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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
