This reflection was originally published on November 13, 2012. Some circumstances have changed regarding veterans, but the thrust of treating learners correctly continues to have value considering debt and underemployment of college graduates are both at record highs as we start…
This reflection was originally published on December 15, 2008. It is worth a second look. Christmas memories are personal, deep and important for me. My family’s New York Christmases with the strong, first generational, influence of Western Europe; Cajun Christmases…
Seventh in a series on university struggles University leadership often genuflects toward personal and institutional survival tolerating the push and pull of “special interests” and cronyism. Putting anything ahead of academic purpose undermines effectiveness and consequently causes universities to…
Third in a series on university struggles American universities are all different. All, accordingly, struggle differently. For complex bureaucratic and political reasons, it becomes easy to treat all public universities similarly. Apples to apples comparison is the only sensible…
Second in a series on university struggles American universities are struggling. Many U.S. universities, public and private, are built on a faulty financial footing. Nearly 50% of U.S. universities are in danger of insolvency without dramatic changes to how they…
American universities are struggling. Rethinking purpose, attention to mission, and refreshed understanding of value are required. Ten forces at work on higher education will be addressed in the coming months. One – A foolish man builds his house on a…
These three disparate items have a common characteristic. They are all produced by people to create profit. If production is halted by a strike corporate profit is diminished. In addition, strikers withholding sweat, and therefore product, may even…
The strike and campus closure by faculty at Rock Valley College last week emphasizes the incongruous nature of faculty unions. A contract is a binding agreement between two people or organizations that, when signed, is enforceable by law according to…
College costs and student debt burdens are on the rise. The cost effectiveness of all post secondary education is being scrutinized. President Obama’s plan for free community college is a politically tempting, fiscally irresponsible overreaction to that scrutiny and the…
Richard Wagner and Paul Lingenfelter are distinguished educational leaders, with a view towards better addressing the needs of higher education in Illinois. Recently they presented a case for a statewide model of higher education that is clear and rational. A…
As another school year starts, the flow of resources into universities in support of educational opportunities for students deserves careful assessment. The shuttering of for-profit universities — witness Corinthian Colleges and Anthem Education; the staggering $1.2 trillion in student debt;…
Clinton’s “New College Compact” a ten-year, $350 billion federal commitment to higher education is appealing to people in universities. It is a detailed plan with many moving parts. To Clinton’s credit it’s a big picture approach, to solve a big…
Significant challenges face public higher education and corrective actions are not easy to see. The Republican primary debate last week revealed a few concerns and fewer solutions. Five pieces of the puzzle were evidenced. One — Senator Marco Rubio reminded…
University reputation determines whether or not students want to study there. The Independent of the United Kingdom conducted a survey of college graduates in Europe, and 62% said it was important for a university to be well-known to create better…
National economic growth requires education beyond high school. College in the conventional sense is not always the answer to a stronger economy. Neither the traditional 20th century view of higher education from the student and family vantage point (outside looking…
Last week the staff of the Federal Reserve Board of New York published a report, “Credit Supply and the Rise in College Tuition,” tracing the relationship between a cheap, seemingly never-ending, supply of cash and the interminable increases in college…
Universities impact regional economies. In rural areas where economic diversity is scant, the impact is greatest. Economic growth follows four forces. A Labor Force Universities require workers of every stripe, and the jobs needed are one aspect of economic development.…
McDonald’s is closing hundreds of restaurants this year, according to Fortune. Gallup claims America now ranks 12th on the planet in new businesses. Startups exceeded closures by 100,000 in 2008, and in 2014 closures exceeded startups by 70,000. Cause for…
Ninth in a series on public/private higher education Senator Bill Brady’s legislation, SB1565 for changing the nature of higher education boards in Illinois, will be difficult to endorse: Large government organizations loathe change. George Will observed it’s not so…
Eighth in a series on public/private higher education Too many public organizations gravitate towards performance at the lowest common denominator. Private organizations do too, but mediocrity’s poison is more prevalent in public settings. Illinois State Senator Bill Brady might be…
Seventh in a series on public/private higher education Illinois Sen. Bill Brady’s SB 1565 proposes creating nonprofit boards to guide public universities. It will impact transfer students. The 21 million students enrolled in post-secondary education in the United States are…
Sixth in a series on public/private higher education. A private nonprofit structure for higher education in Illinois as proposed by State Sen. Bill Brady, in SB1565, is appealing because it might provide more choices for students. Vanilla offerings abound…
Fifth in a series on public/private higher education. Too many universities accept unprepared students. Regardless of status — public, private nonprofit or for-profit — motivation is suspect and results debilitating. Institutions know it, but bureaucracies need to be fed. …
