The media have paid a fair amount of attention to two colleges in recent weeks – the budget cuts at West Virginia University and what seems to be ideological warfare waged against the New College of Florida. Far less attention, however, has been given to a potential synergy among these developments.
First, however a closer look at what’s happened at West Virginia University:
The radical changes proposed in late summer went through more or less as proposed by President E. Gordon Gee. Heads have rolled; programs have been shut down; liberal education has been especially hard hit. Here’s a link to the report in Inside Higher Ed.
One Ivy League president called the changes “crazy” (in Yiddish). But the method in the apparent madness is what I find most frightening, for it appears that there was no rhyme or reason to the cuts except the habit of looking at a university as a cluster of “profit centers.” Those that don’t bring in the cash, either from tuition or through research grants get slashed, as they would in any profit-minded corporation. The message to students is clear: judge your education by “return on investment,” a phrase much used by President Gee and one that has increasing currency among college and university administrators. Fie a closer look: Aaron R. Hanlon exposes the deceptions behind such cuts writing, ”... tidy explanations [by President Gee and others] obscure more inconvenient truths. Contrary to popular belief, many arts and humanities programs—including some of those being cut this year—are actually profitable. ...[And] in fact the universities’ financial woes often fall squarely on the leaders themselves..” (Thanks to Catherine Petroslki for calling Hanlon’s article to my attention.)
It’s a bad scene at WVU, but the driving force is financial not ideological.
New College of Florida:
The opposite is the case at New College. The governor, having packed the Board and seen the president fired, has seen to it that new funds flow into the college, but as part of an effort to change . the orientation of the college, away from its left-leaning past to a direction set by political loyalists appointed as administrators chosen for their political connections rather than their educational credentials. Here’s a description of some recent administrative appointments
New College, however, is only part of the Florida story. The state’s entire system of higher education has been revamped, with clear signals about what may and may not be taught, and how. For a closer look at what’s happening in Florida see this essay in the New York Times Magazine for September 10th.
Brave souls can read the text of the Florida Higher Education act (SB 266) here.
Synergy?
These two movements—the return on investment mindset and the desire to purge colleges and universities of politically unacceptable teaching and research – are ostensibly unrelated, but together they provide a blueprint for a reshaping of public higher education. What’s happened in West Virginia might show an ideologue how financial considerations could be used to justify radical changes. Such changes can in turn be used to impose an ideological agenda on one college or a whole system. We haven’t seen that synergy yet, but it’s out there, waiting to happen.
.
First, however a closer look at what’s happened at West Virginia University:
The radical changes proposed in late summer went through more or less as proposed by President E. Gordon Gee. Heads have rolled; programs have been shut down; liberal education has been especially hard hit. Here’s a link to the report in Inside Higher Ed.
One Ivy League president called the changes “crazy” (in Yiddish). But the method in the apparent madness is what I find most frightening, for it appears that there was no rhyme or reason to the cuts except the habit of looking at a university as a cluster of “profit centers.” Those that don’t bring in the cash, either from tuition or through research grants get slashed, as they would in any profit-minded corporation. The message to students is clear: judge your education by “return on investment,” a phrase much used by President Gee and one that has increasing currency among college and university administrators. Fie a closer look: Aaron R. Hanlon exposes the deceptions behind such cuts writing, ”... tidy explanations [by President Gee and others] obscure more inconvenient truths. Contrary to popular belief, many arts and humanities programs—including some of those being cut this year—are actually profitable. ...[And] in fact the universities’ financial woes often fall squarely on the leaders themselves..” (Thanks to Catherine Petroslki for calling Hanlon’s article to my attention.)
It’s a bad scene at WVU, but the driving force is financial not ideological.
New College of Florida:
The opposite is the case at New College. The governor, having packed the Board and seen the president fired, has seen to it that new funds flow into the college, but as part of an effort to change . the orientation of the college, away from its left-leaning past to a direction set by political loyalists appointed as administrators chosen for their political connections rather than their educational credentials. Here’s a description of some recent administrative appointments
New College, however, is only part of the Florida story. The state’s entire system of higher education has been revamped, with clear signals about what may and may not be taught, and how. For a closer look at what’s happening in Florida see this essay in the New York Times Magazine for September 10th.
Brave souls can read the text of the Florida Higher Education act (SB 266) here.
Synergy?
These two movements—the return on investment mindset and the desire to purge colleges and universities of politically unacceptable teaching and research – are ostensibly unrelated, but together they provide a blueprint for a reshaping of public higher education. What’s happened in West Virginia might show an ideologue how financial considerations could be used to justify radical changes. Such changes can in turn be used to impose an ideological agenda on one college or a whole system. We haven’t seen that synergy yet, but it’s out there, waiting to happen.
.