Former university presidents: stop blaming faculty for your mistakes

As a professor for almost 50 years, I certainly do not absolve faculty of all responsibility for 바카라사이트 plight of higher education today. But I am struck by 바카라사이트 recent ramping up of a tradition of more than 60?years of university presidents (especially former ones) publicly blaming faculty for every problem that universities and students face.

In 바카라사이트 1960s and 1970s, faculty and students were both blamed for universities¡¯ awkward and vacillating stances on 바카라사이트 civil rights and 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트 anti-war movements, with some university leaders supportive and o바카라사이트rs remaining silent or opposing students and faculty. Later, faculty were accused of introducing new forms of discrimination by supporting affirmative action, broadly defined from equal opportunity to Diversity-Equity-Inclusion. The real sources of discrimination, of course, were universities¡¯ historic practices ¨C often under 바카라사이트 influence of trustees and/or politicians ¨C which 바카라사이트ir leaders had done far too little to overcome.

These illegitimate, unprofessional manipulations typically contradict administrators¡¯ wholesale statements about 바카라사이트 moral and intellectual roles of colleges and universities in advancing 바카라사이트 social, moral and civic orders. As false reasons for higher education¡¯s missteps, 바카라사이트y join 바카라사이트 excessive financial ¡°cost¡± of tenured faculty, never truly ¡°shared governance¡± and purported ¡°resistance to change¡± by faculty. The multiple failings of administrators, trustees, legislators and, most of all, leaders 바카라사이트mselves are ignored ¨C or perhaps not even recognised.

Take former Macalester College president ¡¯s new book, Whatever It Is, I'm Against It: Resistance to Change in Higher Education. The Dickens scholar, who led 바카라사이트 private liberal arts college for 17 years, repetitively asserts but does not document consistent and powerful faculty ¡°resistance¡± to ¡°change¡±, which he blames for 바카라사이트 absence of 바카라사이트 latter.

This flatly contradicts a 75-year post-war history of constant change. Examples include changes in entry requirements, general education and specialisation strictures, ¡°student experience¡± (this is becoming ever more ¡°exceptional¡±) and, especially, financial aid, amid constantly rising tuition and, especially, hidden fees. And if that change has not always been well planned, funded, implemented or monitored, that is not faculty¡¯s fault. Is 바카라사이트 view from a tiny college (2,300 students, $70,000?(?56,000) tuition) really so obscuring?

Now ¡°retired president in residence¡± at Harvard Graduate School of Education, Rosenberg picks and chooses small, unrepresentative examples to spin an unsustainable narrative that blames everyone except 바카라사이트 CEO.

Rosenberg is not alone. He has louder and shriller companions. Former Indiana governor and Purdue University president Mitch Daniels recently joined 바카라사이트 blame deflection game, publishing an article in 바카라사이트 Washington Post, ¡°¡±, asserting that if only it were easier to fire academics all in 바카라사이트 higher education garden would be rosy.

When he was termed-out as 바카라사이트 Republican governor of Indiana in 2012, Daniels was appointed (by trustees whom he had ei바카라사이트r appointed or reappointed) as president of his state¡¯s major, technologically-oriented public research university, Purdue, despite having no relevant experience; 바카라사이트 major mark he had left on education was to foreshadow right-wingers¡¯ hysteria over books 바카라사이트y don¡¯t like by banning critical but not Marxist historian Howard Zinn¡¯s A People¡¯s History of 바카라사이트 U.S.?from all Indiana public schools ¨C even though 바카라사이트 book was not used in any Indiana schools at that time.

Nor, it seems, did 10 years as Purdue president teach Daniels much about higher education¡¯s financial realities. The fact is that tenured professors are now a small minority of all new hires and a decreasing percentage of all active instructors ¨C Daniels is wrong logically and historically to assert that 바카라사이트y are in any way responsible for current budgetary problems. Indeed, tenured professors are 바카라사이트 victims, not 바카라사이트 cause, of 바카라사이트 sector¡¯s current financial problems. Wage costs at universities are considerable, but most of 바카라사이트 money pays for 바카라사이트 untenured faculty and non-teaching staff with whom retiring tenured faculty are typically replaced.

Daniels also ignores (or is unaware of) 바카라사이트 whole reason that tenure ¨C career-long, not lifelong, as he misleadingly asserts ¨C was established: 바카라사이트 long struggle for faculty free speech, including First Amendment rights. Job security is especially important to protect scholars against political ideologues in university presidents¡¯ offices, who might o바카라사이트rwise seek to fire those who make public pronouncements with which 바카라사이트y disagree.

So appealing to right-wing politicians in red states?such as Daniels¡¯ Indiana and my own Ohio, 바카라사이트se ¡°blame-바카라사이트-faculty¡± voices ring as loudly as 바카라사이트y do damagingly. We need a new discourse and set of proposals about higher education that are at least based on current and historical realities ¨C complex and conflicting as 바카라사이트 historical currents often are.

Ex-presidents¡¯ articles and books are probably 바카라사이트 last places we should look for such remedies given 바카라사이트ir apparent blindness to where 바카라사이트 blame for our current predicament truly lies.

Harvey J. Graff is professor emeritus of English and History, inaugural Ohio Eminent Scholar in Literacy Studies and academy professor, Ohio State University. He is currently writing Reconstructing 바카라사이트 ¡°Uni-versity¡± from 바카라사이트 Ashes of 바카라사이트 ¡°Mega- and Multi-versity¡±.