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FIRST READS A Free-for-All? Will Biden’s community-college plan waylay the students it most wants to help? 6 Outlawing ‘Indoctrination’ Idaho lawmakers think critical race theory inflames divisions. So they passed a law against it. 7 Board Brouhaha David B. Wilson was censured by his board. Now the Supreme Court will weigh in. 8 Spring Enrollments The undergraduate drop is the steepest since the pandemic began. 9

INSIGHT FEATURES The ‘Flagship’ Folly The metaphor is a shoddy classifier of colleges The Collapse but a clear signal of higher ed’s status obsession. of the College Dream Machine THE REVIEW BRENDAN CANTWELL AND W. CARSON BYRD 42 10 Demands for Diversity Lead to Corporatization Our blind faith in the transformative power Students are empowering administrators at faculty expense. of higher ed is slipping. Now what? THE REVIEW AMNA KHALID 44 THE REVIEW CHAD WELLMON The Post-Pandemic Library They led colleges into the socially distant era. What’s next? The Damage Campaign SCOTT CARLSON 46 Caught up in a storm of false accusations, Stop Grading Class Participation 22 professors found themselves fighting to Students shouldn’t have to battle one another clear their names. for airtime to earn a good grade. ADVICE JAMES M. LANG 48 SARAH BROWN AND MEGAN ZAHNEIS CAREERS Eliminate Letters of Recommendation ‘Everybody Is a Target They impede progress on diversity and waste your time. 32 Right Now’ ADVICE ALLISON M. VAILLANCOURT AND ÖZLEM H. ERSIN 50 A president sacks his toughest faculty INDEX of jobs by category and region. 53 critic, and the outrage goes national. JOB LISTINGS 54 TOM BARTLETT AND JACK STRIPLING

TOTAL POSITIONS ONLINE Ronald Crutcher’s 17,258 jobs.chronicle.com Racial Reckoning 36 TOP JOB How the University of Richmond’s first Blue Mountain Community College Black president found himself at odds President with student activists. KATHERINE MANGAN GAZETTE 58

Cover illustration by Alvaro Dominguez for The Chronicle

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MAY 14, 2021 3 FROM THE EDITORS

Higher Ed’s Reset “BECAUSE I WAS WRESTLING WITH SO MUCH, I immediately thought, ‘I am the dumbest person here, so I’m going to shut up, observe, and listen,’” said a former student, who was the first in her immediate family to attend college. She described how growing up poor in a Black family in rural Mississippi left her feeling es- tranged as a Stanford University undergraduate. “I was second-guessing myself as soon as I walked into the classroom.” Such emotions can be common among first-generation students and students of color. And hearing it from Jesmyn Ward — a two-time National Book Award winner, a recipient of a MacAr- thur “genius grant,” and a professor at Tulane University — felt striking. Ward spoke during The Chronicle’s recent leadership summit, Higher Ed’s Reset, in April. The three-day virtual event focused on how college leaders can rethink teaching, student support, and how they prepare their institutions for the future. The summit was an extension of the virtual panels we’ve been producing almost weekly since Covid-19 shut down campuses last year. The Reset event included a range of speakers: five college presidents, including Michael Crow of Ar- izona State University and DeRionne Pollard of Montgomery College; and experts on teaching or student success like Cathy N. Davidson, a professor of English at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and Anthony A. Jack, an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. While the speakers emphasized the need for new ways of operating and educating post-pandemic, 70 percent of the 736 attendees who voted in an online poll the CHRONICLE PHOTO first day said their institutions were only “somewhat prepared” to make changes. But among the hundreds of questions and comments that came in during the event, many audience members expressed optimism that their institutions can change. Not only for the sake of their institutions’ viability and reputations, but for the sake of all the young Jesmyn Wards who are planning to take a big step away from their homes and onto campuses during such an uncertain time. In our next issue, we plan to feature excerpts from the summit. To watch a recording of the Reset event or register for forthcoming virtual events, visit chronicle.com/virtual-events. Thanks. — IAN WILHELM, ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR

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THE CHRONICLE 4 C OF HIGHER EDUCATION Rutgers Professors Win National Book Critics Circle Awards

Each year, the National Book Critics Circle presents awards for the ﬁ nest books published in the United States.

Rutgers Congratulates Our Two Professors for Receiving This Honor

Nicole Fleetwood Cathy Park Hong Professor of American Professor of Studies and Art History Creative Writing

Award for Criticism Award for Autobiography

“A blistering critique of the penal system and ultimately a “This courageous, unblinking, innovative, gorgeous, and testament to human ﬂ ourishing in spite of it. Thoughtful furious book invites readers to begin to understand the and ambitious, Fleetwood never loses sight of visibility and experiences of the completely non-homogenous group of humanization as her goals.’’ people lumped together as Asian Americans.” —Justin Rosier, Chair, NBCC Criticism Committee —Marion Winik, Chair, NBCC Autobiography Committee

Rutgers is a leading national research university and New Jersey’s preeminent public institution of higher education. Established in 1766, Rutgers is the nation’s eighth-oldest higher education institution.

excellence.rutgers.edu FIRST READS College affordability | Outlawing ‘indoctrinaton’ | Board brouhaha | Spring enrollments

College affordability A Free-for-All?

PRESIDENT BIDEN’S PLAN for two years of $1.8-trillion economic-stimulus package, is rectly to low-income students and to bolster free community college, which could make likely to draw steep resistance from Repub- supports at community colleges. It would postsecondary education more affordable licans. set aside more than $80 billion to raise the and accessible to millions of Americans, is Some progressives argue it doesn’t go far maximum Pell Grant, for the nation’s low- being praised as a long-overdue step for- enough; they’d like to see four, not just two, est-income students, by $1,400. That would ward. But depending on how it’s structured, years of tuition-free college. Others say that bring the maximum to $7,900. Over the some experts also caution that it could end if it doesn’t include income requirements last 50 years, the Biden plan points out, the up hurting disadvantaged students by di- for recipients, it will give away too much, maximum Pell Grant has shrunk from cov- verting them to colleges where they’re less providing free tuition to students from fam- ering nearly 80 percent of the cost of a four- likely to succeed, and that it could provide ilies who can afford to pay. year college degree to less than 30 percent, free tuition to those who can already afford Some experts also worry about the po- forcing students to take on more debt. it. tential impact of giving students incentives Free community college is already a re- The American Families Plan, which Biden to not start in a four-year college. They ar- ality in many parts of the country. Accord- unveiled last month, includes $109 billion gue that students who start out in coming to the advocacy group College Promise, for two years of free community college, munity colleges — including minority and there are now 368 free-college programs, for “first-time students and workers want- first-generation students — are less like- including 31 that are statewide. Most are ing to reskill.” Democrats have been pro- ly to end up with four-year degrees, largely “last dollar” programs, which means the moting the idea for years, and President because many of their credits fall through money kicks in only after all grants and Barack Obama proposed making commu- the cracks when they transfer to a four-year scholarships are applied. Pell Grants alone nity college free for millions in 2015. With institution. Studies have shown that about cover tuition costs for most low-income stu- their party narrowly controlling both the 80 percent of students entering communi- dents, so for them, two years of communi- House and the Senate, as well as the presi- ty colleges plan to earn a bachelor’s degree, ty-college tuition is already free. dency, the measure’s chances of passage are but fewer than 15 percent end up with one. “If the goal is just access, we pretty much stronger today than six years ago. Still, the “If free community college is a reality, it’s have that already,” for low-income students, costly proposal, which is a key feature of a possible even more students will enter and Pazich said. Still, she said, “there’s some- even more students thing powerful about the message” of free will be stymied in college. “It’s unambiguous.” their pursuit of a The plan has been warmly received by bachelor’s degree,” many higher-education-policy groups. said Loni Bordoloi Some four-year colleges do, however, worry Pazich, program di- students will be siphoned away from their rector of the Teagle campuses. Barbara Mistick, president of the Foundation. National Association of Independent Col- The Biden plan in- leges and Universities, released a statement cludes extra mon- to The Chronicle saying colleges that serve ey — $39 billion large numbers of low-income students from — to address such their communities are particularly con- concerns. It would cerned about enrollment declines. provide two years Laura W. Perna, a professor of educa- of subsidized tuition at the University of Pennsylvania who tion to historically studies free-college plans, said it’s import- Black colleges, tribal ant that the plan serve not only recent col- colleges, and oth- lege graduates but also older adults. “A lot of er minority-serving these free-tuition programs target students institutions for stu- moving from high school directly to com- dents from families munity colleges,” said Perna, who is also a earning less than vice provost for faculty. That leaves out old- $125,000 a year. er learners who are retooling for a different It also would pro- job or re-entering the work force after rais- vide more money di- ing families. — KATHERINE MANGAN SAM KALDA FOR THE CHRONICLE

THE CHRONICLE 6 C OF HIGHER EDUCATION Outlawing ‘indoctrination’ Idaho Targets Its Colleges

THE TENSION in Idaho over whether colleges perior to any other or can be used to justify Critical race theory has also been attacked are “indoctrinating” students with a left- treating people adversely. by Republicans on the national level. Last ist agenda was codified into law last month. The Idaho Press reported that the lawmak- September, President Donald J. Trump is- Gov. Brad Little signed a bill that bars public ers who objected to the bill said that it would sued an executive order banning funding schools and institutions of higher education detract from classroom conversations and for diversity and inclusion training. The or- from directing or compelling students to that antidiscrimination protections aren’t der included critical race theory as one of “affirm, adopt, or adhere” to what the state needed because Idaho already has them. the “divisive concepts” that should not be Legislature views as the principles of critical But the newspaper reported that conserva- taught with federal dollars. race theory. tive lawmakers in the state are afraid that But critical race theory is not diversity “The claim that there is widespread, sys- white students are being taught that they and inclusion training. Its founding is close- temic indoctrination occurring in Idaho’s should be ashamed of “past wrongs carried ly inter twined with the work of Kimberlé classrooms is a serious allegation,” the Re- out by earlier generations, such as slavery.” Crenshaw, a law professor at Columbia Uni- publican governor wrote in a letter to the Higher education has been under fire versity and the University of California at speaker of the state’s House of Representa- in Idaho. In March the Legislature cut Los Angeles who studies issues of race, rac- tives. “Most worryingly, it undermines pop- $409,000 from Boise State University’s ap- ism, and the legal system. ular support for public education in Idaho.” propriation — the amount the institution The American Bar Association called it “a The Idaho State Board of Education did said it spent on social-justice programs. The practice of integrating race and racism in not take a position on the bill, but Matt same week, a group of mandatory diversity society that emerged in the legal academy Freeman, its executive director, said in an classes were temporarily suspended at the and spread to other fields of scholarship.” emailed statement that “the board has not university so that it could investigate an in- This practice “critiques how the social con- received any documented evidence of sys- cident that officials believed had taken place struction of race and institutionalized rac- tematic ‘indoctrination’ occurring in Ida- in one of the classes. Officials said they had ism perpetuate a racial caste system that rel- ho’s public schools or our public higher- heard about the incident only second- and egates people of color to the bottom tiers.” It education institutions.” thirdhand. does not teach that any one race or ethnicity The new law outlines what the Legislature Recently, the advocacy arm of the Idaho is superior or inferior to another, as the Ida- believes are “tenets” found in critical race Freedom Foundation, which calls itself a ho law suggests. theory and says that they “exacerbate and free-market think tank, has been peppering President Biden rescinded Trump’s exec- inflame divisions on the basis of sex, race, the state’s residents with robocalls and ra- utive order on the new president’s first day ethnicity, religion, color, national origin, or dio ads that say public colleges are teaching in office, but the Idaho law indicates that is- other criteria in ways contrary to the unity students “to hate America,” The Chronicle sues of diversity and inclusion may still be of the nation and the well-being of the state reported. legislated at the state level. of Idaho.” In a statement responding to the new law, Freeman, the executive director of the Those tenets, according to the Legislature, a Boise State spokesman said the uni- state’s Board of Education, said it took the include the idea that people “are inherent- versity supports “academic freedom Legislature’s concerns seriously and ly responsible for actions committed in the and the free exchange of ideas on our would “soon begin a comprehen- past by other members of the same sex, race, campus.” He quoted the sive review of its governing ethnicity, religion, color, or nation of origin.” board’s policy, which policies related to academ- The law states that students cannot be dis- states that Boise State ic freedom and respon- tinguished or classified based on their race is committed to its mis- sibility for both facul- — while also saying the legislation would sion to “foster and de- ty and students.” The not interfere with requirements to collect fend intellectual honesty, board will also conduct students’ demographic data. And it outlaws freedom of inquiry and in- campus- climate surveys teaching the idea that “any sex, race, ethnic- struction, and free expres- of students. ity, religion, color, or national origin” is su- sion.” — NELL GLUCKMAN DARIN OSWALD, IDAHO STATESMAN VIA AP

