The College Fix

From hands-on career training to online classics education and students standing up for their values, 2024 brought reasons to celebrate

As is often human nature, the good news stories tend to fade quickly from memory, while the “if it bleeds, it leads” shockers remain.

The year 2024 had no shortage of the outrageous and troubling, but there also was a lot of good happening in academia.

So, in keeping with the joy of the holiday season – and in making a conscious effort, as we all should, to dwell on the good in life, let’s remember:

Students like Allie Miller, a senior at Marian University, whose art restoration project of a 17th century “Madonna and Child” is on millions of postage stamps this Christmas.

And young scholars like Preston Cooper, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, whose work is exposing administrative waste and other factors that make the cost of a higher education unduly burdensome.

Then there are courageous young adults like an American University law school student who defended the rights of unborn babies against his entire class.

Or two conservative student leaders at East Tennessee State University who are determined to keep their Turning Point USA chapter going despite ongoing harassment, threats, and bullying on campus.

Scholars and private citizens also have stood up to “woke” campus culture, sometimes being forced to take their cases to court.

Vindicated, coffee shop owner Sarah Fendley won a $4 million case against Boise State University after she said her business was forced off campus due to her public support for law enforcement.

Another court ruled in favor of conservative scholar Bruce Gilley after a University of Oregon employee blocked him for responding to her “racism interrupter” prompt with the quote “all men are created equal.”

A few colleges took stances for truth, too. Sweet Briar in Virginia and St. Norbert in Wisconsin both made policy changes to clearly state that there are only two sexes: male and female.

Then, there are those working to reform higher education, moving it away from the Marxist-focused DEI ideology and back to the ideals of merit, free and open discourse, innovation, and moral character.

And, perhaps most essential for any education institution, career preparation.

Consider Clemson University’s construction science and management degree. It has a 100-percent job placement rate. The College of Western Idaho also is working on a new degree focused on Career Technical Education and life skills.

Meanwhile, other institutions are fostering moral and civic character development through a series of grants through Wake Forest University.

Still other scholars are working to feed students’ hunger for knowledge and truth.

The Catherine Project, for example, has doubled in size since it began offering classical education courses – from Homer and Plato to William Faulkner and Virginia Woolf – online four years ago.

A School of Conservative Studies also is in the works at the Michigan-based Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal, where students will get a “deep dive” into conservative thought.

Students are flocking to campus ministries and Christian universities, too. The University of St. Thomas in Texas is meeting the interest by offering a new graduate certification that teaches gender and sexuality from a Catholic perspective.

The “good” list could go on with the closures of DEI offices and ending of racially discriminatory programs. And on. And on.

But the stories above are reason enough to celebrate and look forward with hope to a better year to come.

MORE: 103 things higher ed declared racist in 2024

IMAGE: Mangostock / Shutterstock

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