Fourth in a series on public/private higher education. A common fear regarding Illinois Senator Brady’s idea (SB1565) for transitioning from public to private higher education in Illinois is that it will drive universities to elitism and homogeneity. Wrong on both…
Illinois state Senator Brady’s suggestion for making public universities private (Illinois SB 1565) hinges on a transfer of power away from politically appointed boards. The bill posits a nonprofit board structure, not to be confused with that of profit driven…
The proposal by Illinois State Senator Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, to convert state universities into private non-profit corporations run by a board of directors addresses a basic question: “What is a public university?” As politicians frequently reflect, if you want to…
Illinois State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, started a discussion with SB1565 that could return the prestige of the higher education enterprise to one of the best in the nation. The not-ready-for-prime-time proposal calls for a conversion of universities to a…
The crust of the biscuit, the place where the rubber hits the road, the lick log in learning, is the exercise of free will that breeds personal responsibility. And nurturing responsibility in its manifold dimensions is the purpose of a…
The German polytechnic universities of the 19th century were the model and the genesis for the power and explosion of the U.S. land-grant universities in the 20th. What’s required of universities in the 21st century will be as markedly different…
Overwhelmingly, the 7400 state lawmakers nationwide attended and graduated from public universities. Again overwhelmingly, these elected officials attended schools in their home states. All but four of the 535 members of the United States Congress have a post-secondary education. A…
President Obama recently proposed America’s College Promise, free community college to qualified students. Great marketing, even greater mythmaking. I recently reviewed the 2015 budget for John A. Logan College in Carterville, Illinois; a similar budget would be at found at…
Last week at UCLA, a student government committee disturbingly attempted to bar a student from a spot on the Judicial Board. Her transgression? She is a Jew, which might create a conflict of interest. The Daily Bruin got it right: …
According to M. Jagger that is. From every corner of the universe of universities, dissatisfaction with campus climate abounds. The costs, the social climate, the impact, the value, and nearly every other aspect of university life are maligned by one…
According to the higher education leaders, many elected officials, faculty, students, staff and the general public, higher education budget cuts will send universities, and therefore their states, into decline. Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker’s budget proposal last week included a decrease…
In loco parentis, “in the place of a parent,” suggests that an organization or institution should or can act toward the benefit of a child in the absence of his/her mother or father. This ancient contract was embedded in…
An old friend of mine asked me the other day, “What portion of the accumulated student debt was for educational endeavors?” He worked on a campus for a long time, not as a faculty or administrator but as a public…
Recent reports give some interesting examples of politicians who have made a leap of faith into leadership roles in the academic community. Some are cataloged nicely in a recent Politico piece. Bob Gates, President Emeritus of Texas A&M University and…
Distance Education (DE) offerings by community colleges and universities increase in spite of reports indicating an end to a period of unsustainable U.S. growth. In Australia, India, China, Eastern Europe, Russia, Africa and Latin American growth rates range from 14%…
A Christmas Eve review of a student petition for readmission to my program gave me pause. This student earned a freshman GPA below 1.0: an average of less than a “D”; and a high school GPA of 2.5: roughly a…
Given renewed interest in federal performance measures (ratings) for universities evidenced by last week’s announcements, this reflection of August 21, 2012 is worth a second look. So are the Department of Education’s pronouncements: No two universities are the same. No university…
Inspired by a recent visit to Seoul National University and Yonsei University in South Korea. In order for a university to create positive economic and social value it must serve the community and region where it is located. However, when…
Mark A. Pearson I am yielding the floor for the second week to my friend Mark A. Pearson. Now retired, for more than a quarter of a century Mark was an institutional psychologist working in 7 different institutions for the…
Mark A. Pearson I am yielding the floor for two weeks to my friend Mark A. Pearson. Now retired, for more than a quarter of a century Mark was an institutional psychologist working in 7 different institutions for the states…
This piece originally ran four years ago, November 12, 2010 under the title “The Appearance of Money”. I corrected a few mistakes — probably overlooked a few too. Given current events in Illinois I thought it might be worth a…
Fourth in the IMTE series My reflection on October 6, “I’m Mad, too, Eddie,” (IMTE) suggested that university leadership appears to react slowly or not at all to athletics problems. The nearly 400,000 students that participate in intercollegiate athletics programs…
Third in the IMTE series My reflection on October 6, “I’m Mad, too, Eddie,” (IMTE) suggested that university leadership appears to operate without a moral compass. Of course it does appear to be so, because, too frequently, it is so.…
Second in the IMTE series I have a friend, an attorney, who, in response to my column last week, “I’m Mad, too, Eddie,” (IMTE) said, “Complaining is the easy part but the solutions, now that’s another matter, and never easy.” I…
First in the IMTE series Communities of every type near and far; social, geographic, political, and professional have legitimate expectations about the universities they are married to. Hold on, you may not like much of this. When I arrived in…