MAY 14, 2021 7 FIRST READS

Board brouhaha Trustee Fight Reaches the Supreme Court THE NATION’S highest court said last a “quintessential form of government about government shutting down month that it would take up a First speech,” they wrote in an appeal, and speech. Amendment clash about college gover- the First Amendment does not bar some- A ruling in favor of Wilson could un- nance, evaluating whether a public-col- one from criticism. The appellate court’s dermine a common understanding lege board had the grounds to censure decision “implausibly holds that elect- among governing boards — that mem- one of its members in a case that could ed officials suffer a constitutional injury bers should act as one and avoid person- have broad implications for boards and when they are criticized for their per- al crusades. Groups that advise boards free speech. formance in office,” they wrote. (A law- tend to oppose so-called rogue trustees The case centers around David B. Wil- yer for the college did not respond to an who go it alone in processes separate son, a member of the Houston Commu- email seeking comment.) from official board forums. The Associa- nity College Board of Trustees from 2014 Robert Glaser, the board’s chair, told tion of Community College Trustees urg- to 2019. Board members voted to censure The Chronicle that during his time as a es board members to “govern as a singu- him in 2018. At that point, Wilson had trustee, the board has rarely voted to lar unit and speak with a single voice.” filed several lawsuits against the college, censure, outside of the Wilson vote. “We Elected trustees in particular, the group and he had also backed robocalls pro- had to spend additional time and re- advises, should “avoid bad publicity for testing college operations in Qatar and sources on issues that were brought up the college, the board, and for them- arranged a private investigation into by Trustee Wilson,” he said. “It did take selves.” whether a board colleague lived in her away from the normal duties.” The group specifies that individu- district. Glaser, who voted against the 2018 al board members should not conduct The board’s chair at the time, Carolyn censure, said his colleagues are closely investigations into college businesses. Evans-Shabazz, called his conduct “in- watching the case, Houston Community “Even though trustees may have con- appropriate” and “reprehensible.” As part College System v. David B. Wilson, No. 20- cerns about the college’s management, of the censure’s sanctions, Wilson would 804. “We knew it was in play, that it was they need to be prudent in their requests be unable to hold board leadership posi- a possibility,” he said. “I don’t think any- to avoid their own mismanagement or tions or get reimbursed for board travel. one would have imagined it would have micromanagement.” He also would need additional approval got to this.” But there was plenty for Wilson to pro- for community-affairs spending. Melissa M. Carleton, a partner at Brick- test, his lawyers argued in a brief to the To Wilson (below right), the vote was a er & Eckler who focuses on education Supreme Court. Mere days before Wil- violation of his First Amendment rights. law, said the censure is a “go-to tool” that son’s censure, a former board member He was punished, he argued, for speak- boards use to take action against “prob- was sentenced to prison after a judge ing out on issues of public concern, and it lem children.” (Sometimes, she added, said he took $225,259 from people seek- caused him mental anguish. these trustees have legitimate points, ing contracts with the college. Individual trustees were and “the board is the problem child.”) “As a member of the Board, Wilson welcome to disagree with his The case might not split along committed himself to helping root out constitutionally protected party lines, she added. Wilson’s what he saw as the unwise, unethical, speech, Wilson told argument that he suffered men- and often unlawful conduct of fellow The Chronicle. But a cen- tal anguish “strikes me as a Board members,” the lawyers wrote in a sure from a government little bit of a snowflake argu- brief. “Wilson’s colleagues on the Board body like the board over a ment,” Carleton said, but were not pleased to have their behavior matter of speech is over- one could also charac- questioned so publicly.” stepping, he said. terize the case as one — LINDSAY ELLIS A district court dis- agreed, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sided with Wilson. Elected officials should speak out on matters of public concern, that body wrote. PAT SULLIVAN, AP The college’s lawyers peti- tioned the Su- preme Court for further review. A censure is

THE CHRONICLE 8 C OF HIGHER EDUCATION Spring enrollments Undergrad Drop Is Steepest Since Pandemic Hit NEW SPRING ENROLLMENT DATA from the National Student Clearinghouse The drop in undergraduate attendance played out among all racial and Research Center show the steepest decline among undergraduates since the ethnic groups, with Native American students — a 0.6 percent share of en- pandemic began. rollment this spring — declining the most. The 13-percent decrease in Native The data, which reflect enrollments through March 25, indicate that under- American undergraduates from a year earlier outpaced the drop of Black, graduate attendance fell 5.9 percent compared with the same time last year. white, and Latino/Latina students, whose attendance fell 8.8 percent, 8.5 Overall enrollment this semester is down 4.2 percent from a year ago. percent, and 7.3 percent, respectively, this spring. While fewer undergraduates are enrolled in college this spring — particular- The center’s enrollment results are based on 12.6 million students ly at community colleges, which saw an 11.3-percent decline from a year ago and 76 percent of the nearly 3,600 institutions that report to the clearing - — graduate-student enrollment continued to grow. It’s up 4.4 percent from the house. previous year. Here are four takeaways from the data: — AUDREY WILLIAMS JUNE

A Downturn in Traditional-Age Students Enrollments: Up and Down Undergraduate enrollment in all age groups declined this spring, but 18- to 20-year-olds Master’s and Ph.D. enrollments are up, while associate- and bachelor’s-degree fell the most. enrollments are down.

Spring 2020 Spring 2021 Spring 2020 Spring 2021

10.5% Undergraduate 4.7% Under 18 -5.1% certificate -7.4%

0.2% -2.8% 18-20 Associate -7.2% -10.9%

-2.0% -0.8% 20-24 Bachelor’s -4.8% -2.2%

-4.5% Graduate 3.0% 25-29 -5.3% certificate 10.0%

-2.4% 0.8% Over 30 Master’s -4.9% 5.2%

-0.8% First -0.1% Total -5.5% professional -0.4%

1.8% Doctoral 3.6% Demand for Master’s Degrees Is On the Rise -0.4% Enrollments in M.B.A. programs were declining in the spring of 2020 but have risen Total -4.2% nearly 8 percent since then.

Spring 2020 Spring 2021

A Bright Spot in Male Enrollment Business, management, -0.5% marketing, and related Primarily online institutions are the only colleges where undergraduate men haven’t support (M.B.A.s) 7.6% fallen behind women during the pandemic.

-1.4% Education Spring 2020 Spring 2021 3.7%

Health professions and 2.5% -0.2% related clinical sciences Men 5.1% 3.5%

Computer and 8.3% 1.3% information sciences Women and support services 7.8% 1.4%

Public administration -0.7% 0.8% and social-services Total professions 2.8% 2.2%

0.8% Note: At primarily online institutions, more than 90 percent of students enrolled exclusively online before the Totsl pandemic. 5.2% Source: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center

MAY 14, 2021 9

THE REVIEW The Collapse of the College Dream Machine

Our blind faith in the transformative power of higher ed is slipping. What now?

BY CHAD WELLMON

ALVARO DOMINGUEZ FOR THE CHRONICLE

MAY 14, 2021 11 N THE WEEKS following the U.S. presidential election in Novem- eral humanism, a progressive theory of history, global finance, and ber, Twitter was aflutter with the suggestion that a Biden-Har- technocratic governance. Together, these four facets made up an ide- ris administration could issue an executive order canceling ology meant to modernize not just the United States, Canada, and student-loan debt. The responses ranged from the moralizing — Britain but the postcolonial world that constituted a former crum- “Why should I pay for other peoples’ poor choices?” — to the hor- bling empire. Few spread the gospel of higher ed more authoritative- Itatory — “Higher ed is a right!” — to the pedantic — “Historian of ly than Clark Kerr, who served as chancellor of the University of Cal- higher ed, here.” And then there was the sociologist Tressie McMillan ifornia at Berkeley (1952-57), president of the University of California Cottom, quote-tweeting those who couched their opposition to stu- (1958-67), and chairman of the Carnegie Commission on Higher Ed- dent-debt forgiveness as a concern about the majority of Americans ucation (1967-73). without the “luxury” of a college degree: But that gospel is no longer news. It’s an ossified dogma that ob- scures the pact structuring American society since the middle of the 20th century and continues to misshape our lives.

N AN ESSAY based on his inaugural address as chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley, in 1953, Kerr explained to the faculty, of which he had been a member since 1945, that it was party to an implicit contract that set the terms of the university’s relation to society. In return for the provision of labo- Iratories, libraries, and the freedom to practice the “calling of the scholar,” universities provided society with ideas and a labor force trained for the industrial age — the “raw materials of progress.” By accepting industrial society’s material and moral infrastructure, Berkeley’s faculty members obligated themselves to produce knowledge for it. The implicit compact between university and society drew its force from history itself. Society supported faculty members and the university, contended Kerr, “in the belief that they are part of a process by which men are able to discover the truth and, through this truth, control their destiny.” Kerr acknowledged how untimely such a belief McMillan Cottom’s tweet distilled the argument she had first was. Speaking in the early years of the Cold War, when fears of fas- made in her book Lower Ed (2017): The explosive growth of for-prof- cism and totalitarianism constrained political hopes, and fatalisms it colleges has been fueled in part by federally backed student loans, of both the Christian and the existentialist sort cultivated a debili- a wildly disproportionate share of which are owed by Black men and tating hopelessness, Kerr described the present “age of doubt” as a women. Elite higher ed, in her words, “legitimizes the education gos- capitulation to a theory of history that dressed despair up as mature pel while” Lower Ed “absorbs all manner of vulnerable groups who realism. In fact, he said, such despair betrayed a fear that human be- believe in it.” ings could not control their own futures. This disposition was espe- What must one believe in to be willing to borrow tens of thousands cially detrimental to the university because it eroded the confidence of dollars in order to pursue a certification of completion — a B.A.? necessary to fulfill its function: to serve as the intellectual agent of What would a college have to promise in order to compel someone development and modernization. to do that? What would a bank have to believe to extend this person Kerr exhorted Berkeley’s faculty members to recognize the existen- credit? Or the U.S. government, to guarantee such loans en masse — tial challenge that confronted them and to accept their historic re- now roughly $2 trillion? And what would a society have to believe to sponsibility, a call they could heed only if they believed in progress sustain the system that keeps it all going? and the university’s singular role in realizing it. “The university of to- The word credit comes from French and Italian words meaning day,” announced Kerr, “is founded on the faith” that people can con- “belief” or “trust,” and it is related to the Latin noun for “loan” or “a sciously direct human progress and control the future. Without this thing entrusted to another” (crēditum) and the verb “to trust” or “to faith, there would be no role for the university in industrial modernity. believe” (crēdere). Credit is a form of trust that one person or group Kerr delivered his address on “The University in a Progressive So- has in another, and that serves as the basis for the former to provide ciety” several years after the publication of such liberal classics as the latter some thing (typically goods or money), with the expecta- Reinhold Niebuhr’s The Nature and Destiny of Man, Lionel Trilling’s tion that the person so entrusted will within a certain period of time The Liberal Imagination, and Arthur Schlesinger Jr.’s The Vital Cen- return it. In a relationship based on credit, belief and trust become ter. Presenting the future as a dangerous course between the Scylla practice. In the United States, it’s just this type of relationship that of communist utopias and the Charybdis of fascist totalitarianism, underpins the financing of higher education. these works shaped the “bleak liberalism” that the scholar Aman- Colleges have for centuries benefited from the belief that they da Anderson has shown was common among American intellectu- could provide prospective students, as well as institutions (the Ro- als between 1930 and 1950. Writing in 1957, Judith N. Shklar, then a man Catholic Church, the state, the military, aristocratic classes) young professor of philosophy at Harvard and now best known for with particular goods (social recognition, status or class member- her decidedly bleak “liberalism of fear,” identified, like Kerr, a mel- ship, discrete skills or knowledge, money, prestige). But it wasn’t ancholia among American liberals. They had concluded that, as until the middle of the 20th century in the United States that a be- Schlesinger put it, “man was, indeed, imperfect.” Shklar diagnosed lief arose in the capacity of colleges to transform not just the lives of American liberals as lacking political faith, a faith in the “power of social elites but the lives of all people — and also to directly change human reason expressing itself in political action.” society. Shklar sought a new politics — one propelled by radical hope Where did this belief come from? How did it become, in the United and uncowed by liberal anxieties about totalitarian threats and the States at least, nearly universal, almost assumed? Who made use of dangers of wanting too much. Kerr, who trained as a labor econo- it, and to what ends? mist, took a different path. He hoped that higher education might This belief was bolstered by a particular Cold War mixture of lib- facilitate a competent managerial and scientific elite, a technocra-

