Since 2003, the James G. Martin Center has been providing commentary about and ideas for the improvement of higher education in America. Today, we are celebrating our first 20 years of work, and the Center’s president Jenna Robinson writes here about what we’ve done and hope to do.
What have we accomplished?
Some of the Martin Center’s most notable accomplishments include:
-
Inspiring new university policies on institutional neutrality, student fees, performance funding, transparency, and partisan activities;
-
Informing discussions in Washington, D.C., on student loans and grants by testifying before Congress;
-
Informing legislation on free speech, students’ religious freedom, board governance, and viewpoint diversity — in North Carolina and beyond;
-
Writing model legislation ending political litmus tests that has been used across the country;
-
Ending discrimination against men in North Carolina universities by filing complaints with the Office for Civil Rights;
-
Holding schools of education accountable for teaching the science of literacy to North Carolina’s future teachers;
-
Exposing wasteful and politicized university spending to inform North Carolina’s budget priorities, including strategic cuts to higher education;
-
Helping to make the UNC System the best in the country for student speech protections.
Higher education presents a target-rich environment for the Center since it continues to drift further and further away from its noble traditions. I have a hunch that we’ll be posting a similar article in 2043.