Canary: Higher Ed Issues Landscape Report 09/09

September 9th, 2024

• What we’re watching: u-turn on campus events, strike action, convocation messages
• Protests return to campus: Legislative round-up
• What we’re reading: colleges closing, conservative professors, poverty and graduation

What we're watching

Terps’ u-turn on campus events

The University of Maryland?will no longer allow?its campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine to host an event on October 7.

Numerous sources had reported that the SJP chapter’s event request had been approved, as it met the requirements of UM’s new expressive activities policy. However, that approval caused consternation among Jewish and conservative groups. In addition to revoking permissions for the SJP event, UM will — “out of an abundance of caution” — only allow “university-sponsored events that promote reflection on October 7.

“Numerous calls have been made to cancel and restrict the events that take place that day, and I fully understand that this day opens emotional wounds and evokes deeply rooted pain. . . Expressive events will . . .? resume on October 8 in accordance with time, place and manner considerations of the First Amendment.” - University of Maryland President Darryll J. Pines (UMD)

“We are relieved that SJP will no longer be able to appropriate the suffering of our family and friends to fit their false and dangerous narrative” - UMD Jewish Student Union (Baltimore Sun)

Strike action

Striking workers at Cornell returned to work last Tuesday after a tentative agreement was reached between the university and the representing union.

The strike had caused significant disruption to dining and maintenance work at the beginning of the academic year. Workers received over 20% pay raises as part of the agreement.

“Welcome back to those who have been on strike and once again thank you to the countless staff and faculty who helped to fill operational gaps caused by the strike and to the community as a whole for your continued patience. We are looking forward to a successful academic term, supported as usual by our full cadre of superb Cornell staff.” - University statement (Cornell)

Meanwhile, at Boston University, graduate students and RAs began the semester striking in order to pressure the university into a contract. Negotiations between the university and the union broke down in late August.

According to The Guardian, “an estimated 38% of graduate student employees are now unionized, with more than 150,000 workers in 81 bargaining units as of January 2024.” That’s up from 64,400 unionized graduate workers in 2012.

“The trend has been definitely for people to organize. There’s a number of reasons for that, but I would say the No. 1 reason has been the progressive casualization of the faculty—the turning of the majority of the faculty into contingent workers.”- Joe Berry, labor historian University of Illinois (IHE)

Convocation messages

Many presidents greeted new students to campus last week through formal convocation addresses. Others used Q&As, editorials, and video messages to get their message across. The majority acknowledged rebooted protests and ongoing controversy related to the Israel-Hamas conflict. In doing so they tried to frame the situation positively — as an expected aspect of the college experience.

Columbia’s?Interim President, Katrina Armstrong, was candid about the ongoing tumult on campus during her convocation remarks, a fact that could not be ignored given the protests taking place outside.

“Throughout this long history, we’ve gone through some very challenging periods, including in the recent past. What we do today, how we approach the future, must be grounded in those lived experiences…So many in our community have felt unheard, abandoned, or betrayed … and for that, I am deeply, deeply sorry.” - Katrina Armstrong (Columbia Spectator)

Brown president Christina Paxson implored students to leave the “Brown bubble” and get involved in the local community. She also referenced the “tension and discord amid extraordinary geopolitical challenges” that characterized Brown’s spring semester.

“University campuses are not designed to be complacent — we purposefully bring together people from widely different backgrounds and very differing views to test ideas, debate and sometimes disagree. That’s essential for learning.” - Christina Paxson (Brown University)

Harvard president Alan Garber told students: “don’t get too comfortable” and meet disagreement with an open mind.

“This is not a time to brace ourselves . . . This is a time to embrace one another. . . You will learn more from difficult moments of tension than from easy moments of understanding.” - Alan Garber (Harvard Gazette)

Wesylan president Michael Roth made waves with a New York Times editorial encouraging student activism this fall.

“Since at least the 1800s, colleges and universities in the United States have sought to help students develop character traits that would make them better citizens. That civic mission is only more relevant today. The last thing any university president should want is an apolitical campus. . . College students have long played an important, even heroic role in American politics.” - Michael Roth (New York Times)

New Stanford president Jonathan Levin sat down for his first interview with the campus newspaper, signaling a “commitment to institutional neutrality while acknowledging the intense scrutiny that university presidents face.”

