Opinion

You love books. I love books. Neither of us has much time. How can we read more?

According to Grist, the Wall Street occupiers are now getting their electricity generated by means of stationary bicycles. A handful of Greenback students have devised similar contraptions over the years, so it's nice to see them being applied in a real-world (and very public) situation. I have mixed feelings about the previous electricity source (portable generators) having been seized by the authorities, but I definitely like how things ended up.

A few nights ago I was sitting at the dinner table with colleagues from Brazil trying to explain the US higher education system. You never realize how complicated US higher education is until you try to explain it to someone. What does it mean to be a private university in the US?

Two graphics (both released in the last two days) capture broad-based aspects of the fiscal squeeze confronting public higher education in the United States.

I got an A+ in Porn. That fact still amuses and delights me, and in certain circles I am sure to find some semi-awkward way to bring it up in conversation. And while I would never claim to be an aficionado of pornographic film or erotic text, I did spend a great deal of time this past Winter in a Special Studies course exploring pornography, erotica and romance, focusing on the production of erotic writing by women.

Stories from a senior faculty member's past may be more fun to tell than they are helpful to those trying to navigate academic careers, writes Kerry Ann Rockquemore.

If I were feeling a bit more obtuse this morning I might have titled this entry “Tis the Season for Trying to Assess Student Learning in College.” Now more than ever higher education leaders, the legislative community, and the public are obsessed with having better data about what students actually know and are able to do upon graduation.