This piece from the New York Times (free) poses some interesting questions about whether top colleges are doing enough to recruit low-income students.  I'd invite any thoughts or opinions on the piece or whether all colleges should be doing more to combat the over representation of affluent students on our campuses.

As students of higher education, we learn as scripture that the arts and humanities are in decline - being replaced by professional education; we leave innovations in medical and business education left unexamined. To better understand the synthesis of the arts and professional education, we should explore how universities are incorporating the arts into their professional curriculum. A recent podcast from PRI's Studio 360 does just that. The program reviews research tying music therapy to patient recovery, and writing workshops for medical residents.

For other glimpses of this synthesis see the Shands Arts in Medicine center at the University of Florida,  the Program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University, and the Medical Humanities resources at New York University.

The New York Times reported some results from an AAUP survey, including increases in professor pay, the gap between public and private universities in professor pay, and the continuing increase of non-tenure-track faculty hires.  The article is here.

This article from The New Yorker (full version available through subscription or iPad app) discusses a number of shortcomings with the US News and World Report rankings of colleges and Universities.  Though this issue has received a great deal of attention within the field of Higher Education throughout the years, such a high profile article (written by the popular Malcolm Gladwell) is interesting and timely.  One can only wonder if we are approaching a "Tipping Point" (gratuitous Gladwell reference) that will spur real reform in rankings systems.

On Friday, April 15, 2011, the annual Higher Education in Review symposium will feature the work of more than a dozen students. The theme of this year's symposium is "Learning in Society." Friends of HER and anyone interested in the practice and research of higher education are encouraged to attend. Unless otherwise noted, all events are in The Faculty Senate Room (Room 112) of the Kern Building.

8:30 a.m.	Coffee & Breakfast
9 a.m.	Welcome and Opening Remarks     Peter Moran, Editor, Higher Education in Review
9:15-10:15 a.m.	Session 1: Learning and Individuals Individual and Organizational Factors Influencing Active and Collaborative Learning Among First-Years Kadian McIntosh, Penn State The Development of Measures of Holistic Student-Athlete Success for a Multi-Institution National Study Dan Merson, Penn State Student Departure as a Learned Phenomenon Jared Rodrigues & Zeke Kimball, Penn State
10:30 - 11:30 a.m.	Session 2: Learning Within and Across Fields Predicting Graduate School Plans Based on Students' Self-Assessed Engineering Knowledge and Skills Hyunny Ro, Penn State NASA Educators Online Network (NEON): A Case Study of a Logical "Next Step" in Professional Development Anne Weiss, Penn State A Disciplined Consensus: An Inquiry Into the Problem of Integration in the Definition of Interdisciplinary Clair Gilbert & Zeke Kimball, Penn State
11:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.	Lunch provided
12:15 - 1:15 p.m.	Session 3: Learning Environments Academic Socialization: A Comparative Study on the Experiences of U.S. and International Students in a Doctoral Program Ghadah Al Morshedi & Kristen Lee, Penn State Learning by Embracing An Unknown Society: A Meta-Synthesis of Study Abroad Programs Yu Meng, University of Minnesota The Era of Student Bureaucracy Nate Sorber, Penn State Black Faculty Members' Experiences of Academic Climate Jessica Bennett & Jessica Harris, Penn State
1:30 - 2:30 p.m.	Session 4: Learning in Society Changes in Price Sensitivity in Higher Education Since World War II Rodney Hughes, Penn State "It Takes a Village": School-Community Partnerships in Rural America Andrew Koricich, Penn State Where to Go? An Analysis of Postsecondary Choices of High School Graduates Juan Jara-Almonte & Kristen Lee, Penn State The Squid and The Whale: William James and Charles Eliot Zeke Kimball, Penn State
3:00 p.m.	Reception celebrating the publication of Higher Education in Review, Volume 8     4th Floor of Rackley Building
4:00 p.m.	Happy Hour     Whiskers in the Nittany Lion Inn