THE CHRONICLE 12 C OF HIGHER EDUCATION NJIT MAKES INDUSTRY-READY ENGINEERS

As the U.S. emerges from COVID-19 restrictions and its travel-starved populace returns to roads, tunnels and bridges, a national conversation about the future of the country’s neglected transportation infrastructure – and what it will take to make it resilient, sustainable and smart – is beginning to pick up steam.

From civil engineers to infrastructure planners to concrete industry managers, NJIT researchers are devising and testing next-generation materials, technologies and systems that will help usher in this new era in transportation.

NJIT faculty, students and alumni are building infrastructure to last in a dramatically changing world while reducing the sector’s carbon footprint.

njit.edu • Newark, New Jersey 07102 cy, powered, as he put it in 1969, by “the largely hidden hand of the societies and people as they progressed toward the highest stage of experts in the offices of government agencies, corporations, trade human development: industrial modernity. unions, and nonprofit institutions working with cost-benefit anal- In so doing, Kerr and his fellow mandarins of modernity (the ysis, with planning, programming, and budgeting.” Such a system phrase is Nils Gilman’s) articulated the fixed function colleges and would coordinate minds and matter, and bring about the end of universities played in this historical and social process of global de- ideology and political conflict. Kerr’s address was an early state- velopment. They cast the university as the central institution in a ment of the belief in the individually and socially transformative system of collective, “evolutionary” rationality, a system whose func- power of colleges and universities to reduce inequality and ensure tions included not just the transmission of knowledge and the pro- unending economic growth. It was also an articulation of a Cold duction of ideas but also “the instruments whereby men control their War liberalism whose imprint lives on in the institutional norms, environment.” The university was the instrument of post-ideological ideals, and infrastructures of contemporary higher education. social management. For Kerr, all of these benefits were couched in terms of an explic- Reflecting decades later on his wartime work as a labor econo- it theory of history, one that guided his academic leadership: what mist — during World War II, he had served as the West Coast direc- he called, in his 1953 address, the “continuing upward movement of tor of wage stabilization for the National War Labor Board — Kerr our Western civilization.” The university was not only a trove of ac- wrote that war had compelled him to eschew academic and polit- cumulated knowledge but also a source of confidence, a consoling ical theories and to focus instead on pragmatic, even experimen- tal, approaches to increasing the nation’s production. This purport- ed rejection of “ideology” led economists such as himself to jettison economic dogmas from classical economics and Marxism to Frie- drich Hayek’s early, philosophically inflected neoliberalism, and The implicit compact between to become, as Kerr put it, “more unified in outlook and more neu- trally professional.” Neither pro-labor nor pro-management, those economists sought “workable policies” for immediate problems, not university and society drew its force ideas for “the best of all possible worlds,” not “Procrustean beds for facts from theories and ideologies.” These were the dispositions that from history itself. would shape his tenure in higher education, too. The postwar university created ideas and knowledge by producing particular types of people — “experts,” as Kerr explained in a 1968 lecture, who “help settle the inevitable conflicts of interest on sign of the historical necessity of the path of progress as it had devel- the basis of facts and analysis.” These experts were the guardians of oped over the past “three centuries of Western thought.” With this knowledge and the agents of progress, and, regardless of their par- forward-looking narrative, which rendered “the West” synonymous ticular industry or economic sector, they were purveyors of the be- with “science” and the “scientific revolution,” Kerr countered Cold lief that American universities were essential to both. This elite was War worries about cultural decline. distinguished not only by its technical skills but more basically by This path was moral as well as intellectual. Kerr propounded a lib- its induction into the all-enveloping “web of rules” — conventions, eral perfectionism — a modern faith that absolved human beings of norms, and moral values — that structured industrial modernity their finitude (or sin) and legitimated a belief that the future was ours and safeguarded its global markets. Universities educate the kinds to master. In the modern system of higher education, the function of people required by the industrial age, inculcating the requi- of “ethics” was to make moral sense of the work that scientists and site ethos and moral aspirations: choice, consent, adaptability, and technologists had already done, and the function of the humanities consumerism. was to provide “leisure” for a largely satisfied society of the universi- As Kerr envisioned it, this system would eventually give rise to a ty-educated middle class. global meritocracy, one that amplified the homogenization of elites Like other liberal institutions — competitive markets, democrat- and experts, and increased their financial and social distance from ic governance, and a free press — the Cold War American universi- everyone else. “The elites,” wrote Kerr and his co-authors in Indus- ty was part of a system that sustained, as Kerr put it, a “permanent trialism and Industrial Man (1960), “become less differentiated, the revolution” meant to drive humankind to ever greater heights of ideologies become more pragmatic; the old culture becomes dimmer well-being, as measured by economists and other social scientists. in the memory. The elites all wear gray flannel suits; the ideological Over the course of his career, Kerr attempted to induce trust not so controversies become more barren; the cultural patterns of the world much in individual humans’ capacity to reason and deliberate, but intermingle and merge.” rather in competitive markets and the expert systems that protected those markets from outside interference. Systems, not human ERR claimed to be observing a rearrangement of the glob- beings, make reason rational; science, not scientists, creates knowl- al social order and a new stage in the history of capital- edge; markets choose, not people. Individual ideas are of “no value at ism. Whereas the feudal lord had faced the peasants and all” until they have been processed. Reason only becomes real in the the industrial capitalist had confronted the working class, “hidden hand” of processes and systems. now the professional manager — whether managing a bit Kof the federal or state bureaucracy, a division of GM, or a university VER THE NEXT TWO DECADES, in what he would retrospective- — faced “knowledge workers.” This made college campuses, not the ly dub the “golden age” of American higher education, Kerr manor or the factory, the contemporary locus of social and politi- developed his progressive theory of history into a detailed, cal conflict. Technological advances and increased access to higher normative account of modernization. In Industrialism and education, observed Kerr, had created a new “intellectual class,” one Industrial Man (written with three other labor economists), dissatisfied with the distribution of authority of earlier forms of cap- OMarshall, Marx and Modern Times, myriad lectures and short essays, italism. (Kerr encountered such “dissatisfaction” directly on his own and the more than 160 reports and publications he oversaw as chair- campus when, in 1964, the Free Speech Movement denounced him man of the Carnegie Commission, Kerr and his colleagues described, and the “machine” he managed.) measured, and defended what they considered to be the “necessary” Kerr believed that the administrative and managerial methods path of social development, not just for the United States but for all he had helped to devise and enact in postwar American universi-

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TAMU.EDU ties could be applied at much greater scales and across the globe. the claim that higher education could solve economic and social in- Decentralization, human-capital development, and administrative equality. But when this faith in the link between the university and and managerial reforms borrowed from General Motors and Shell Oil society began to erode as student protests raged and the oil shocks (and adapted by Cresap, McCormick, & Paget, one of the first high- and economic turmoil of the early 1970s hit, the question of who er-ed consulting firms, during Kerr’s tenure as UC president) weren’t benefits, who pays, and who should pay became a cultural and polit- only efficient mechanisms for economic growth — they were forces ical fault line. capable of propelling all properly modern social structures and of producing, as Schlesinger put it, a “a wide amount of basic satisfac- FTER Ronald Reagan’s election as governor, in 1966, and, to tion and … a substantial degree of individual freedom.” These pro- his delight, the UC Board of Regents’ subsequent dismiss- cesses would necessarily spread across the globe, especially the deal of Kerr (Reagan had cast Berkeley as the epitome of irre- colonizing world. sponsible university radicalism), the belief in universities as Between 1950 and 1970, Kerr’s belief in higher educa- central agents of modernization persisted, but in new and tion was buoyed by research on the correlation be- Adifferent forms. In 1972, Kerr, in his new position as chair of the Car- tween educational attainment and life “outcomes” negie Commission on Higher Education, traveled to the University of as measured by prospective employment and earn- Nairobi, where he delivered a lecture titled “Education and National ings. The belief was institutionalized by unprec- Development.” With colleges in the United States facing, as one Car- edented state and federal investment in public re- negie Commission publication was titled, a “new depression,” Kerr search universities and the creation of a vast tier of asked if higher education, first in the United States and now possibly

four-year state and community colleges — in Kenya, had proved to be “another god that had all subsidized by student-grant and -loan failed.” programs. As in the United States, across Africa a “revolution” in higher ed- These state and federal investments were ucation, noted Kerr, had brought unprecedented enrollments; be- premised on the idea that colleges raised the indi- tween 1950 and 1970, the number of colleges between the Sahara and vidual student’s employment prospects and future earnings, drove the Limpopo grew from four to 30. In both the United States and East economic growth, and would therefore lead to social equality. The African nations such as Kenya and Tanzania, however, doubts about Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (the GI Bill) introduced a de- the contribution of higher education to economic growth and “devel- cades-long series of federal-university joint ventures that eclipsed opment” had increased as underemployed college graduates “flood- such previous efforts as the Morrill Act of 1862 and the New Deal’s ed” cities and “shunned agricultural and manual labor.” Standing more limited 1930s investments in colleges. The 1950s brought the squarely in the future he had once so confidently predicted, Kerr National Science Foundation, several new institutes for the Nation- counseled his audience in Nairobi and across the decolonizing world al Institutes of Health, and research dollars, plus large state invest- to engage in a “more realistic” appraisal of the role higher education ments in colleges in California and New York. The year 1965 saw the played in shaping society. Higher Education Act, which, when reauthorized in 1972, introduced Kerr’s postcolonial revision of higher education’s historical func- means-tested Pell Grants (then called Basic Educational Opportu- tion included a major correction of one of Cold War liberalism’s ba- nity Grants) and helped to reduce direct tuition expenses for low-in- sic tenets: the presumed close correlation between higher education, come students at the lowest-cost institutions. economic growth, and individual earnings. Now, in 1972, he de- The faith that universities could generate rising incomes and so- scribed the connection between the two as “loose.” Yet he professed cial equality was hard won. For several decades, Kerr and his allies the same belief he had for two decades, namely that higher educa- worked to identify the university with society generally, thereby ob- tion was a “necessary condition” for national and global progress. scuring the interests of the university itself. For a brief time, this was Economic data would not be allowed to weaken the faith. What mat- rhetorically effective because it transformed the internal functions tered more than measures like average annual earnings or GDP, ar- and problems of the university — everything from its finances and gued Kerr in Nairobi, was peoples’ “attitudes toward modernization,” governance to curricular battles and student protests — into gen- their trust in “political, scientific elites,” and their own confidence as eral cultural concerns. What happened on college campuses was a consumers. The belief in higher education mattered not because it microcosm of the larger culture and society. This was the basis for nurtured intellectual desire or bound scholarly communities togeth-

