Reality Check

John V. Lombardi, chancellor and a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, writes Reality Check occasionally.

The most recent Reality Check columns:

On Large Scale Student Databases  March 20

Collecting more information about students’ academic performance won’t necessarily help them, or higher education, John V. Lombardi writes. more

The Benefit of Many Winners  Feb. 1

John V. Lombardi offers an alternative take on this seasonal debate: bowl games or a national football tournament? more

Research Competition and the MLA  Jan. 11

The language group’s report on tenure calls for expanding definition of scholarship, but fails to recognize the common expectations that reinforce the status quo, John V. Lombardi writes. more

Past columns

Below, find all previously published Reality Check columns.

• The Failure of Critical Thinking  Dec. 12
• Comparing Wal-Mart and Tiffany  Nov. 9
• Regulating the New Consumerism  Sept. 28
• Virtues and Vices of ‘Value Added’  Aug. 10
• The Value of Commission Reports  July 18, 2006
• Public and Private: What’s the Difference?  March 6, 2006
• Can We Learn the Hard Languages?  Jan. 16, 2006
• Paying for the Research Juggernaut  Dec. 15, 2005
• Too Much Money? Sports and the Budget  Nov. 11, 2005
• Trustees and Tenure  Oct. 7, 2005
• Should Our Students Study Chinese?  Sept. 16, 2005
• Students Read Less. Should We Care?  Aug. 23, 2005
• The Faculty Salary Game  Aug. 5, 2005
• Rearranging the Deck Chairs  July 15, 2005
• Grade Inflation and Abdication  June 3, 2005
• Equalizing Merit and Economic Opportunity  May 19, 2005
• Accountability, Improvement and Money  May 3, 2005
• Fuzzy Numbers  April 15, 2005
• Luxury, Subsidy and Opportunity: Purchasing a Quality Education  March 28, 2005
• Preserving the Audience: The NCAA and the APR  March 14, 2005
• Who Gets In, What It Costs  Feb. 28, 2005
• Missing the Mark: Graduation Rates and University Performance  Feb. 14, 2005
• The Enemy Is Us: Cost Reduction in College Sports  Jan. 31, 2005