Dive Brief:
- Accusing liberal arts advocates for having a "disdain for the practical interests of students," like career counseling and placement, Northeastern University President Emeritus Richard Freeland makes the case for higher ed, especially liberal arts colleges, to intensify their efforts around internships, alumni mentor partnerships and curricular adjustments. Freeland said in a recent column for Inside Higher Ed that the public largely believes higher education does not take seriously its job to prepare young people for the workforce, and listed these efforts as key first steps in turning the tide.
- Second, and equally important, Freeland said institution leaders "should reinvigorate academe’s historic commitment to preparing students for citizenship and modeling democratic values." He sees this as including encouraging civic participation and dialogue and proving, including with the hiring of faculty members, that "institutions are open to a wide range of opinion on socially and politically controversial matters and will not let campus communities be dominated by intolerant ideologues."
- Freeland also says campus leaders need to make undergraduate education the preeminent focus and driving force of the university, rather than operating as "self-interested businesses." Freeland points out that "ambitious research programs" drive up the cost of education for undergraduates, while only indirectly impacting them. He urges leaders not to continue to "base the cost of tuition on the need to subsidize activities" which don't directly relate to the work of teaching undergraduates.
Dive Insight:
Freeland's roadmap for regaining control of public perception surrounding higher ed is one which is grounded firmly in the debate that higher education is out of touch with the needs of students and the workforce and isn't preparing students to live in today's society. But it seems to primarily address only a small subset of institutions in the country — namely the elite institutions with high research activity. The role of faculty varies greatly by institution type, and on average nationwide, fewer than 30% of faculty are tenured or tenure-track.
This means concerns about reduced teaching loads and wondering if professors are working hard enough are really only applicable to a small number, as adjuncts and contingent faculty members typically carry much heavier teaching loads, with much lower pay. And in fact, authors of a recent report from the American Association of University Professors found "U.S. higher education is less likely to be an engine for pedagogical and research innovation" because of the current balance of faculty members in the business model. The same report did find, however, that contingent faculty members and adjuncts are less likely to take risks, and thus less likely to innovate in their courses.
In today's climate, teaching students to participate in civic activity may be the complete opposite inclination of higher ed leaders who are weary of the increasing volume of campus protests and the implications these have had on the tenures of a number of leaders. But properly equipping students to protest and using discontent as a teachable moment is in line with the purpose of higher education. Unfortunately, however, in the current climate, a push toward accepting unpopular and controversial topics has become synonymous with a push to get students to tolerate and accept offensive racist rhetoric, which has been fueled by the nation's political climate, and which does not actually edify either the speaker or the hearer.
Instead of allowing hate speech to dominate the conversation about which controversial speakers to allow on campus, students should be exposed to individuals who have respectful but differing opinions on topics which will actually enhance their lives. That means encouraging and facilitating respectful political debates or conversations about individuals' different lived experiences. But such an effort requires a commitment to ensuring students — and leaders — have a basic human respect for those different experiences, rather than the idea that only their experiences have validity. This can be difficult given the arrogance of even members of the faculty or administration who don't consider all of the experiences of their female, non-white, LGBT peers on campus valid or equal to their own.