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Learn more about growing research: er but rather because it remade people in the image of Cold War lib- The idea of the “sovereign student consumer” was not entirely in- eralism and consumer capitalism. congruous with ideas Kerr and like-minded Cold War liberals had With American universities facing apparent financial ruin and championed for the previous 20 years: Higher education was not just postcolonial universities figuring out what their social role ought to efficient at expanding the national GDP, but also constituted a prof- be, Kerr suggested a change in the system: The private benefits of itable investment in individuals. When President Lyndon B. Johnson higher education, he explained, had “so outrun” the social benefits signed the Higher Education Act of 1965, he emphasized the “person- that it was now necessary to reduce “social costs” by shifting the fi- al value of college” and the “increased personal reward,” and then nancial burden away from society as a whole and onto private inter- clarified the nature of that value and reward: “The nation couldn’t ests — students and their families. He even approvingly cited a pro- make a wiser or more profitable investment.” The HEA doubled the posal in Kenya’s 1964 Development Plan to move toward loans as “a federal government’s annual budget for colleges and universities, means of financing higher education.” and the almost $2 billion in student aid it provided helped, among Kerr’s revision of the contract between the university and society other things, to increase by threefold the number of Black students at the dusk of the short-lived “golden age” of American higher educa- enrolled in colleges and universities from 1968 to 1978. tion maintained the liberal belief in higher education but adapted it It also adopted the economic and moral logic that Kerr had sought to institutionalize for over a decade in California. Taking on debt to finance the surest path to a middle-class American life didn’t require the faith of a mustard seed, but it did demand a desire to become middle class. Becoming (or remaining) middle class also meant Kerr et al. converted intellectual trusting the experts like Kerr and his colleagues on the Carnegie Commission, who in 1971 declared that American students ought desire into a market for student debt. to become “accustomed to the idea of borrowing … against future earnings” to finance their college educations. Kerr’s explicit embrace of a previously implicit market logic around 1970 marked the beginning of a two-decades-long transformation of to the political and economic conditions of the late 1960s and early the university into a system that leveraged faith in higher education 1970s — and to newly ascendant concepts about competitive mar- to create markets for student credit and debt. By coupling students’ kets and the moral values they prioritized: private self-interest and aspirations for financial success to the financial interests of colleges, choice. In so doing, Kerr helped to transform this belief into a justifi- the system sustains an asymmetric alliance. One party has dreams cation for student debt. and hopes, and the other decades of data, professional know-how, In January 1967, Governor Reagan had proposed that California’s and, as middlemen in the federally underwritten student-aid finan- higher-education budget be cut by 10 percent and, to make up for it, cial complex, plausible deniability about their own role in the sys- that California’s public colleges charge tuition for the first time since tem. 1900. His plan echoed the views of some of UC’s own faculty members, such as the UCLA economists Armen A. Alchian and William R. N 1960, Kerr was on the cover of Time magazine, where an article Allen, who argued that advocates of zero tuition overlooked the “bo- dubbed him the “master planner,” a phrase Kerr had adopted in the nanza” enjoyed by the rich in such a system, in which the “residents “Uses of a University” lectures to describe the leader of the modern of Watts subsidize the residents of Beverly Hills.” As Alchian and Al- “multiversity.” But later he said that the more accurate title for a uni- len explained: versity president was “image maker.” Fundamental to the presiden- Itial persona was an ability to enchant, to make potential students, and College-calibre persons are, in fact, rich in their inherited society at large, believe in not only a particular university but in the mental talents. Such “human capital” is wealth, and for the tal- liberatory promise of higher education as such. The irony of the image ented, this wealth is of great magnitude. Further, slighting such of Kerr as the “master planner” and technocratic manager of the mul- human wealth is to ignore the difference between wealth and tiversity was the degree to which he understood that technocracy, like current earnings. A man with a pool of untapped oil is rich — al- any system of authority, required faith. This faith motivated individ- though he is not now marketing his resource. Similarly, the cur- uals seeking a better life and shaped institutions that would come to rent earnings of an intelligent youth student may be small, but constitute the American system of higher education. his wealth — present value of his future earnings — is large. Col- Without this faith — or, rather, credulity — the gradual shift from lege students, even those with little present income, are not poor. public to largely private financing of U.S. higher education would Subsidized higher education gives the student a second windfall not have been possible. Taking higher education’s liberatory prom- — a subsidy to exploit his inherited windfall of talent. This is like ise as their premise, university leaders compared human capacities subsidizing drilling costs for owners of oil-bearing lands. to untapped oil reserves and urged aspiring students to “invest” in themselves, to put themselves and their families up as collater- Access and equal opportunity could be provided by encourag- al for cash to pay for college. The original Higher Education Act of ing students to borrow against their future income, which “will pre- 1965 had established, among other things, the Guaranteed Student sumably be enlarged by their present training.” It’s here that belief Loan Program, which committed the federal government to repay- in higher education is transformed into financial speculation. Trust ing a loan if a student defaulted. It also cemented credit, debt, and and belief become creditworthiness. finance as foundational features of the American system of higher Alchian and Allen’s argument marked a shift in how a belief in the education. With every reauthorization of the HEA — from the es- potential economic advantages of a college education could be used. tablishment of Sallie Mae as an independent financial corporation (And they make no mention of anything having to do with intellectu- for incentivizing private loans (1972) and the Middle Income Stu- al ideals and virtues, or the value of truth-seeking.) It shifted the bur- dent Assistance Act (1978) to the PLUS parent loans (1980) and un- den of debt away from public responsibility in the form of state and subsidized Stafford loans (1992) — Congress expanded the market federal tax dollars, and toward private responsibility and personal for student debt. choice. Three years later, in 1971, the founding father of law and eco- By the time Sallie Mae devised the first securitized pools of stu- nomics, Henry G. Manne — a self-described acolyte of Alchian — ar- dent loans, in the mid-1990s, that market was booming. From 1989 gued that if colleges were forced to compete in a free market and rely to 2020, total federal loans for undergraduate and graduate stu- on market solutions, students would finally be liberated to become dents increased from just over $20 billion to over $87 billion an- who they were always meant to be: “sovereign consumers.” nually (in 2019 dollars), an increase of 328 percent. The quantity of

THE CHRONICLE 18 C OF HIGHER EDUCATION

loans produced by the system, however, can obscure how differen- induce students and families to believe that college is worth it — no tiated and stratified its burden is across lines of class and race. For matter the financial costs or the actual goods of the education itself. example, in 2019, the share of student loans whose current balance exceeded the loan’s original balance was 74.2 percent in Black-plu- TOP THIS PYRAMID SCHEME sit institutions like my own, the Uni- rality communities, compared with 47.5 percent in white-plurali- versity of Virginia, which masks its constant competition ty communities, according to statistics gathered by the Jain Family for more — more money, more status, more prestige — as a Foundation Report. belief in higher learning. Given the goals they set for them- Many factors have contributed to the growth and differentiated ef- selves, UVA and other wealthy institutions need the system fects of student debt: the nearly constant decline in state appropri- Aof higher education to continue just as it is. They profess to do so out ations, the steady increase in tuition at public and private colleges, of a faith that meritocracy’s hidden hand will watch over their grad- and the proliferation of for-profit higher education, which began in uates, ensuring the liberal, progressive order. And they hire profes- the mid-1990s. Kerr, Alchian, and Manne may not have envisioned sionals to manage that faith, such as UVA’s recently appointed vice such a staggering market for student debt, but they provost for enrollment, who will ensure the most efficient use of stu- leveraged public belief in the progressive prom- dents’ hopes in higher education to maximize revenues. ises of higher education into a debt-fueled, ac- Kerr didn’t create the American system of higher education. But he was its prophet. The banality of his rhetoric, his training as an econ- omist, his proud professionalism and unwavering commitment to expertise, and his matter-of-fact liberalism belied the audacity of his basic premise: that the Cold War university was the necessary path for individual, national, and global flourishing. The liberal belief that colleges can change lives for the better was not simply a delusion or an ideology; it came from a desire to imagine and build a better future. Yet this desire was from its first formulations bound to a belief that the path to such a future was fixed. It just had to be rationally managed by the experts who deserved not only trust but deference. McMillan Cottom has shown the effects of the higher faith on the lives of those preyed on by for-profit colleges. Caitlin Zaloom has shown its effects on individual students and their families. What Zaloom calls the “student finance complex” shapes the lives of students, families, and communities across the country. It subjects students and their families to the ideals, norms, and values of credit, tying their worth to the determinations of the higher-ed financial complex and its judgment about who deserves to be trusted. It also shapes our colleges and universities. That the “golden age” of U.S. higher education coincided with the “golden age” of U.S. capitalism should give us pause about elegies for a now-lost democratic institution. It is true that in those mythic decades, Kerr and company largely realized their vision of a system of higher education that was the engine of economic and technological production. But the sheen of success has blinded us to the political and spiritual costs of the system: a corrupt meritocracy and the systematic rejection of the liberatory promise of education. American higher education has produced many goods. But it also launders privilege, luck of birth and circumstance, and financial and social greed into socially quisitive, speculative system whose primary pur- acceptable status under the rubric of merit. And it now exacerbates pose is to maintain itself. persistent and worsening financial and social inequalities. By the early 1970s, Kerr had recognized these trends, and by the Its greatest failure is moral and political. It manufactures the illu- end of the decade had begun to argue that the future of higher edu- sions of merit that make individual mettle a marker of worth and dig- cation ran “through the marketplace,” where some colleges would nity. It transforms political conflicts over truth, values, and visions compete for students who could pay full tuition, and others would of different futures into unassailable moral differences, matters not bring in federal dollars, whether as guaranteed loans or direct pay- of collective action but of individual choice and preference. Yes, the ments. Turning competition, debt, and private returns into widely radical expansion of public universities and growth of new tiers of recognized norms, making competitive market values university val- higher education were instrumental to U.S. technological advanc- ues, was, wrote Kerr in 1979 in the final Carnegie Commission report, es, economic growth, and “upward mobility,” but by reconceiving of the industry’s only “road to survival.” higher learning as human capital development and universities as He also understood that in order for that future to be widely ac- competing interests in an economic system called higher education, cepted, the morals of the marketplace had to be fused with the felt Kerr and his allies transformed them into acquisitive market actors legitimacy of a meritocratic system most fully realized in the highly seeking new revenue sources and the fleeting consolations of pres- stratified system of American higher education. Were that belief ever tige — vices legitimated by the global import of the higher faith. Kerr to falter, the entire system risked collapse. et al. converted intellectual desire into a market for student debt. This system now consists of over 4,000 different institutions, but each in its own way relies on a faith in the individually and socially Chad Wellmon is a professor of German studies and history at the Uni- transformative power of college. These institutions are compelled to versity of Virginia. His latest book, Permanent Crisis: The Humanities participate in social policies and institutional norms that every year in a Disenchanted Age, will be published this summer.