Of all the pitfalls of biblical illiteracy — and they have been increasing for decades in Western culture – is a tragic ignorance of the pervasiveness of the concept of original sin. I am not a theologian. I am not…
Universities used to be led and managed by people who understood the academic enterprise. Teachers, scholars, servants to individual students, people who with grade-book in hand looked into the eyes of freshmen, taught class, listened to the struggles of students…
I walked into a room full of freshmen the other day and we exchanged blank stares. They looked at me as if to ask, “Who is this guy?” Simultaneously, I was asking myself, “Who are these people and what do…
I know I will be accused of being old fashioned and out of touch with reality and if so I admit it, but here it is. The position of a university regarding sexual crimes, a growing campus concern, should be…
In a free society it is essential that education, however procured, produce people who can dream, think, and accomplish. Exploration and discovery are the roots of freedom and the foundation of egalitarian republics. “I suppose it is because nearly all…
Universities serve the same purpose as community colleges, differences are matters of degree. (Pun intended.) “People look at me like I’m crazy when I say that our greatest partnership here at Ohio State should be with the community colleges.” Gordon…
Distance education programs can offer quality and academic intensity, but they also can be shams. As the Latin warning caveat emptor suggests, those contemplating distance education or satellite campus study – even on-campus programs – need to ask the right…
Universities serve many purposes each defined by varied constituents and always based on individual desires and perceptions. This complexity requires that students and families and institutional leaders all appreciate how critical a sharp focus is. Without it no one is…
Effective institutional leadership puts a clearly focused mission at the center of every funding decision. And in every organization that seeks to serve people, resources are directed toward that mission. Higher education is opportunity capitalized through thoughtful, rewarded-when-successful risk in…
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. No bureaucracy in public service or private enterprise ever starts out as anything but a step towards fairness and excellence. Yet, time and power jointly contrive to pollute legitimate ordering principles. …
Some try to defuse the increasing costs of college and subsidized student debt as an overreaction. Can that be? “Debt is the fatal disease of republics, the first thing and the mightiest to undermine governments and corrupt the people.” Wendell…
Universities can sustain the status quo, asking students to absorb higher levels of debt while begging statehouses for more money and turning faculty into day laborers. It’s a failed strategy though and change must occur. “Gonna change my way of…
The basis for President Obama’s action to cap student loan responsibility at 10% of earned income for 20 years (10/20 plan) is that education is a public good and the public should pay for it. Parts of the public, employers…
Universities and lenders must be more transparent regarding costs, opportunities, and likelihoods of success to students. “Greater personal choice, individually tailored services, stronger local accountability, greater efficiency – these are all central to the new direction of travel we have…
Universities perpetuate a misconception about an education — that it guarantees anything separated from the person who claims to have one. Many know a “Harvard Man” or a Wellesley Woman” who can’t tie his or her own shoes. Character, ability,…
The idea that all college students are the same or that there is only one way to prepare for a productive work life is harmfully wrong. High school to college to career works for some. High school to work to…
Threats to higher education come not primarily from shady lenders, crass bankers and bureaucrats interested in turning government-subsidized, student-borrowed, dollars into operating capital, elected officials who want to use educational systems for personal gain, but from a bevy of educational…
Political leadership reflects the dreams and nightmares of the electorate. Voter-sanctioned tolerance and expectations percolate into public leaders of every strain, including university presidents. For university leaders, moral authority or its lack, settles into the hearts, minds and souls of…
Student debt recently surpassed total credit card debt. Payments can be delayed through graduate school enrollment; and the accrual of more debt. “Making loans accessible to millions of the previously unbankable customers is a noble goal. Getting them hooked to…
Students borrow too much. What’s worse, the institutions they borrow too much to attend, borrow too much. A ferocious cycle is created: endlessly optimistic and apparently never satisfied. “Do not accustom yourself to consider debt only as an inconvenience; you…
(Spring Break) This column was originally published on March 26, 2010. With modest modification here it is again. Too often we lose touch with the concept of locus of control, personal responsibility and accountability, and the power of individuals to…
Universities, to their demise, confuse what they think they can get away with, and what serves their true mission. Moreover, institutions seem to believe they can be known by something other than their actions. Shortsightedness in spades. “Values are like…
The marketplace of higher education is special, unique, and provides something unlike any other enterprise. But, it is a marketplace nonetheless. Universities are subsidized by the state and therefore are obliged to respond to the social and economic needs of…
The future of higher education is intertwined with the future of the economic health of our states and nation. The two are inseparable, and our universities are barometers. We need to face challenges head on. “The problem is not that…
