Stephen Porter

Stephen Porter is a Professor in the College of Education at North Carolina State University, where he teaches graduate courses in statistics, causal inference, and workflow of data analysis. He received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Rochester, with a concentration in econometrics.

Latest posts

“Higher Ed Is the New Big Oil”

Great column by Frederick Hess: “Big Higher Ed’s leaders don’t really grasp that they’re seen as self-interested, dishonest, and out-of-touch. Nor do they see the extent to which bribery-based admissions, college costs, and student loan debt have eroded support on the left. They don’t appreciate how much the tales of woe used to promote Biden’s student loan “forgiveness” fed the conviction...

My op-ed on how universities are ripping off the Feds via research grants just published by the Washington Examiner

The ungated version is here. Intro: “Universities are protesting the Trump administration’s plan to limit the overhead, also known as indirect costs, covered by federal research grants. They argue this change violates a long-standing post-World War II agreement, rooted in Vannevar Bush’s 1945 report “Science, The Endless Frontier.” That agreement was simple: The federal government would...

My op-ed on student debt just published by RealClearEducation

The title is How to Resolve the Student Loan Debt Crisis Without a Bailout, here is the first paragraph: Under the Biden administration, student loan debt was treated as an urgent national crisis, with sweeping forgiveness proposals dominating headlines. Now, under Trump, the issue has largely faded from the political landscape—raising an important question: Was it ever a crisis to begin with...

Just won the first battle in my fight against DEI at NC State

Two weeks ago, I filed a complaint citing four violations of the UNC System’s policies on institutional neutrality and the ban on compelled speech. The university has now conceded on all four three out of four counts—but they’re saying as little as possible about it. Violation 1: Promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in university and college strategic plans This is by far the most...

“Universities, colleges took prestige and public support for granted. Now they are paying the price”

From Megan McArdle: “Since you know that, let me make a less obvious and probably less welcome point: The left, not the right, picked this fight. Too many institutions set themselves up as the “Resistance” to Trump and tried to make a lot of mainstream political opinions anathematic, while expecting to be protected from backlash by principles such as academic freedom that they were no...

About me

Professor and quant guy. Libertarian turned populist Republican. Trying to learn Japanese and play Spanish Baroque music on the ukulele.

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