THE CHRONICLE 20 C OF HIGHER EDUCATION ADVERTISEMENT

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After a year like no other, we wanted to take a moment to to train and prepare for the spring season. They underwent thank the Southwestern University community—our students, rigorous COVID-19 testing and followed stringent health parents, sta , faculty, alumni, and friends around the globe— protocols. For the fi rst time in Southwestern’s history, all men’s for your resiliency, creativity, and loyalty. This University stood and women’s athletic teams competed in a single semester, and strong and successfully navigated an unprecedented pandemic. we honored our graduating student-athletes in meaningful ways. Approximately 70% of Southwestern classes took place on campus and in person. Just when it felt like the worst was behind In addition to lauding the accomplishments of our students and us, our mettle was tested once again by the ice storm and days- our ability to stay the course through di cult times, we also long power outages that gripped Texas in mid-February, causing wish to thank and recognize the important work done by the extensive damage to our facilities and beautiful campus. Once campus community in creating a fi ve-year tactical plan that will again, we pulled together with grit and determination, and we commence July 1, 2021. The Board of Trustees approved this persevered. exciting and ambitious plan that will increase student fi nancial aid; add new student, sta , and faculty diversity and professional We approach the end of our academic year with gratitude and student advisors; lead to the construction of a new mixed-use anticipation. For 181 years, Texas’s fi rst university has heralded fi rst-year residence hall; increase campus amenities, including each graduating class with a very special ceremony. On May 8, recreational spaces and food venues for students; and provide 2021, we will continue this tradition and celebrate in person the for additional opportunities for high-impact experiences, such accomplishments of two graduating classes: the class of 2020 as undergraduate research, study abroad, paid internships, and and the class of 2021. Their achievements are considerable increasing community engagement. Our 700-acre campus in and noteworthy: both classes include Phi Beta Kappa inductees, Georgetown, Texas, provides us with space to learn, teach, and Fulbright and Kemper scholars, Newman civic fellows, and a live. It also serves as a gateway to the energy and innovation of record number of athletic All-Americans. Our speaker at the Austin as well as the tranquil beauty of the Texas Hill Country. two commencement ceremonies is corporate leader, attorney, Our focus on the environment and sustainability has earned philanthropist, and musician Paula Boggs, https://www. Southwestern designation as a Bee Campus USA and recognition paulaboggsband.net. from the Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree Campus Higher Education program. Our newly minted graduates will join the ranks of thousands of alumni who have entrusted their education to Southwestern. As we look forward to the fall, Southwestern remains the #1 Our course of study ensures that all students can graduate in liberal-arts university in Texas and one of the most selective and four years, and within 10 months of graduation, 86% of our diverse liberal-arts institutions in the state. We are grateful to students are accepted to graduate school or enter the workforce. President Laura E. Skandera Trombley, our fi rst woman president, and to all our community members for their steadfast loyalty When our athletic conferences (ASC and SCAC) cancelled fall and commitment that have enabled Southwestern not just to and winter competition, our students and coaches worked hard survive but to thrive during this most challenging year. VIKTOR KOEN FOR THE CHRONICLE

THE CHRONICLE 22 C OF HIGHER EDUCATION The Damage Campaign Caught up in a storm of false accusations, professors found themselves fighting to clear their names.

BY SARAH BROWN AND MEGAN ZAHNEIS

ASSIA ROTH remembers March 9, 2020, very clearly. It was her birthday. It was a week before a nationwide Covid-19 lockdown led her university to move its classes online. It was also the day she found herself facing some of the most serious accusations imaginable in the academy. CAn email sent to nearly a dozen people at the University of Georgia, where Roth is an assistant professor, alleged that she had plagiarized parts of her master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation, stealing the work of the sender, another young female scholar. Then the accuser went further: Roth, she wrote, had stolen the sender’s syllabi, and was posting her photo on pornographic websites. “She is an imposter, a serial plagiarizer,” the sender wrote of Roth, “and she needs to be held accountable for her actions.” Roth recognized the name of the sender. It was a former graduate-school classmate of hers, someone she’d considered a friend when they studied history together at the Uni- versity of California at Los Angeles. The accusations shocked her. They didn’t even make sense, she says. Roth studies Latin American and Brazilian history, but the work she’d supposedly copied was about the Indian diaspora. The claims about pornographic websites were even stranger. But the email triggered a campus investigation. And, Roth later learned, she wasn’t the only target.

MAY 14, 2021 23 MELISSA GOLDEN, REDUX FOR THE CHRONICLE Cassia Roth, of the U. of Georgia, was cleared of the allegations in an online-harassment campaign but fears she’ll be linked to them forever.

The Chronicle is not naming the woman at the request of Roth and much recourse. And even months later, the question remained: Who others she targeted, who are concerned about her well-being. This is responsible for cleaning up this mess, anyway? article will call her by an initial, R. From late February to May last year, R., then an assistant profes- AST SPRING Jyoti Gulati Balachandran had just finished her first sor of history at Union College in New York, leveled serious accusa- book. Balachandran, an assistant professor of history at Penn- tions against at least 16 people, including 13 former Ph.D. students sylvania State University, was supposed to be celebrating that at UCLA. The vast majority of the victims were women, and most of pivotal moment in her academic career. them are now faculty members at institutions across the country. But then R. accused her of plagiarism and harassment. In The frenzied email-harassment campaign included allegations of Lan email sent to seven Penn State administrators, R. alleged that plagiarism and sexual misconduct that, according to the targets, are Balachandran had plagiarized R.’s master’s and doctoral disserta- completely false. (The victims who spoke with The Chronicle have tions, and lifted R.’s experiences for her own CV. been exonerated by their employers.) “This fabrication of information is not new to her,” the email, sent The harassment campaign prompted weeks-long investigations from R.’s campus address, claimed. R. also threatened to report and upended the scholars’ lives for much of the spring semester, at a Balachandran “to various conference committees and academic or- time when the pandemic was also causing professional and person- ganizations.” al upheaval. What’s more, almost none of the targeted scholars had Faculty members across the country, from New York University to tenure. the California Institute of Technology, were facing similar claims. Even though their institutions cleared them months ago, Roth “She did not write a single page of that dissertation or did any re- says, she and others fear they could now be associated — forever — search,” read another email accusing a faculty member of plagiarism with the false claims. The accusations they faced are the sort that and stealing syllabi. “Also, she has been sending across fake CVs to can derail careers and permanently damage credibility. institutions and at conferences where my published articles are be- The women sought help from Union College, their own institu- ing cited as her own.” tions, the local police, even the FBI. But they felt they couldn’t get Early on, those were the most common allegations. Then Roth and

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Talk to one of our experienced account representatives today RealVaccinationID.com at 855.4.REALID (855.473.2543). powered by CB Bridges, a CastleBranch company other victims discovered fake email accounts and online profiles in scholars she’d supposedly accused of sexual assault. She had nev- their names. In some cases, messages from those accounts accused er met some of the faculty members in question. No, she wrote back other victims of stalking, harassment, and sexual assault. In others, over and over again, that wasn’t me. the accounts falsely accused scholars around the world, primarily in That’s what happened to Naomi Taback, too. Taback, an assistant the field of history. The victims unanimously believe R. was respon- professor at Temple University, heard from three colleges in a two- sible. day span about allegations she’d purportedly made. Initially, Taback Natasha J. Baker, a lawyer who often works on faculty-miscon- thought she’d been targeted by a computer virus. “It is so embarrass- duct investigations, says she’s never heard of a case like this before. ing to be supposedly emailing all of these chairs of a history depart- She’s seen situations in which people outside an institution have filed ment,” she says. She told them she hadn’t sent any such emails. complaints against faculty members, but few, if any, have been com- Taback thought about all the leading historians “reading these un- pletely baseless. “This seems pretty extreme,” Baker says. hinged emails in my name.” What if those same scholars ended up R.’s motives for sending the emails are unknown. Her first accusa- evaluating her next conference proposal or publication? tions were made against Union College employees, and the institu- “Even though I’m not at fault,” she says, “the first thing that these tion placed her on leave in March 2020. By May, she was no longer important historians in our field are going to think about when they employed there. The same month, the accusatory emails appeared to see my name are these accusations of stalking.”

“ The first thing that these important historians in our field are going to think about when they see my name is these accusations of stalking.”

stop. Law-enforcement officials declined to pursue criminal charges. It would have been one thing to have credit-card information sto- “This case involved a complex, rapidly evolving, and atypical pat- len, she says. It was another to watch a former close friend try to ruin tern of behavior,” Phillip J. Wajda, a spokesman for Union College, her academic reputation. “This was so personal, and it was so diffi- wrote in an email. cult to stop it.” R.’s whereabouts are unclear. Repeated attempts to contact her were unsuccessful. S THE FALSE ACCUSATIONS PILED UP, some of the victims started In what appears to be a blog post written by R. last June, she denies connecting the dots. Roth got in touch with Balachandran, that she wrote the emails. Other people used her name to create fake Taback, and other victims. They realized they had been im- email accounts and send disparaging messages, she wrote. plicated in emails with nearly identical language; some had While the victims’ institutions have well-oiled systems for han- even supposedly written emails accusing one another. They dling plagiarism and Title IX accusations, the processes were ill Ahad all gone to graduate school together at UCLA. And they had all suited to respond to R.’s repeated false claims. Department chairs known R. Some had even been her friends. wanted to support their faculty members, disregard R.’s missives en- The women gathered, first on an email chain and then on Zoom, to tirely, and move on. But they were required to report the allegations share their experiences. They uploaded all the accusatory emails to a to campus investigators, triggering research-misconduct and Title IX shared Google Drive folder and posted a statement on Facebook. probes, some of which took weeks to resolve. As the young scholars feared the worst, their department leaders Enduring a plagiarism investigation was the last thing an unten- tried to run interference. ured junior scholar like Roth wanted to be doing. But anytime the From the start, said Carla Pestana, history-department chair at University of Georgia receives such a complaint, it is automatically UCLA, R.’s allegations didn’t read like “measured complaints.” One of referred to the research-integrity office. Pestana’s faculty members had been accused of plagiarizing R.’s dis- The investigator told Roth that he had seen a lot of crazy things in sertation. But when Pestana spent a weekend reading both 300-plus- his career, but this was “one of the craziest.” page texts, she found they had only a single article citation in com- After nine days, the office cleared her. mon. A month later, the situation intensified. Pestana felt a “fierce protectiveness” over her faculty member. But Emails from professors and administrators around the world — she also couldn’t fail to report serious allegations, which would im- some of them senior scholars in her field — flooded her inbox. They mediately raise alarm bells for campus officials. Even the strang- were all asking the same question: Had Roth sent them a message, est-sounding claims had to be funneled through the proper chan- from a non-university account, accusing someone of plagiarism and nels. sexual assault? Plagiarism allegations went to the research-integrity office. Sexu- The messages, coming from accounts like [email protected], al-misconduct claims went to the Title IX office. Investigations were [email protected], and [email protected], bore almost opened. The university bureaucracy started to churn. identical language: After Pestana alerted UCLA investigators to the allegations, she wrote a departmentwide email. She couldn’t say much. Personnel re- “She sexually assaulted and grievously injured me.” cords were confidential, and given that Title IX complaints frequent- “I have blocked him electronically and reported him to the ly lead to lawsuits, university lawyers advised Pestana to be cautious. police.” But Pestana wanted to avoid rumors both within the department and “She is unfit to be employed in an academic institution.” outside it. Don’t respond to any strange-sounding emails, she told “He is a psycho and a threat to people around him.” her colleagues, and don’t forward them. Pestana estimates that she spent at least 100 hours trying to con- Roth started hearing from Title IX offices at the institutions of the tact every person who had been accused or had supposedly sent an

THE CHRONICLE 26 C OF HIGHER EDUCATION ENGINEERING SHAPES MEDICINE. AGRICULTURE GAINS OPTICS. DATA INFORMS POLITICAL SCIENCE. ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS SET TO MUSIC. ASTRONOMY IS GROUNDED IN DESIGN. IDEAS GAIN MOMENTUM. IMPOSSIBILITIES BECOME REALITY.

