University of the South
President of Sewanee: The University of the South; founder and former president of Choose Responsibility; founder of the Amethyst Initiative; President emeritus of Middlebury CollegePROFILE
John McCardell
Guest
FROM John McCardell
To the Point
Rising Cost and the Future of Higher Education Tuition and other expenses have gone up so much there's now a consensus that higher education costs too much, at the same time it's more necessary than ever. Two-thirds of students are taking out loans, and collectively owe a trillion dollars — more than the total of credit card debt. Do the loans themselves allow colleges to spend more than they need to? Why are public universities also charging much more? Will cheap, online courses now offered by Stanford, Harvard, MIT and Google transform the college experience and make campuses obsolete? We hear from educators and a graduate who owes $55,000 in student loans.
Which Way, L.A.?
Is It Time to Change the Legal Drinking Age? The acting Surgeon General of the United States says the drinking on college campuses is not the harmless rite of passage it used to be, but the cause of hundreds of thousands of injuries, rapes, other assaults and deaths. Now 120 college presidents want to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18—when kids can vote or join the military.
Recommended
To the Point
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
To the Point
Will the Senate write a healthcare bill in secret? While Democrats and Republicans argue White House relations with Russia, another question is being decided behind closed doors: who gets help buying health insurance and who doesn't? We hear how the pros and cons are being shrouded in secrecy.