Dr. Ibram X. KendiSUNY College at Oneonta professor Ibram X. Kendi discusses and proposes ideas and programs to further diversify higher education and make it more relevant to all of its students.OpinionCongress – Bail Out the Indebted StudentsWe were told in 2008 that certain financial institutions, certain industries were too big to fail. As the Great Recession sent the global economic system into a tailspin, we were told that certain financial institutions and companies were so large and interconnected that their failure would be disastrous to our economy. We were then told […]May 6, 2012OpinionThe Struggle for Tuition EqualityShould public institutions make undocumented state residents pay out-of-state tuition? In Michigan, Western Michigan, Wayne State, and Saginaw Valley State allow non-citizens to pay in-state tuition. Yet, its flagship campus—the University of Michigan—does not. “We just want tuition equality.” That is the proclamation of Daniel Morales, a freshman at U-M, who recently co-founded the Coalition […]April 12, 2012OpinionProbing the Comparison – Trayvon Martin/Mass Incarceration and Emmett Till/SegregationProtests are blooming this spring. Black Americans are enraged and emboldened, shouting entreaties for justice, justice, justice. Stoking even more rage—or rather placing the rage in historical context—has been the continuous comparisons made between the unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, murdered recently by a neighborhood watchman of a majority White gated community in Florida who is […]March 30, 2012OpinionThe Complex Simplicity of Black Male Success in CollegeThe Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education at the University of Pennsylvania recently released its inaugural publication. Titled “Black Male Student Success in Higher Education: A Report from the National Black Male College Achievement Study,” researchers, led by the center’s director, Dr. Shaun R. Harper, have attempted to reframe the spirited […]February 25, 2012OpinionSelling Out the Truth to Thwart Affirmative ActionI admire the glorious intellectual endeavor to discover and reveal the ever-changing, ever-remaining, ever-complicated, ever-simple fountain of truth—the sociological truth, the economic truth, the biological truth, the historical truth (to name a few). But too often, too many academics sell out the truth. They sell the truth for causes, for careers, for funds, for conservatism, […]January 26, 2012OpinionTransgender Identity and Higher Education DiscriminationThis summer, Domaine Javier received an abruptly disheartening expulsion notice from California Baptist University (CBU). The private “Christian” university in Riverside informed the transgender 24-year-old woman from the Philippines that she was expelled for “committing or attempting to engage in fraud, or concealing identity” in university judicial processes, according to The Riverside Press-Enterprise. She never […]November 2, 2011OpinionPell Grants as Costly and ‘Harmful’ Welfare?As American politicians and educators continue to slice and dice away at higher education resources and programs using the hollow, yet sharp knives of austerity, the future of a diverse academy increasingly looks bleak and dreary. The widely used justification — the need to cut costs and reduce the national deficit — seems so difficult […]April 5, 2011OpinionThe Future of Higher Education: Non-Profit or For-Profit?As American higher education continues its jog from public to private, a fierce battled has gripped Washington that could accelerate or slow the pace. Last year, the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) issued a blistering report that found many for-profit institutions have misled students during the recruiting process, encouraged students to falsify financial aid applications […]February 16, 2011OpinionHomeless College Students: A Budding CrisisHomeless college students. When I first read that phrase, it sounded like an oxymoron. I had to read it three times before it settled into my consciousness. But as soon as it had settled, its implications began to grow on me and cause serious alarm. Before World War II, higher education in America was primarily […]January 5, 2011OpinionThe Personality of the K-12 Achievement GapI still remember my academic bliss in fourth grade. At a small private school in Jamaica, Queens, N.Y., in a relatively large class taught by Mrs. Miles, I received 100 on all of my final exams. It probably went to my head but a cocky 9-year-old is considered cute. Almost 20 years later, whenever I […]November 14, 2010Previous PagePage 3 of 6Next Page