This article offers three teachers' reflections on how they have learned from students.

The commitment to the construction of a diverse and equitable democracy is even more imperative than ever given our changing demographics, growing inequality, and the eroding of gains of the civil rights movement. For instance, the criminalization of communities of color, with Blacks imprisoned five times more than Whites, and Hispanics nearly…

With the future leaders of the nation at our campuses, we must question the notion that opposition is the only option for problem solving and effecting change. While protest and opposition are appropriate in some situations, there are often other methods through which students can learn and engage as informed, passionate citizens of whatever…

Higher education--particularly the liberal arts--has been under attack for several decades. With policies affecting funding, support for students, endowments, and more at stake, how can colleges and universities effectively demonstrate their value to policy makers and key community figures? For some insight and advice, "Liberal…

When faced with pervasive--and increasingly creative--forms of plagiarism and cheating, what should faculty members do? Give in? Give up? Or should they consider the classic break-up line "It's not you--it's me" and make changes in the ways they assess student learning? If faculty truly wish to increase student success and decrease acts…

Decades ago, on the first day of a freshman composition class with readings centered on the theme of war, the author asked students to respond to the following writing prompt: "Define an enemy." More than half of the students defined an enemy as "someone who doesn't agree with you" (or closely related wording). Having expected…

The blows of the financial recession of 2007-09 and now the COVID-19 crisis have emboldened populist political leaders across the globe. Their platforms typically involve a mixture of nativist or nationalist tropes, often infused with hostility to refugees and immigrants and built upon foundations of racism and intolerance. The internet provides…

New religious diversity of the late 20th and early 21st centuries requires Americans to move from the idea of a Judeo-Christian America to that of an Interfaith America. This article notes that a big part of America's current problem is how it has sacralized its tribal divide, with tribalism in today's America taking a particularly dangerous turn.…

In this article, the authors describe how five institutions have employed the dynamic relationship between university-wide leadership efforts (the macro level); interactions and initiatives within the school, college, or department (the meso level); and efforts by individual instructors and activists (the micro level) to create change at their…

This article discusses how Tuskegee University architecture and construction science and management students are simultaneously learning historic preservation skills and helping to rehabilitate their local community. In what aims to be one of the first projects of the university's new historic preservation program, students in the Robert Taylor…

In the midst of the worst public health crisis to hit the nation in a hundred years, and in a moment of racial reckoning, widespread economic uncertainty, and geopolitical instability, it may seem strange to be thinking about a Second American Century. But many times in the past, when faced with great threats and challenges, the nation has created…

An expert on extremism, far-right movements, and youth radicalization, Cynthia Miller-Idriss is the director of research at American University's Center for University Excellence, where she runs the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL). PERIL addresses issues of youth polarization and extremist radicalization through…

In his 1990 book "Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate," Ernest L. Boyer set a stage of precedents for what is now seen as the pressing challenges for higher education. Boyer--who served as chancellor of the State University of New York, as US commissioner of education, and as president of the Carnegie Foundation for…

Following the 2016 presidential election, the author, the chief diversity officer at San José State University (SJSU), began receiving calls from professors who were anxious about facilitating discussions in their classrooms. At SJSU, a significant number of students were upset by--and fearful about-- incidents of hate and harassment nationwide,…

Higher education is receiving a lot of negative attention right now. Yet the supposedly negative view of higher education is not borne out by the statistics. Cathy Davidson believes that higher education remains important to the public good, however, she maintains that it is also in need of reformation. Because post secondary education is vital,…