We’ve all been there. You are sitting in a meeting with a committee or your supervisor, considering a potential new program, curriculum, or policy to meet a perceived need on campus, when someone says something like, “Let’s start by examining best practices. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel.” Everyone else nods with either enthusiasm or resignation: the next two weeks are going to be spent trying to learn how your institution’s peers, aspirational peers, and competitors have addressed a similar need.
Character (Still) Counts: Moral Injury and the Case for Character Education
Many academic leaders remember the Character Counts! initiative from the 1990s and early 2000s. It was visible in schools and youth programs nationwide, emphasizing as core values the Six Pillars
Teresa Maggard Stephens
June 15, 2026
