of backtracked, changing the headline to “Plagiarism charges downed Harvard’s president. A conservative attack helped to fan the outrage.” It noted the original…

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Media hyped up ‘brain drain’ from red states, higher ed reporter says

Matt Lamb - Associate Editor — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 05:03:55 +0000

‘Media hyped a brain drain,’ Inside Higher Ed reporter says Give credit to Ryan Quinn with Inside Higher Ed – even though his publication leans left and is sympathetic to complaints about conservative politicians, he analyzed the data and concluded it is unlikely there is a mass “brain drain” of professors leaving red states. “News articles and opinion pieces have raised alarms that…

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ChatGPT tells jokes about Jews, won’t produce jokes about Muslims

Micaiah Bilger - Assistant Editor — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 05:11:37 +0000

Chicago professor: AI program ‘woke, hypocritical’ The popular AI chatbot ChatGPT won’t generate jokes about Muslims – but Jews, Christians, and atheists are all fair game, a University of Chicago professor found. Emeritus ecology Professor Jerry Coyne’s discovery is just one of many examples of bias in the artificial intelligence program. A study by British researchers…

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Five ways colleges could course correct in 2024

Maggie Kelly - Assistant Editor — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 05:02:12 +0000

End grade inflation, obey the law, freeze hiring of critical studies professors, and more American colleges and universities are among the world’s richest and most powerful institutions. They can afford to do what they want, even if it violates common sense, standards of excellence, or even sometimes the law. But legislators, donors, and alumni can still make a difference…

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Four 2024 education predictions by The Fix’s veteran teacher

Dave Huber - Associate Editor — Sun, 31 Dec 2023 22:42:41 +0000

Teachers love this past week. It’s Christmas break (or “winter” break for the politically correct) after all, which allows them to 1) catch up on much needed sleep, and 2) catch up on much needed sleep. Well, the teachers who care and know what they’re doing, at any rate. Although it’s been a number of years now, I remember the need for this break quite well. My wife and several former…

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Five things that went right for higher ed in 2023

Maggie Kelly - Assistant Editor — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 05:02:36 +0000

Donors and alumni took a stand, the Supreme Court banned affirmative action, and more Confidence in higher education continued to plummet in 2023. In June, only 36 percent of those polled by Gallup said they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in colleges and universities, compared to 57 percent in 2018. In October, onlookers condemned elite universities’ initial non-response…

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The College Fix’s top 10 most read stories of 2023

Jennifer Kabbany - Fix Editor — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 05:03:26 +0000

It was another busy year at The College Fix. There is never a dull moment in higher education and trying to keep up with campus craziness often feels like drinking from a firehose. Over the last 12 months, in addition to outrageous stories that made jaws drop, the recent spate of extreme antisemitism on colleges and universities, and the nearly 20 campus hate crime hoaxes we’ve covered…

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School district ousts principal for holding racially exclusive student assembly – but why??

Dave Huber - Associate Editor — Sat, 23 Dec 2023 19:33:51 +0000

An elementary school in Florida recently hired a new principal to replace one who was suspended and eventually resigned at the beginning of the school year. The latter, Donelle Evensen, had helped organized a racially exclusive assembly for black fourth and fifth graders to encourage them to raise their state test scores. Evensen is white. Anthony Hines, the now-former fifth-grade facilitator…

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