By Matt Reed. Late last week, the erstwhile political theorist in me got a double dose of idealism from high places.  It was restorative.
First, of course, was Justice Kennedy’s opinion recognizing same-sex marriage under the banner of the equal protection of the laws. The final paragraph of his opinion was extraordinary. Read more...

By Matt Reed. Sometimes to really understand a story, you have to read it against another one.
This week, a couple of stories came out that didn’t seem all that surprising individually, but that clanged together in an unexpected way. Read more...

By Matt Reed. In higher education, we often use the term “advancement” to refer to fundraising. Here, I’ll use it in the sense that the rest of the world uses it, meaning career advancement. Read more...

By Matt Reed. Can you imagine alumni of Corinthian Colleges rallying to save it?
I can’t.
The contrast with Sweet Briar College is striking. Read more...

By Matt Reed. Humanities and social sciences at community colleges have become incredibly well-kept secrets over the last ten years or so, and that’s unfortunate. In some ways, community colleges are their natural habitat. Read more...

By Matt Reed. I’ve never done improv comedy, but the recent piece in IHE about the benefits of improv training rang true. I’ve seen it in my own public speaking. Read more...

By Matt Reed. Anyone who doubts the tight connection between test scores and socioeconomic standing is invited to go househunting.
In preparation for the new gig at Brookdale, we’ve put our house on the market, and we’re looking for a place to live in New Jersey. Read more...

By Joshua Kim. Each day at my job brings fresh evidence of the limits of my abilities. Today, my biggest failure was falling victim to my own audiovisual (AV) inattention blindness. Read more...

By Joshua Kim. A couple of weeks ago I had lunch with one of the smartest people I know. During the course of our lunch we got to talking about books. We bonded over Seveneves. We talked about when the 6th novel of George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series (The Winds of Winter) will come out. Read more...

By Joshua Kim. How many times in the past couple months have you had discussion about learning analytics and big data on your campus?    
I’ve been thinking about how to think about learning analytics and big data in from a liberal arts point of view. My hope is to run by some of my thinking with you, and to get your thoughts on the matter. Read more...