“Yes, we face many significant and contentious issues that have to be the subject of discussion and debate on campus, and that does create challenges to be a university president. But when you walk around the Stanford campus, 98% — maybe even 99.8% — of what’s going on on any given day is faculty doing pioneering research and students opening their minds and talking to one another and learning. There’s a lot to be proud of there and to support.” - Jonathan Levin (Stanford Daily)

Legislative round-up

As the Fall Semester gets going, so do legislative sessions in many states. Lawmakers in Ohio, California, Wisconsin, and Arkansas are debating a set of proposals focused on higher education.

In Arkansas, Senator Dan Sullivan announced he would file an anti-DEI bill during the upcoming legislative session, implying it would be based on legislation passed by Florida and Texas. Legislative modeling has become increasingly common over the past decade.

“I’m not sure why this attack on DEI is necessary, but I’m going on record saying I’m going to be against this legislation because I feel like diversity, equity and inclusion provides a richness to all of our campuses.” - Sen. Fred Love, D-Mabelvale (Arkansas Advocate)

In Ohio, state Representatives announced legislation aimed at streamlining NIL rules, specifically in order to boost state universities’ ability to recruit sporting talent.

According to Rep. Adam Matthews, the status quo “puts student-athletes in a really odd situation” because of a “current legal gray area” between NIL collectives and universities.

“The conversation shouldn’t be a calculation of whether lawmakers like NIL. Whether you like NIL or don’t like NIL, it’s here to stay. Our goal is to continue to allow Ohio’s student athletes and universities to compete in the new, ever-expanding, world of NIL,” - State Rep. Jay Edwards (WOSU)

In Wisconsin, a legislative committee is studying the pros and cons of spinning off UW Madison from the UW System.

"Madison casts such a large shadow over the entire system. . . The system schools ? Milwaukee and the 11 ? would really benefit from having that shadow taken away so the Legislature and the public, frankly, can understand what's happening at those institutions." - Jim Langdon, former UW System vice president. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

"Our universities are better together . . .? adding more governance, complications, and inefficiencies would not serve Wisconsin families and taxpayers well.” - Current UW president Jay Rothman

In Mississippi,?State?Auditor Shad White has commissioned a study on DEI spending by universities. Anti-DEI legislation failed to pass during the last legislative session. Last month, the University of Mississippi dissolved its DEI program, creating a new Division of Access, Opportunity, and Community Engagement.

“My big concern is . . . if the university just changes the name, but they don’t actually re-orient the money to stuff that matters, that’s not a real solution. In North Carolina what they did was they shut down their DEI offices and took the money that was going into the office, and they put it into campus police. That’s a good example of something that actually is effective for students. So, my hope is that this money will get reoriented to stuff that makes students’ lives better, that taxpayers here in Mississippi would support.” - Shad White. (WCBI)

In California, the legislature passed a bill banning legacy admissions at the state’s private nonprofit colleges. The bill was largely symbolic as most private colleges in California do not have legacy admissions.

“We want to make sure that everyone’s getting in because of their own merit, because of their grades, their test scores, what they provide to that institution, not because of their pocketbooks, of their parents or their family members,” - Assemblymember Phil?Ting?(Times of San Diego)

?? What we’re reading

Forbes: Massive College Closings Is The Idea That Just Won’t Die

• “We are currently, I believe, watching the creation of an education zombie idea – the idea . . .? that thousands of colleges will suffocate due to demographic trends and a loss of faith in ‘the return on investment.’ . . .? [But] If one school with an enrollment of 200 students closes, while the University of Florida adds 1,500 students, did the higher ed sector shrink?”

The Chronicle of Higher Education: Why Are There So Few Conservative Professors?

• “the public’s impression that American higher education has grown increasingly closed-minded is undeniably correct. Indeed, concerns about the ideological drift of the university are no longer limited to conservatives, but now include some left-leaning faculty who worry that higher education has become, in the?words?of Gregory Conti, a political philosopher at Princeton, ‘sectarian.’”

Mississippi Free Press: ‘Time Poverty’ Can Keep College Students From Graduating

• “Many college students don’t have enough time for their studies. This ‘time poverty,’ as we call it, is often due to inadequate childcare access or the need to work to pay for college and living expenses. . . Providing students with enough financial aid to enroll in college but not enough to complete college is counterproductive. Providing students with enough time – and thus money – for college is therefore not only a sound investment but also critical to honoring the values of fairness and opportunity for all.”

#?? Trending on Social This Week

Sources:

• huffy (@sulkingtime)
• Phillip Lewis (@Phil_Lewis)
• BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom)

Legend Labs is a brand and communications consulting firm for the digital age. We help ambitious leaders create, grow, and protect their Legends. This analysis of reputation-related trends in higher education features insights from Meltwater and direct social media & web analysis.

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