The following is a letter from Susan Misenhelder of the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education: Dear CFHE friends, If you haven’t already registered, we hope you’re consulting with your organization about attending the next CFHE Gathering in Los Angeles (actually Manhattan Beach) on January 16-18, 2015. Please do plan to join us! The…
In case you missed it, Jeffrey J. Williams, professor of English and of literary and cultural studies at Carnegie Mellon University, published a terrific piece this morning on Inside Higher Ed that convincingly debunks the pretensions of those who would cut educational costs through technological innovation (and “creative disruption”) at the expense of both students…
In an article today on the debacle at The New Republic, journalist (and former TNR staffer) Michael Kinsley is quoted in reference to new owner Chris Hughes, “It’s his magazine, and if he wants to wreck it, he can.” This could easily become the tagline for the current age. Certainly for the boards of trustees of our institutions of…
By the end of sophomore year, tradition suggests that most college students should think about how they can narrow their interests to a range of opportunities after graduation. It’s not that college is over for them, it’s just more a case of the need to plan ahead. While many began their college careers thinking that…
The Educator and the Oligarch: A Teacher Challenges the Gates Foundation by Anthony Cody (New York: Garn Press, 2014). Though this book may have been sparked by an exchange between an experienced science teacher (Anthony Cody) and the Gates Foundation on Cody’s blog for Education Week, “Living in Dialogue,” and on the Foundation’s blog, “Impatient Optimists,” it…
A version of Hank Reichman’s August post “Usual Suspects Saying the Usual Things: Critiquing the Schmidt Report” has appeared in the December, 2014 issue of the Clarion, the monthly newspaper of the Professional Staff Congress, the faculty union at the City University of New York. Titled “Schmidt: reduce faculty authority” in the print version and “Benno…
“Non-negotiable.” From Texas legislators adding new standardized tests to David Coleman defending his Common Core State Standards, that’s how education “reformers” present their changes. After all, they know better than we do. The problem with American education, they argue, is that too many constituencies have been involved in decision-making, from parents to teachers to school…
There are big changes coming in American higher education. College and university governance must accommodate these changes and shape rather than be shaped by them. The changes reflect both the simple reality that the financing structure doesn’t work and that external forces will impose new challenges and opportunities upon senior leadership. What steps can college…
