The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal

The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal Dedicated to excellence in higher education—especially in North Carolina.

The Martin Center's mission is to improve higher education in North Carolina and across the nation.

The ABA spent years using accreditation to enforce DEI mandates on law schools. Now it's retreating. A reminder that eve...
06/19/2026

The ABA spent years using accreditation to enforce DEI mandates on law schools. Now it's retreating. A reminder that even the most entrenched academic orthodoxies can crumble when they collide with the Constitution.

For most Americans, the American Bar Association is merely a professional guild that publishes ethics opinions, hosts conferences, and occasionally weighs in on public policy. But in legal education, the…

A new study finds college women reported sexual violence at rates 74% higher than nonstudents after 2014—but whether cam...
06/19/2026

A new study finds college women reported sexual violence at rates 74% higher than nonstudents after 2014—but whether campuses became less safe or simply better at reporting remains an open question.

For years, researchers studying sexual violence among young women found something consistent: female college students were not at a higher risk of experiencing sexual violence than women their age who…

Want to understand what went wrong in American higher education?Higher Education in America: It’s Worse Than You Think e...
06/17/2026

Want to understand what went wrong in American higher education?

Higher Education in America: It’s Worse Than You Think exposes how colleges traded truth-seeking for bureaucracy, rigor for credentialism, and education for ideology. A must-read for anyone who cares about the future of higher ed.

Suppose you have a friend who knows little about American higher education but is eager to learn about it. You might want to recommend to him a book that introduces…

Before North Carolina finalized its budget, the UNC System was already cutting bureaucracy and low-demand programs. Mart...
06/15/2026

Before North Carolina finalized its budget, the UNC System was already cutting bureaucracy and low-demand programs. Martin Center President Jenna Robinson explains why this model of accountability should be replicated nationwide.

Even as North Carolina lawmakers continue budget negotiations, the UNC System has already implemented many of the cuts proposed by the NC House and Senate. While their total savings fall…

Hayek warned that bad incentives elevate the wrong people. In too many universities, those who struggle at scholarship f...
06/15/2026

Hayek warned that bad incentives elevate the wrong people. In too many universities, those who struggle at scholarship find refuge in administration—and end up wielding power over those who excel.

In Chapter 10 (“Why the Worst Get on Top”) of The Road to Serfdom, F. A. Hayek argued that centralized political authority tends to elevate the worst people in society. Goons…

We made the bachelor’s degree functionally compulsory—so don’t blame students for acting like they need one.
06/11/2026

We made the bachelor’s degree functionally compulsory—so don’t blame students for acting like they need one.

George Leef recently used National Review to highlight Adam Ellwanger’s Martin Center essay on students who treat education as an afterthought. They are describing a real problem. I share their…

At elite law schools, nearly 40% of students get extra exam time. At some point, accommodations stop leveling the playin...
06/10/2026

At elite law schools, nearly 40% of students get extra exam time. At some point, accommodations stop leveling the playing field and start changing it.

In the fall of 2023, I took my first law school exam, a 13-page extravaganza replete with tortured fact patterns and endlessly subdividing short-answer questions. We had all of three…

If scholarships make a program’s success illegitimate, then nearly every academic department at UNC has some explaining ...
06/09/2026

If scholarships make a program’s success illegitimate, then nearly every academic department at UNC has some explaining to do.

At colleges across the country, departments compete for students with scholarships, fellowships, and grants. This practice is so common that it rarely attracts attention. Yet, a recent Daily Tar Heel…

North Carolina’s economy is booming, but its workforce pipeline is falling behind. Martin Center President Jenna Robinso...
06/09/2026

North Carolina’s economy is booming, but its workforce pipeline is falling behind. Martin Center President Jenna Robinson writes that closing critical gaps in nursing, engineering, teaching, and tech will require apprenticeships, workforce credentials, and stronger employer-education partnerships—not business as usual.

North Carolina enjoys a healthy, growing economy. Unemployment rates are low. Job growth is robust. And people continue to move to North Carolina at staggering rates. But new data from…

American universities spent decades encouraging students to delay marriage, postpone children, and put careers first. No...
06/05/2026

American universities spent decades encouraging students to delay marriage, postpone children, and put careers first. Now, as birthrates collapse, higher education is sounding the alarm. Perhaps it's time for academia to examine its own role in the crisis.

My most recent Martin Center column highlighted the irony, considering higher education’s formative influence on America’s prevailing anti-natalist culture, of the industry’s anxiety over declining birthrates. “Where,” I asked, “are…

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