In today’s Pope Center article, Jenna Robinson delves into freshman summer reading programs and finds that the books chosen mostly fall into one of two categories: feel-good fluff or politically tendentious tracts.

Her conclusion: “Universities have one chance to make a first impression on students; they should use that opportunity to choose books that are rigorous, that challenge students to think about new ideas, and that genuinely introduce them to university work and intellectual life.”

Unfortunately, they mostly blow that chance.