Canary: Higher Ed Issues Landscape Report 09/16

September 16th, 2024

• What we’re watching: Title VI, Divestment, NIL
• Rankings: the pivot from inputs to outcomes
• What we’re reading: new rules, ideological chickens, rural bashing

What we’re watching

Staffing Title VI

UPenn has announced a first-of-its-kind “Office of Religious and Ethnic Inclusion” that will be “the sole, University-wide point of contact” for Title VI complaints.

The center is a direct response to enhanced federal scrutiny around antisemitism and a Jewish student group lawsuit against the university for alleged Title VI violations. The university has justified the new center in terms of both antisemitism and islamophobia.

“Over the past year, our campus and our country witnessed a disquieting surge in antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of . . . prejudice [that] has no place at Penn. The Office of Religious and Ethnic Inclusion (Title VI) is being formed to confront this deeply troubling trend” - Interim President J. Larry Jameson (UPenn )

Over at NYU, the university will hire its first Title VI coordinator by the end of the year. A member of staff in NYU’s Office of Equal Opportunity, the coordinator will ensure compliance with Title VI, produce an annual report and conduct training and educational programming.

Divestment, flyers and chalk

Brown Trustee Joseph Edelman has resigned in protest at an upcoming board vote on divestment.

An April agreement between the university and pro-Palestinian protestors to end encampments included a promise that protestors could recommend formal measures to the Board on divestment. Though likely to fail, the vote has outraged conservatives and Jewish groups. In addition, 24 state attorneys general have essentially threatened sanctions against Brown and Rhode Island if the vote is successful.

“The university leadership has for some reason chosen to reward, rather than punish, the activists for disrupting campus life, breaking school rules, and promoting violence and antisemitism at Brown” - Joseph Edelman (WSJ )

Over at Princeton, police are investigating flyers found on campus reading “Nuke Gaza” and “Kill Roaches.”

“Princeton deplores all hateful speech, which undermines our values of respect and inclusion. . . Anonymous, offensive speech is especially concerning.” - Michele Minter, vice provost for institutional equity and diversity (Daily Princetonian )

Finally, professors at Harvard defied a new campus ban on chalk and encouraged students to do likewise. According to Inside Higher Ed, some of the messages read, “Why does a preschool have more academic freedom than Harvard?” and “I love puppies.” Another wrote, “Welcome back, students: Ask why chalking is banned.” The mini-saga was widely ridiculed on social media.

House Rules: NIL

A potentially seismic college sports settlement, House v. NCAA, is back on hold after a judge asked the parties to “go back to the drawing board.”

The rejected settlement would have seen former student-athletes paid nearly $3 billion in damages while also allowing universities to pay current student-athletes. The judge expressed optimism that a new settlement could be reached quickly. Meanwhile, former Alabama coach Nick Saban was on Capitol Hill last week to meet with Senators about NIL and college sports.

Rankings: from inputs to outcomes

Rankings have been back in the news with The Wall Street Journal and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) releasing new annual lists.

In addition, drafts of U.S. News & World Report’s new list was leaked to the press. (They were quick to point out the leaked list was only preliminary.) UPenn’s drop from 6 to 10 raised the most eyebrows, underlining how universities that had faired poorly with protests over the last year also did poorly in the rankings.

"U.S News provides preliminary information to institutions about our Best Colleges rankings. . . Any information provided is not considered final until September 24." - U.S. News Statement (Daily Pennsylvanian )

Free speech and reputation

FIRE’s annual list has grown in importance to college reputations over the last few years as political scrutiny of campus climates has increased.

Colleges who featured neat the top were quick to tout their ranking. However, as usual, news and social channels focused on those at the bottom — a who’s who of elite public and private universities.

“Perversely, these days, the more expensive the college or university and the more “elite” its reputation is, the more chilled its environment is for open discourse and constructive disagreement. These once-revered universities [are] torpedoing trust in academia’s credibility as a center for objectivity and discovering truth. Perhaps they shouldn’t be considered elite at all.” - Greg Lukianoff president and CEO of FIRE (New York Post )

In addition to releasing the list, FIRE’s research found that:

• 55% of students find it difficult to discuss the Israeli-Hamas conflict — the highest percentage ever found by FIRE for an issue.
• However, a small number of students (17% vs 20% last year) said they feel like they cannot express their opinion on a subject because of how students, a professor, or the administration would respond.

Do rankings still matter?

According to a new report from Art & Science Group, college rankings are losing influence:

• 4 in 10 students did not use rankings at all.
• Nearly 3/4 of students are either not considering rankings sources or considering them at only one decision-making juncture.
• For student applicants, Niche (renowned for their party school ranking) were more highly consulted than US News & World Report.

As Legend Labs has previously pointed out , rankings do still matter (most certainly for universities themselves) however the concept of ROI is becoming more and more important to all ranking methodologies.

“Any useful attempt to measure, compare, or rank educational institutions must be based on value added by the school. And that means evaluating outcomes for similarly situated students. The silver lining is that when U.S. News releases its new rankings, fewer people than ever will be paying attention.” - Education columnist Ryan Craig (Forbes )

From inputs to outcomes

As Forbes’ Craig points out above, rankings are increasingly pivoting away from inputs (faculty salaries, standardized test scores, peer assessment) to outcomes (such as post-college salaries and career advancement.)

“Our ranking measures how well each college sets graduates up for financial success. We look at how much a school improves students’ chances of graduating and their future earnings, balancing these outcomes with feedback from students on college life. We don’t measure reputation. [Our] ranking seeks to reward institutions that showcase demonstrable positive outcomes for their students and alumni.” (Wall Street Journal )

The new Wall Street Journal rankings are a good example of this trend, and a new cadre of universities are keenly promoting their enhanced status as a result of the new metrics.

Today, students and parents have the opportunity to choose from a proliferation of rankings, picking the criteria and methodology that best reflect their own priorities and values. Universities too, can highlight the rankings they do well in, as well as the ones that reflect their own key messages and priorities. Traditional ranking powerhouses should prepare for dips and drops in their own rankings — and be ready to tell a different set of stories as outcomes take center stage in admissions decision-making.

?? What we’re reading

The Chronicle of Higher Education: New Rules and Familiar Challenges as Antiwar Protesters Return to Campuses: ‘The Stakes Are Extraordinarily High’

• The environment on college campuses this fall is nowhere near the intensity of the protests last spring, when activists set up encampments and took over campus buildings, scores of people were arrested, and college presidencies were toppled. But the rallies and demonstrations that have broken out on a handful of campuses across the country in recent weeks have familiar echoes. They’re also testing the new rules colleges rolled out over the summer to try to keep the chaos of the spring from returning.

The Hill: The ideological chickens are coming home to roost on our nation’s college campuses

• Colleges and universities face many challenges as the new academic year gets underway. But the American public has no sympathy for these supposed “enlightened” institutions, because college administrators and boards of trustees are only facing the consequences for the bad decisions they themselves have made. Colleges have failed to effectively manage the rhetorical sphere around higher education.

Inside Higher Ed: Stop With the Rural-Bashing on Campuses

• As we embark on another fall semester that coincides with a contentious presidential election in which rural-urban dynamics—and tensions—are attracting attention, we have a responsibility as educators to challenge antirural bias. It is incumbent upon us to ensure that our institutions are places where rural students and faculty know that they, too, belong.

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