This article is from a graduate of Yale, and is published in the Hillsdale College archives. It is quite a glimpse into "higher education" as we know it today, and alludes to some reasons why the USA lags many other countries, in terms of student achievement, in the math and sciences and engineering areas. Is this higher education? I would surmise that this type of stuff included in current curriculum subjects, and celebrated at some notable universities, reflects the decline and not the ascent of higher education. To me it is a debasement of the original intent and purpose of our "elite" universities such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. (if you read about their founding purposes and intent from accurate historical perspectives). It is, in my opinion, "regressive" and not "progressive" (as some more "progressive" leaning folks would like to label stuff like this). Here Nathan Harden reflects on his past and the present at Yale.
http://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/file/archives/pdf/2013_01_Imprimis.pdf