Everywhere you look there are signs that the higher education sector is precariously rocking, such that even a strong jab might take it down. The suicides and resignations of key leaders and the broader mental health crisis are a signal that cannot be ignored. The increasingly aggressive stance toward the sector among both federal and state politicians, growth in faculty departures, ongoing staff burnout, and persistent dearth of enrollment among low-income, rural, and male-identified students are all troubling too. Yet it’s also hard to think of a time when the sector as a whole was really stable (if it ever was). While the biggest problems are directly impacting only a tiny number of colleges and universities, the effects are widespread because, to the public and the politicians, all 4,000+ institutions are part of the same band. And right now, that band has a bad reputation.
Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab
Higher education’s fundamental purpose lies in educating the public. That public is diverse along every possible line and far more diverse than today’s college students. But one thing about it is too easily forgotten: it doesn’t think like, or care much about, “academese.” Rather, it is made up of people who want to feel seen and understood by schools, whether they are elementary, secondary, or postsecondary institutions. Those people don’t appreciate jargon, being talked down to, or feeling duped. And right now, that is what too many are experiencing when they interact with colleges and universities.
Reasonable people will disagree over why. Has confidence in higher education eroded because of systematic right-wing attacks on a sector that threatens to create more liberal voters? Sure. Has support declined as more women and people of color gained access to college? Yes. Does the sense that professors are pushing their own agendas rather than meeting students’ needs hurt? Definitely. Has the perceived value of higher education diminished as the price went up? Absolutely.
All of that can be true at the same time and still not help us find ways forward.
Instead, it’s time to embrace that complexity and lean into purpose. With our whole hearts and minds, we’ve got to find ways to understand and connect with the American public. Not just the members who act like our family or friends, or those who like us, or even those who say they want to go to college. Like schools, colleges and universities are social institutions that interact with all other institutions and people — but too often they hide in bubbles and try to pretend the wider world doesn’t matter.
For the last three years, I’ve boxed every week at a Philadelphia gym. One of the fundamentals I’ve learned from my coach, Maleek Jackson, would help higher ed do this work: everything starts with stance.
