Over the weekend, TNR Online has taken two steps forward to improve its online content.

First, Lee Seigel got voted off the island. No point belaboring the utter stupidity involved here... though if you ewant an extra helping of schadenfreude , click over to this Brad DeLong post.

Second, TNR has launched a new blog, entitled Open University. Here's its modus operandi:

It's dedicated to thinking about not just the news of the day but also the news from the academy: Controversies in campus politics that warrant thoughtful discussion. Scholarship from our various disciplines that we think deserves a broader hearing. Ideas we had in doing our research that seem eerily relevant to something we read in The New York Times today.

And then there's me.

For my first contribution -- a response to Alan Wolfe -- click here.

By academic standards, I'd label initial feedback as guardedly optimistic. As one commenter to the introductory post put it, "This is a good idea -- at least half the people on your contributors list should be worth reading."

Trust me when I say that's a much higher percentage than you'd get at your typical university.

Go check it out!!