William Cronon, the Frederick Jackson Turner and Vilas Research Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison, has found himself embroiled in the clash between Republican and Democratic politicians in Wisconsin.  Conlon penned a couple pieces for his blog and the NYTimes, which offered historical context for the recent events in Wisconsin, and criticized Republican Governor Scott Walker's efforts to restrict the collective bargaining rights of public workers.  With these efforts, Conlon claims that Republicans in Wisconsin are repudiating the progressive traditions of the state and their party.  Two days after Conlon's blog post, the Republican Party formally requested all emails from his university account on matters related to the post under Wisconson's Open Records Law.  The Chronicle and the NYTimes have covered the unfolding events that raise interesting academic freedom and legal issues.  Furthermore, the American Historical Association has released a statement deploring the records request, claiming that it is part of an effort to silence the distinguished professor.

Stanley Fish’s November 8, 2010 opinion piece, “Woe-Is-Us Books” articulates a feature that students and scholars of higher education should be well familiar with – criticism of the “higher learning in America.” He summarizes multiple critiques of postsecondary education in the U.S. and observes that there is little consensus on what the actual problems are (let alone what the solutions should be). Along with the summary, he makes two points: 1) there is no shortage of criticism and panic about the trajectories of our institutions; 2) no one is willing to build an institution from scratch (except, seemingly, those who plan to start Ralston College – which, by the way, seems to be a riff on St. John’s College with academic robes added).

 

Given that we know such criticism of colleges and universities have existed for decades (think: Thorstein Veblen, The Higher Learning in America: A Memorandum on the Conduct of Universities by Business Men (1918), Upton Sinclair, The Goose-Step, a Study of American Education (1923); Robert Maynard Hutchins, The Higher Learning in America (1936)), we can safely assume that criticism won’t stop, no matter what steps administrators take to address problems. This is partly because there is little consensus on what the industry as a whole is supposed to achieve.

 

This point, that the goals of higher education are kaleidoscopic in nature, is one that that Fish fails to make explicit. We should expect and encourage ongoing debate about the purposes of higher education, illuminate the multiple goals of higher education and their corresponding niches, and finally, we should lighten the ‘crisis’ rhetoric. It’s the same as it ever was.

The New York Times featured an article describing the recent furor over research supporting the existence of ESP to be published in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology by renowned social psychologist and professor emertius at Cornell, Daryl J. Bem.  The controversy is raising questions regarding the nature and quality of peer review, as well as the statistical assumptions embedded in much of social science research.  While it is not suprising that research supporting the existence of ESP is being questioned, this instance is unusual because of who authored the paper, and the journal publishing it.

The New York Times online posted an opinion piece this week by Stanley Fish, reviewing economists Robert B. Archibald and David H. Feldman's new book, “Why Does College Cost So Much?”  Archibald and Feldman's book challenges what they term the "dysfunctionality narrative" that criticizes higher education institutions for mission creep away from educating students towards an unhealthy attention on research, facility development, and eroding focus on the social aims of higher education.  While critics claim these internal shifts have caused the rising tuition bills that students and their families face, Archibald and Feldman argue that instead colleges and universities are changing in response to demands in the environment, particularly the rising prominence and costs of technology.  Archibald and Feldman also argue that the common calculations of college cost in comparison to family income do not tell the real story and offer an alternative model.

Fish agrees with Archibald and Feldman's analysis, particularly as a response to the 2003 Congressional report ''The College Cost Crisis" by Republicans John Boehner and Howard McKeon. As Fish concludes:

        "But by giving the lie to the 'dysfunctionality narrative,' they arm every college president with a ready reply to         the next legislator who, following the lead of Boehner and McKeon (and indeed of every politician since                Ronald Reagan), demands that colleges and universities reform themselves from within. By taking what they         call the 'aerial view' — looking to 'economy wide' factors — and rejecting the 'close up view' of the                        university imagined 'in a vacuum,' Archibald and Feldman allow us to say that at least in the area of costs            the fault lies not in ourselves, but in the stars."