Several years ago Stephanie Land published a fascinating memoir of her work as a house cleaner, struggling to be a college student, mother and writer. Maid was very well-received for good reason: it tells a compelling story of a smart woman struggling with poverty. Land writes well and her observations, coming from a place that…
Category: Reviews
Reviews of books, articles, and the like
Law Professor On SCOTUS/In SCOTUS
Amy Coney Barrett is an associate justice of the US Supreme Court. She joined in 2020, taking the seat formerly held by Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Barrett recently wrote Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution. The book’s stated goal is to answer questions about the court and its role. But for a…
Public Libraries: Overdue For A Close Look
Several years ago I worked with a librarian at our college, crafting a strategic plan for the library, when he said something that made me sit up and take notice. “Everyone says nice things about a library, but no one will tell you anything real.” I pressed him, curious about his frustration. Libraries are hard…
Growth Mindset Matters
Daniel Porterfield, now president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, served as president of Franklin & Marshall College from 2011 – 2018. During his tenure, F&M, a private liberal arts college in rural Pennsylvania, significantly increased civic outreach and student access, all while strengthening academic excellence. Porterfield came to the post with an impressive history:…
Inspirational First Comes With Costs
Alejandra Campoverdi, by just about every measure, is an amazing person with an inspirational success story. The first in her family to graduate from college, she’s an author, a women’s health advocate, a public intellectual, and a former White House aide under President Obama. Campoverdi was a brilliant student, graduating cum laude from the University…
The Rise of the All-Knowing Universities
Who knows best? And who do we trust to know best? In the years after World War II, America’s large research universities increasingly put themselves forward as the nation’s administrative experts, taking leadership roles in addressing big, complicated questions of economics and society. How higher education came to think of itself as the nation’s manager…
Thought Experiment: Climate Justice Universities
Jennie C. Stephens is a scientist, academic, feminist and provocative thinker. With a PhD from Caltech in Environmental Science and Engineering, along with decades of faculty appointments, Stephens knows about energy systems and the move from old to new technologies. The focus of her latest book, Climate Justice and the University: Shaping a Hopeful Future…