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ufl.edu When a faculty member is falsely accused, colleges should be prepared to respond.

email with false allegations, and replying to administrators on other a Title IX investigator was more concerned about the false sexual-as- campuses. sault claim than about the fact that Roth was the victim of online ha- And yet there was only so much she could do. She reported all of rassment. the illicit emails and blocked the sender. But a new account could be Even if this kind of online harassment is relatively uncommon, the created in minutes. victims say, it’s not unheard of. They point to a New York Times arti- As the barrage of emails continued, Balachandran was subjected cle last year that detailed another professor’s experience dealing with to plagiarism and Title IX investigations based on the false accusa- false allegations by a fellow scholar. Colleges should be prepared to tions. In the moment, she worried about the fact that one of the com- respond, they say. plaints had gone to her dean. “I don’t want to have that association, That’s a lot easier said than done. Years of attention to sexual mis- right? That when the dean thinks of me, he’s like, Oh, you’re the one conduct in higher ed have increased the pressure on colleges to take who was accused.” all complaints seriously. It’s hard to imagine a policy that draws a Her department head, Michael Kulikowski, tried to reassure her. satisfactory line between accusations that seem bizarre but could But “like all very large universities, Penn State is very bureaucratic,” have merit, and false allegations designed to smear someone’s repu- he says. Anytime a complaint is filed, officials conduct a thorough- in tation. vestigation. At the very least, the victims believe colleges and law-enforcement “One would love to be able to simply say, No, this is quite clear- agencies should have intervened to help them, as well as R. herself. ly just wrong, and throw it out the window,” Kulikowski says, but But no one seems to know who exactly should have done so. “the university has to do its due diligence.” When a faculty member is falsely accused, he says, it’s important for those accusations to be OTH TRIED CONTACTING Yahoo to have the fake accounts in her aired and proved false beyond a doubt. The plagiarism investigation name shut down, to little effect. She filed a report with the into Balachandran was closed within a month. “For something this local police department in Schenectady, N.Y., where Union potentially complicated,” Kulikowski points out, that “is relatively ef- College is located, and another with the FBI’s Internet Crime ficient.” Balachandran says Kulikowski and others at Penn State sup- Complaint Center. And she urged Union College to do some- ported her throughout the ordeal. Rthing. Still, Kulikowski wishes that Penn State could have done some- From Union College’s standpoint, there wasn’t much the institu- thing more to “proactively defend Jyoti’s reputation.” tion could do. While personnel matters are always confidential, a college could, On the small campus of 2,000 students, the public-safety office’s with the targeted professor’s permission, issue a public statement, primary duties include issuing parking tickets, registering vehicles says Baker, the employment-law expert. “There are ways to make with the college, and reporting potential student-conduct problems. the process feel better, depending on how you approach it,” she Now its director, Christopher Hayen, was shouldering the burden of a says. potential criminal case against R. Several Georgia administrators signed a boilerplate letter for Roth In late April last year, Hayen wrote to R.’s victims several times, to use, instead of drafting a response every time an accusation came according to emails shared with The Chronicle. In one update, he her way. “Here at the University of Georgia, Dr. Roth has established told them that he’d met with an FBI agent and an investigator on the herself as an exemplary educator and scholar,” the letter reads in Schenectady police force, and he acknowledged the possibility of civ- part, “and her reputation should not suffer as a result of these dis- il litigation. He promised the victims that he’d update them as soon tressing incidents.” as the outside agencies had reviewed the matter, and he urged them But that letter wouldn’t prevent other colleges from looking into in the meantime to “enjoy the weekend the best you can.” the complaints. And some investigations were already in the works The next week, Hayen emailed the victims again, saying that the by the time Roth received the letter. In one case, Roth says, it felt as if agencies would have had to subpoena R.’s computer to prove she had

THE CHRONICLE 28 C OF HIGHER EDUCATION PAID FOR AND CREATED BY NeuroReality™: Using Technology to Make Us More Human

of Ohio, the advances meant he no longer had to worry about inadvertently hurting his granddaughter because he could not tell how much pressure he exerted when holding her hand. For Brandon Prestwood of North Carolina, the moment came when he showed his wife what he could do with the new prosthetic system Tyler’s team developed. “She reaches out and grabs my [prosthetic] hand,” Prestwood recalled, voice breaking. “In that moment, I was complete. I was whole. … I can’t explain in words most of the time how much a simple touch can affect your soul, but for me it does.”

…TO FAR BROADER APPLICATION As Tyler and his team continued to advance technology’s ability to convey human sensation, the researchers and participants alike increasingly recognized the far wider potential of their work. The electronic prosthetic did not have to be CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY FROM FUNCTION TO FEELING… directly attached to the individual to send signals to the brain—or to receive them. INSTITUTE EXTENDS HUMAN TOUCH— When Tyler first AROUND THE WORLD While many see immense opportunities in came to Case Western “Imagine the next such advances, Tyler recognizes others will be On the first day of classes last August, Case Reserve as a graduate wary—understandably so. Such advances have Western Reserve University graduate student Luis student nearly three version of emojis,” more than scientific implications, but also ones Mesias held a banana. decades ago, his work Tyler said. “Rather involving ethics, philosophy, privacy, information Then, when he felt someone else pulling on the centered on the use of than sending a security, equity of access and more. fruit, he relaxed his grip and let it go. electrodes to activate To capitalize on opportunities in deliberate and As mundane as the moment sounds, it’s one nerves—which, in turn, smiley face to responsible ways, Tyler launched the Human Mesias will never forget. could stir muscles your loved one, Fusions Institute at Case Western Reserve. In Because he was in Cleveland, and the banana stilled by spinal cord you can actually addition to collaborations with UCLA, the institute … was in Los Angeles. injuries or other also involves researchers at Carnegie Mellon Mesias was part of a demonstration of what damaging events. reach out and hold University, Cleveland State University, Tuskegee Case Western Reserve Biomedical Engineering In time, he began to their hand.” University and University of Wyoming. Professor Dustin Tyler calls NeuroReality™, an apply his expertise to Teams are exploring applications in such areas approach that applies advanced technology to prosthetics for people as health care, the military, space and more. extend our reach—and increase our humanity. who had lost limbs—with generous support from While the pandemic has led to dramatic increase The concept has proved so compelling that Tyler’s federal agencies including DARPA and the U.S. in the use of telehealth options, for example, much team is one of 38 worldwide to qualify for the $10 Department of Veterans Affairs. of medicine still involves physical examination. million Avatar XPrize competition, which aims to Before long, though, he realized that even “We’re working on this health care avatar create an avatar system that can transport human significantly restoring function would not be concept now,” Tyler explained. “How do we build presence to a remote location in real time. enough: A substantial portion of people with a remote system where the doctor is now, through “The Avatar competition isn’t the end point for powered prosthetics stop using them because neural reality … working with the patient directly?” us, but it is the embodiment of what we’re trying to the artificial limbs feel so foreign and separate For his part, Prestwood imagines surgeons do,” Tyler said. “That is, to think about and develop from them. in the U.S. being able to perform life-saving the symbiotic relationship between the machine So Tyler turned his attention to developing surgeries in third-world countries, or military and the human.” ways to provide not just movement but sensation explosive experts located miles away to use an For the Ohio-to-California presentation, Mesias as well. electronic hand to delicately assess and defuse wore a high-tech ring that linked his human hand The task for Tyler and his colleagues? Finding bombs. to a robotic one at the University of California, Los a way to translate the signals that our limbs send “I want to see this technology improve Angeles (UCLA). to the brain—say, whether a surface is rough or humankind,” Prestwood said, “not just certain Without being able to see the device 2,300 smooth, an item square or round, or whether the parts or demographics.” miles away, Mesias responded as his California prosthetic limb itself is applying pressure that is counterpart tapped one of its fingers—“that seems heavy, medium or feather-light. light”—then pressed on it—“hard.” “The electrical stimulation can mimic, come Later, Mesias relied on the robotic fingers’ very close to what you have with your normal feedback to avoid crushing the banana, and also hand,” Tyler said. “We’ve learned the electrical to recognize when to open his hand in response to language to do that.” This content was paid for and created by Case Western Reserve the UCLA person’s attempt to take it. For study participant Keith Vonderheuvel University. The editorial staff of The Chronicle had no role in its preparation.

MAY 14, 2021 29 sent the emails with false allegations. But law-enforcement officials Chronicle, “the letter sought to alleviate the burden on affected indi- didn’t have the authority to do so, he said, because the incident was viduals of explaining their part in a larger pattern of similar, unsup- at most a “violation,” not a crime. “There is no further action that ported allegations against multiple faculty at different institutions law enforcement is taking at this time,” he wrote, and further ques- across the country.” tions should be directed to the FBI, the state police, and the local po- The victims knew Union was in a bind. But if the college couldn’t lice. (Hayen did not respond to repeated interview requests from The clear their names, they’d have to do it themselves. Chronicle.) In early May, the chair of Union College’s history department, An- HROUGHOUT THE SPRING of 2020, Balachandran would often drea R. Foroughi, sent Roth an email. “I want to offer my sincere wake up at 5 a.m. to work on her research. The Penn State apology for the damage that a former member of my department has professor had an article with an April deadline. But she knew wrought against you, and against other historians,” she wrote. Legal more false accusations could appear later in the day and re- restrictions hampered what she was allowed to say, but Foroughi em- quire her immediate attention, taking away crucial writing phasized that she and R.’s former colleagues were “appalled.” She in- time.T cluded a copy of a message she said was being sent to all the history As the pandemic hit, Balachandran was also tending to her in- departments she’d heard from about the case. laws, who had just moved in, and supervising her two young chil- Signed by Foroughi and Union’s vice president for academic af- dren, then in kindergarten and second grade, as they acclimated to fairs, the letter assured recipients that Union was investigating the virtual learning. Any spare moment was spent talking to the po- matter, providing support and resources to victims, and cooperating lice, contacting former colleagues she hadn’t spoken to in years, and with law-enforcement authorities. fighting to protect her reputation. But that response felt inadequate to Roth. She and the other vic- “We felt a shared sense of responsibility to reach out to those peo- tims wanted the college to issue a definitive statement refuting the ple who might have been accused,” Balachandran says. But often, the

“ I sympathize with your frustration; I have urged the college to take action for the past two months.”

