Weekly Top 5: The Future of Academia and Bottled Water

James R. Harrigan: Massachusetts, first cradle, then laboratory of democracy…one town bans the sale of bottled water, then another tries to ban swearing. The revolution is finally complete.

Sarah Straw: More on the future of online higher education, from David Brooks

Phil Magness: Sheldon Richman revisits Grover Cleveland’s December 1888 “State of the Union” address.

Bill Glod: Matt Zwolinski asks: “Why Not Utilitarianism?”

Nathan Chang: Two responses to Harvard and MIT’s new EdX, one skeptical and another more open to discussion.