Michael Brickman

Feb 26, 2025 | aei.org | Michael Brickman |Julia Cataneo

I’ve heard this a lot recently from friends, colleagues, education leaders, and elected officials on social media. The caveats that follow are often flimsy at best and irrational or anti-democratic at worst. I hope that these voices will instead choose to embrace the idea of a government that is more efficient and effective so that more money can go towards their own stated priorities and less can be spent on bureaucratic layers, waste, fraud, and interest on the exploding national debt.

Jan 13, 2025 | aei.org | Michael Brickman |Julia Cataneo

President Biden assumed office with one of the most ambitious higher education regulatory agendas of any president in recent decades. Among its purported initiatives, his Department of Education promised to curb for-profit institutions, transform the Title IX regulations designed to protect women into controversial policy for transgender students that would undermine the original intent of the law, and, perhaps most notoriously, cancel billions of dollars in student loan debt.

Jan 6, 2025 | aei.org | Michael Brickman |Julia Cataneo

Amid a widely recognized crisis, it may be asking too much of those in charge to engage in honest self-reflection, but one would hope that leaders would at least have enough self-awareness not to engage in self-flattery in lieu of pursuing corrective actions.

Dec 30, 2024 | hitconsultant.net | Michael Brickman

Eye contact and good desk-side manner have always been incredibly important in the plastic surgery specialty, where patients’ decisions can be heavy with emotion around the perception of their image. Even what some see as a “small touchup” like dermal fillers are huge decisions for others because it is a change in how they present themselves physically and then carry themselves emotionally. The practice of plastic surgery is inherently human, in the most sentimental sense.

Nov 7, 2024 | aei.org | Michael Brickman |Zichu Yang

The election has finally come and gone, and in just a couple of short months, we will have a new president to set a new agenda for higher education and workforce issues. The incoming Trump administration will be tasked with reviewing the Biden administration’s policies on student loan forgiveness, accountability reform, civil and constitutional rights, and more.