allegations, and to get R. the help they felt she needed. Roth hadn’t exhaustion of constantly monitoring the situation would overwhelm heard from her since the summer of 2019. That fall, several scholars her. “There was one point in late April that pretty much every sin- who knew R. saw that she had blocked them on social media. gle day, somebody in the group would say, ‘Hey, today I received like “I feel Union College has really done too little too late,” Roth wrote five emails from this university asking me if I sent out an email,’” she to Foroughi on May 4. “I know these decisions are out of your control, says. but this ongoing harassment has caused considerable damage to my For weeks, she and other victims remained tethered to their inbox- ability to work over the past two months, not to mention emotional es, in simultaneous dread and anticipation of the next message from distress in an already distressing time.” R., from department chairs, or from the police. Once law-enforce- Foroughi replied: “I sympathize with your frustration; I have urged ment agencies declined to take action, the women felt as if they were the college to take action for the past two months.” She was slowed out of options to stop the harassment. by bureaucracy — personnel law, Title IX regulations, and digital-ha- By late May, the emails seemed to dissipate. But the women were rassment laws. shaken by what the ordeal had wrought. In an email to The Chronicle, Foroughi said she’d immediately no- Late April, when R.’s harassment peaked, was already a difficult tified human-resources officials and other administrators at Union time for Roth. It marks the anniversary of her husband’s death. Usu- once she’d learned what was happening. She’d spoken with victims ally, she takes a couple of days off work and goes on a short solo trip. and connected them to Union officials, and corresponded with de- In 2020, getting away wasn’t possible, and not only because of the partment chairs at other institutions who had emailed her. Early on, pandemic. A Title IX office somewhere was emailing Roth about sex- Foroughi said, “the person named by those individuals” was placed ual-misconduct allegations. She had to respond. on a leave of absence, and her access to her college email account Soon, Roth will go up for promotion, and then for tenure. Her per- was revoked. sonal website lays out a long list of academic positions and research Roth’s frustration was not with Foroughi but with Union College. projects. But for the past year, those accomplishments weren’t the That exasperation boiled over when an outside lawyer, hired by the first thing readers saw. Instead, they were met with a statement about college, questioned whether R. had used her Union account to send R.’s harassment. accusatory emails. “It is not our responsibility as victims,” Roth Roth just took down that statement this month. But in her email wrote to the lawyer, “to keep Union College up to date on [R.’s] ac- signature, above her faculty title and a promotion of her new book, tions.” there’s a boldfaced disclaimer saying any messages from personal In late May, the lawyer sent Roth and other victims a letter ac- email accounts alleging to be her could be fraudulent. knowledging that the plagiarism claims “did not include any direct She doesn’t plan to remove that anytime soon. evidence,” and that all of the misconduct accusations “follow a similar pattern.” It didn’t honor Roth’s request for a clear statement that Sarah Brown covers campus culture, including Title IX, race and di- the accusations were all false. versity, and student mental health. Follow her on Twitter @Brown_e_ That wasn’t possible, said Wajda, the Union College spokesman, Points. Megan Zahneis, a staff reporter forThe Chronicle, writes about because the college didn’t investigate any claims made against peo- graduate-student issues and the future of the faculty. Follow her on ple outside the institution. “However,” he wrote in an email to The Twitter at @meganzahneis.

THE CHRONICLE 30 C OF HIGHER EDUCATION PAID FOR AND CREATED BY Progress on Gender Equity Requires Commitment and Accountability

commitment, Stony Brook has fostered a culture of support that permeates the entire campus. She cites the undergraduate and graduate students who, like Sejal Mehra, become mentors themselves. “It’s like a mentoring pipeline,” she says. And it doesn’t stop at graduation. Alums return frequently for formal and informal events, and the Women in STEM Leadership Program serves early- and mid-career STEM researchers (as well as Stony Brook researchers and graduate and postdoctoral students). Briana Brown, a 2013 graduate now working as a program manager at GE Aviation, credits Stony Brook with preparing her not only through academics, but through its holistic, clear-eyed Briana Brown, Stony Brook University Class of 2013 approach to supporting women embarking on careers in male-dominated fields. Through programs like Women in Science & roles. The proportion of women in full-time faculty “There have been plenty of times where there Engineering (WISE) and movements such as positions is up 7 points, to 45 percent. are no other women in a meeting I’m in,” she says. HeForShe, Stony Brook University maintains a Sejal Mehra learned this when she arrived at “Or I’m the only Black person and the only woman. longstanding commitment to gender equity that has Stony Brook as a first-year student in 2017. Once Stony Brook did a really great job of bringing in led to more women in leadership positions, STEM an aspiring lawyer, Mehra had discovered a coding people from outside to talk about that. Because majors and male-dominated industries. immersion program, thanks to her mother, and sometimes in college you’re in a bubble, and it’s In 2014, Stony Brook University joined the UN never looked back. really helpful to have someone from an industry Women’s HeForShe movement’s IMPACT 10x10x10 “I loved it!” she says. “I was like, ‘Coding is come in and be like, ‘This is what it’s going to look global initiative as one of 30 key enterprises across everything. I need this.’ I’ve always been good like when you step into a room to lead a meeting.’” three sectors — countries, corporations and with tech, setting things up, fixing things, but “Those are the sorts of things that I was universities — that prioritized advancing gender I had never seen that as a career. But my mom taught in college that were not a part of any equity. Stony Brook was one of just two U.S. kind of always knew and supported me.” curriculum,” Brown says. “And all of those institutions cited as an IMPACT Champion. This Once on campus, Mehra found herself skills that I learned were instrumental to me was an honor, but also a mandate — to “drive surrounded by support. The university’s WISE securing a job, and then coming in more change from the top” — that challenged the program helped her join a small group of other prepared than someone else who would have leaders of the major research university to foster young women also planning to study computer or just graduated from college.” the success of women, improve outcomes and work electrical engineering. The program also connects In addition to speaking to Stony Brook classes, tirelessly toward gender equity. women across STEM disciplines, such as physics, Brown has started two foundations — in New This led to a host of new initiatives, including civil engineering and other programs in which York, where she grew up, and in Miami, where she a required workshop on gender awareness and women are underrepresented. By combining the has worked — to help more young people from inclusion for all new students as part of their vast resources of a major research university underrepresented groups pursue their academic orientation experience; a partnership with athletic with the close bonds of a small community, WISE and career dreams. and Greek organizations to educate students on ensures that female students in STEM programs Faculty have also joined the effort. By speaking equity, consent and healthy choices; and a vibrant know that they are not alone. to students in the WISE honors curriculum (which HeForShe student organization. In addition, first- WISE is a flagship program of the university to focuses on career development, experience and year students take an additional class session recruit, retain and empower women in science and leadership skills) and inviting students to participate dedicated to gender awareness and inclusion in engineering. The WISE program now enrolls 416 in their research projects, they are doing their part their required first-year seminar, a 14-week, one- students, substantially increasing the number of to motivate and uplift women in STEM. Similarly, credit course. A 2019 UN report cited Stony Brook’s women in engineering and other STEM fields on Stony Brook offices like Undergraduate Research progress in opening doors for and supporting campus. The one-year retention rate for entering & Creative Activities, the Center for Inclusive women in STEM majors. WISE students was 95.6 percent, compared to Education and the Career Center have become Seven years later, the university remains 90 percent for the general population. The WISE valuable partners. steadfastly committed to the HeForShe movement. program now reaches high school and middle Relationships, and a commitment to continuous On May 10, 2021, Stony Brook President Maurie school students as well through a cooperative of improvement, Bugallo explains, form the foundation McInnis will be a panelist in a streaming HeForShe Long Island school districts. of the entire effort. summit in which she will detail the university’s “Many of these students are in disciplines “I know that not all institutions can provide the efforts to engage the leaders of tomorrow — where they represent only 10 or 15 percent. And same infrastructures or the same resources,” she students — and focus on the critical aspects of many are first-generation students, and they says. “But simple activities like talking to their gender equality. might not have gotten support in their households students and having plain conversations about Although the university is ever mindful about or from counselors at their high schools. So the their challenges, or to provide guidance about keeping an eye on the future, it also has taken steps mentoring program is crucial. It can be a game- opportunities, that’s how it starts, and that’s what to reshape the present, starting with its leadership. changer for them,” says Monica Bugallo, WISE matters.” In 2020, the University Council — composed of faculty director and a professor in the Department Stony Brook’s senior academic and administrative of Electrical and Computer Engineering. But it’s leaders — achieved gender equity. This represents more than just reaching out to individual students, This content was paid for and created by Stony Brook University. a 27-percentage point increase in women in those Bugallo stresses. In keeping with the HeForShe The editorial staff of The Chronicle had no role in its preparation.

MAY 14, 2021 31 ‘ Everybody Is a Target Right Now’ A president sacks his toughest faculty critic, and outrage goes national.

BY TOM BARTLETT AND JACK STRIPLING

ADAM NIKLEWICZ FOR THE CHRONICLE ANIEL POLLACK-PELZNER’S WORK-ISSUED MACBOOK froze in the informed by the time he’d spent in the Middle East. He also insist- middle of a Zoom call on a recent Tuesday afternoon. At first ed that the remark was part of an academic discussion and wasn’t Pollack-Pelzner, who was working from home, thought it meant to be offensive. Davis said he didn’t remember Pollack- might be his internet connection. Then the laptop restart- Pelzner’s mentioning he was Jewish. As for minimizing the sig- ed, and he saw a message saying he had been locked out. He nificance of the swastikas, Davis denied that allegation, and the Dchecked his work email on his phone and discovered he was locked campus investigation found that the complaint “could not be sub- out of that, too. Concerned, he emailed his work account from a stantiated.” personal account, and received the following auto-reply: “Daniel Another comment by Davis has also raised eyebrows. Two psychol- Pollack- Pelzner is no longer an employee of Linfield University.” ogy professors at Linfield, Jennifer R. Linder and Tanya Tompkins, And that’s how Pollack-Pelzner, a tenured professor of English, said they recalled Davis, during a meeting in 2018 about transpar- found out that he had been fired from the university where he’d ency and budget cuts, making an off-color analogy about the Holo- worked for more than a decade. caust. “You don’t send Jews to the shower with soap,” Linder recalled Pollack-Pelzner’s unceremonious dismissal followed months of him saying. (Tompkins remembered a slightly different phrasing.) No conflict with the university’s leadership. That war of words became one reported the comment at the time, though the professors talked public in March, when the professor posted a thread on Twitter in about it among themselves afterward. “We were sort of so shocked, which he accused the university’s president and its Board of Trustees and I remember a couple of us making eye contact,” Linder said. “We of abusing their power. His complaints centered on how allegations are in a vulnerable position. We wanted to endear ourselves to the of sexual misconduct against several members of the board had been president.” handled. In addition, Pollack-Pelzner, who is Jewish, said that he had For his part, Davis told The Oregonian that he didn’t remember been “religiously harassed” by the president. making the comment but that it was similar to an analogy by a pro- It’s an ugly, complicated dispute, replete with charges and counter- fessor of his comparing people who were fired to Jews entering a gas charges about proper university procedure and what, exact- chamber. Davis said he would have attributed the comment to that ly, was said during closed-door meetings and in casual conversa- professor if he had made it. tions. But there have already been reverberations beyond Linfield, Contacted by The Chronicle, three people who had worked with Da- a 1,900- student college in McMinnville, Ore., about an hour’s drive vis at Shenandoah University, where he was previously dean of the from Portland. So far the Anti-Defamation League has urged the business school, said the allegations of anti-Semitic language sound- president to resign; a chapter of the National Association for the Ad- ed entirely out of character for the person they knew. “I could see the vancement of Colored People has determined that the president was treated unfairly “due to being a Black man”; the Foundation for Indi- vidual Rights in Education has issued a statement saying it is “seriously concerned” about the situation; and the American Association of University Professors has called on the university to reinstate the What does it say about the state professor. In addition, a board member who says she was “appalled” by the professor’s firing has resigned. And there remain plenty of questions to be answered, chief among of tenure if a full professor can, them: What does it say about the state of tenure if a full professor can, without any hearing or warning, be fired on a Tuesday afternoon? without any hearing or warning,