Bankruptcy is a form of renewal available to those who have tried to do something worthwhile but failed. If borrowing power is earned by experience and potential performance thank God for bankruptcy’s protection. If borrower or lender enter into a…
Standardized measures never capture the essence of anything, although they provide dimensions: length, width, and depth – descriptions — but not essence. Tests, grades, and performance measures devoid of dreams and desires are gibberish. Measures are frail rhetoric and detrimental…
Clear communication regarding value and cost in higher education is more important than ever. College presidents and financial analysts agree — mission focus is essential. “In general, higher education does not know how to speak for its interests. It offers…
Bureaucracies create and sustain a moral perspective. “If you are going to sin, sin against God, not the bureaucracy. God will forgive you but the bureaucracy won’t.” Hyman Rickover ___________________________________________________ Effective bureaucracies — vision directed guidelines and processes — are…
The loan industry has a dubious impact on higher education. It advocates, unknowingly or deceitfully, that a college degree is always an excellent investment. It helps shift focus to cost as a measure of everything, away from quality, value and…
State funding has its place but too much might create organizational laziness, leadership ineffectiveness, and unattainable expectations. Unbridled dependence morphs into a form of gluttony. “The more subsidized it is, the less free it is. What is known as `free…
Increasing college costs and decreasing employment opportunity have produced an avalanche of studies regarding the value of college degrees. Sometimes more information is not better. A “back to basics” understanding would be valuable to all. “Nowadays people know the price…
Real leadership liberates, never limits: it unleashes people to work with passion. Effective universities recognize that strength in academic programs exists on the ground, with engaged faculty, staff, and students working towards common university goals. Good managers empower their employees…
Public university boards, and the presidents or chancellors they appoint, have a delicate line to walk between the political realities of contemporary higher education and the academic realities of effective universities. The nexus of politics and academics is not always…
We have begun to hold a readily visible evidence of education, the degree or certification, as valuable in and of itself. But these are emblems too often having little to do with knowing something or having the ability to do…
Universities, especially public universities, have a responsibility to leave ideology behind and focus on ideas. This does not mean that ideology is not valuable to individuals, but it should take a back seat to ideas at universities. In too many…
Fourth in a Series on Research Research creates interest and value for a university and its locale. “This atmosphere of excitement, arising from imaginative consideration, transforms knowledge. A fact is no longer a bare fact: it is invested with all…
First in a Series on Research Learning creates ideas grounded in the past but hopeful for the future. History is the basis for discovery, and it relentlessly repeats itself absent new ideas and insight: Forward focused investigation and research. When…
Universities systematically misrepresent the value of a degree. All degrees may have some value, but how much, to whom? University leadership should help students decide what works for them and why. The idea that any degree under any circumstances has…
Service from universities to the extended community always has value. The best universities have codified a service imperative into their mission statements and are committed to providing insight and ideas to the community through individual students, faculty, and staff. “The…
The work of higher education is fairly simple. Teachers teach, students learn and benefits accrue; individually, corporately, and socially. As student abilities, backgrounds, needs, and aspirations change, so too must our approaches to teaching. Or, there will be no learning.…
Governance — leadership in a word — in the froth of forces at work in a contemporary public university seems unattainable. The job of mayor and Governor is becoming more and more like the job of university president, which I…
Tenth in the series, Follow the money From Boston to Austin and Oxford, Mississippi, to West Lafayette, Indiana, big and small, prosperous or starving, universities are married to communities, for better or worse. When one hurts, both do. “The relationship…
Our universities exist to educate and separate. Education is essentially a process of separation. Ignorance is separated and eliminated through insight. Students willing to submit to the process of an education should have the opportunity. This is a social obligation,…
Seventh and final in a series on state funding for higher education Value in higher education will make more thoughtful and careful students out of those in attendance. People will be asking why ever more frequently. Leadership better have good…
Sixth in a series on state funding for higher education If we measure the value of an educational institution solely by the number students enrolled, the number of degrees produced, the research dollars garnered, the books written, the paintings or…
Fifth in a series on state funding for higher education Chester Dunning, an acquaintance of mine, understands the value of faculty work in a free society. He is quoted in a WSJ piece, Putting a Price on Professors: Mr. Dunning…
Fourth in a series on state funding for higher education The human drive to create profit, the Internet and other technologies, are endeavoring to transform higher education. And in part, they have. But digital interaction alone will never be a…
Third in a series on state funding for higher education Addressing how the Monetary Assistance Program (MAP) is affecting the students of Illinois, the IBHE Task Force observed: The first issue is the increasing demand for financial aid. More students…