HE TROUBLE STARTED as soon as they met. Pollack-Pelzner was introduced to Miles K. Davis, the university’s president, in be fired on a Tuesday afternoon? 2018, not long after he took over as Linfield’s leader. At that first meeting, the professor told the president that he was dis- cussing The Merchant of Venice in one of his classes. Pollack- PelznerT is a Shakespeare scholar who has published articles about the possibility of a misunderstanding, but I also could see the possibility Bard in scholarly journals and more popular outlets, including The that this is completely fake,” Clifford F. Thies, a professor of econom- New Yorker. He told Davis, he says, that teaching that particular play, ics and finance at Shenandoah, said in an interview. “Those seem to as a Jewish professor, was “important and complicated for me.” (The me the only two possibilities.” character of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice is a Jewish money- Bogdan Daraban, an associate dean and professor of economics lender, and his name is sometimes used as an anti-Semitic slur.) at Shenandoah, and Ralph T. Good, an emeritus professor, both said Then, according to Pollack-Pelzner, Davis brought up Jewish noses they had never known Davis to display the kind of insensitivity of and how they were similar in length, he believed, to Arab noses. The which he’s being accused. professor found the remark out of place at the time, but he decided to let it go. He cited it in the thread he wrote in March as part of what he NOTHER SOURCE OF FRICTION between Pollack-Pelzner and the sees as a pattern of troubling remarks by the president, including — president was how the university had dealt with allegations according to Pollack-Pelzner — minimizing the significance of swas- that members of the Board of Trustees have engaged in sex- tikas found on dorm whiteboards in late 2019. ual misconduct. The professor has accused the board and A campus investigation last August into the nose comment, Davis of suppressing those allegations and failing to thor- along with other matters, called it a “he said, he said situation” Aoughly investigate them. He’s also criticized what he sees as a lack and stated that Davis had denied saying it. But in an interview of sufficient training for the university’s leaders in guarding against with The Chronicle, Davis confirmed that he had indeed made the sexual harassment. comment about Jewish and Arab noses, which he said had been The most serious allegations are against David Jubb, who left the

MAY 14, 2021 33 COURTESY OF DANIEL POLLACK-PELZNER Daniel Pollack-Pelzner

Not according to the university’s faculty handbook, which lists a number of steps, drawn from the AAUP’s recommendations, that seem mandatory, including having a faculty committee review all allegations against a professor under threat of dismissal. The handbook also says that such charges must be presented in writ- TIMOTHY D. SOFRANKO ing at least 20 days before a hearing. None of that happened in this Miles K. Davis, president of Linfield U. case. When asked whether the faculty-handbook procedures had been followed in Pollack-Pelzner’s firing, Davis said that the handbook board in 2019. Jubb has been accused of sexual misconduct by mul- had “not been updated” and that there are a “number of things in tiple students. In one instance, according to The Oregonian, Jubb al- that handbook that are not valid.” The handbook says “Fall 2020” on legedly reached under the skirt of an undergraduate who was serving its title page, and the most recent update was in January of this year. as a student representative on the board following a trustee dinner (the allegations were detailed in a lawsuit filed by the student). Jubb has pleaded not guilty to eight criminal charges, including one felony count of first-degree sexual abuse. Pollack-Pelzner said his months-long attempts to persuade the uni- “ If a person walks up and versity to take more action and to change policies fell mostly on deaf ears. Along with training and more-stringent guidelines, he argued punches a student in the face, for “alternate formats for social events where it’s not getting drunk at a country club late at night.” Pollack-Pelzner said parts of a report he put you’re telling me I need to go together on sexual harassment had been censored by the board. So he went public, on Twitter, laying out a number of the allegations in a 23-tweet thread that concluded with his contention that convene a group of people before the “president and board will continue to abuse their power until someone with more authority stops them.” I take any action against them?” Pollack-Pelzner posted that tweet on March 29. Almost exactly one month later, he was fired by the university. First, he received an email the morning of his firing from the provost, Susan Agre-Kippenhan, asking him to attend a Zoom meeting that afternoon to “discuss your The president said he was unaware of the guidelines, hadn’t seen the employment at Linfield.” The professor said he had told the provost most recent version of the faculty handbook, didn’t know who had that he would like to have a lawyer present at the meeting if it was updated it, and didn’t believe it had been approved by the adminis- going to be about his employment, and that he would need time to tration. retain one. As it turned out, though, there would be no meeting. In- “I’ve been kind of dealing with the pandemic and keeping the instead, a few hours later, Pollack-Pelzner’s work laptop was disabled, stitution open and going forward,” Davis said. “Our legal representa- and a day later he received a FedEx delivery that contained a termi- tion feels very comfortable with the basis for his termination.” nation letter. As for whether there should have been a period during which Pollack-Pelzner had tenure and held an endowed professorship. Pollack- Pelzner would have had a chance to respond to the charges While he had publicly criticized the university, and aroused the ire of against him, Davis replied with an analogy. “If a person walks up and the president, he was a faculty member in good standing, as far as he punches a student in the face, you’re telling me I need to go convene knew. He said there had been no complaints about his scholarship or a group of people before I take any action against them?” Davis said. teaching. Could he be fired just like that? The president added that Pollack-Pelzner’s allegations against him

THE CHRONICLE 34 C OF HIGHER EDUCATION had caused pain for “my entire family and everybody in the institu- acterization that the professors dispute. Email exchanges between tion who cares about truth.” Davis, who is Black, also argued that it the chapter and the professors, which were provided to The Chroni- was “very likely” that the allegations had been prompted in part by cle, show that Pollack-Pelzner questioned the timing of the investi- unconscious bias that white people, like Pollack-Pelzner, have to- gation. “Subjecting employees of a university to immediate outside ward “people who look like me in positions of power.” investigation after they have reported harassment and retaliation — So what did Pollack-Pelzner do to merit his dismissal? The pres- no matter how well intentioned the investigation — is itself an act of ident said that it had nothing to do with his fitness as a teacher or retaliation,” he wrote. a researcher (though that’s the standard, according to the facul- “It did not feel like an external investigation,” said Linder, the psy- ty handbook). Instead, he said, it was a result of Pollack-Pelzner’s chology professor. After she went public with the Holocaust story, having made a “number of statements that were blatantly false.” she was asked to meet with the investigators. Both subtly and overt- The example he cited is the professor’s stating, in a recent email to ly, critics at Linfield say, they’re getting the message that dissent isn’t Linfield faculty members, that Jubb, the former trustee, faced eight welcome at the university. felony counts. In fact, there is one felony charge against Jubb, along In April the College of Arts and Sciences voted no confidence in with seven counts of third-degree sexual abuse, which is a misde- Davis and the board’s chairman, David C. Baca. The college’s dean, meanor in Oregon. So eight criminal charges total, not all of them Joe Wilferth, sent an email to his colleagues, noting the “glaring con- felonies. trast” between the accomplishments he sees the university making Linfield’s position, officially, is that Pollack-Pelzner was fired for and the “other narratives that bombard our inboxes daily.” The dean “serious breaches” of his duty to the university. Agre-Kippenhan, wrote that he was “perplexed” by the “vetting” of Linfield on social the provost, wrote in an email to the university that, “as a matter of media and in news articles. policy and privacy, personnel matters are confidential, but main- “In truth, I’ve never experienced anything quite like this,” Wil- taining that is not always possible — particularly when the pre- ferth wrote, “and I struggle to make sense of it all — viz. the gaslight- cipitating events involve false public accusations that have, sadly, ing while denouncing gaslighting, the calls for justice while denying harmed the university.” In an interview, she said that Pollack- due process, the use of divisive rhetoric to denounce alleged divi- Pelzner had been fired from the university under his status as an sive rhetoric, and so on. I trust that this communication dynamic employee, not as a tenured professor, and that the faculty hand- and the means by which we (or some of us) choose to communicate book needed to be revised because many of the provisions in it is not somehow a part of the ‘Linfield way’ or the new normal. I want were “not entirely useful.” no part of it, and I will actively work for a different and better way forward.” OME OBSERVERS have come to see the drama unfolding at Lin- Dutt-Ballerstadt described the email as a “horrific” effort to “si- field in Shakespearean terms, as powerful forces appear to lence us all.” Asked about that reaction, Wilferth said that his email be working in concert to protect a compromised leader. In “was not intended to silence dissent.” this version, Pollack-Pelzner, the scholar of Shakespeare, is “It’s unfortunate that a colleague took it that way,” Wilferth wrote the tragic hero, and Davis is the wicked king — and every- in an email to The Chronicle. “To be fair, numerous colleagues re- Swhere are signs of his armies at war with his challengers. “Daniel’s sponded and expressed gratitude for my message and the leader- firing is very Shakespearean,” said Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt, an En- ship it communicated.” In a follow-up email, Wilferth wrote that any glish professor at Linfield. “The drama that has unfolded — I was mention of the no-confidence vote should note that 59 faculty mem- telling Daniel the other day, ‘How many acts is this play?’” bers had voted in favor of it, while “37 voted against or did not attend Firing Pollack-Pelzner, said Dutt-Ballerstadt, sent a clear signal to the meeting wherein the vote took place.” anyone who would challenge the administration: “Everybody is a In another move that some professors have interpreted as an ef- target right now.” fort to silence critics, Linfield paused access to campus email lists, Days after the dismissal, the chairman of Linfield’s English depart- citing the use of such lists to send “unsolicited messages.” (Previous- ment resigned that post, “effectively immediately.” In an email to the ly, someone had used such a list to share research, from a nonprofit dean of arts and sciences, David T. Sumner, the chairman, said he group called the Center for Institutional Courage, positing that per- was stepping aside for health reasons. “I have been fielding emails petrators often blame victims.) from Daniel’s students,” he wrote. “But because I am no longer chair, As for Pollack-Pelzner, he said he hadn’t slept in the nights since his I will now be forwarding those inquiries to you.” Sumner did not re- dismissal. He’s still not sure what will happen with the students in spond to an interview request. his Shakespeare and British-literature courses, who were supposed After several professors, including Dutt-Ballerstadt and Pollack- to turn in their final projects on the same day he was fired. When Pelzner, publicly criticized the president, they were surprised to find news of his dismissal spread, some professors put up signs in their themselves singled out for interviews with investigators from the office windows on campus in support of Pollack-Pelzner that were area chapter of the NAACP. The faculty members first learned of the subsequently removed by the administration. In a statement, the investigation in an April 20 email from Linfield’s director of human university said the signs had been removed by the director of public resources. They were subsequently informed that an administrative safety because they could be seen by those attending graduation cer- assistant from their college would help to schedule their interviews emonies, an event that is “supposed to be a celebration for graduates with the Salem-Keizer branch of the NAACP. In its report, the NAACP and their families.” chapter said it had begun the investigation after being contacted by Meanwhile, some students condemned the decision to fire Pol- Davis, who raised concerns about “racial animus” at Linfield, though lack-Pelzner by writing messages in chalk on campus sidewalks. A in an earlier interview with The Chronicle, Davis denied contacting memo followed to resident advisers, The Oregonian reported, warn- the NAACP initially and said he didn’t know who had. ing that at Linfield University sidewalk chalk can be used only with The report concludes that Davis had been treated unfairly on the authorization. The messages were washed away by a staff member basis of his race. “President Davis has been accused of being divi- with a hose. sive, intimidating, combative, aggressive, disrespectful, and abusive. This coded language plays off racist and toxic stereotypes with a long Tom Bartlett is a senior writer who covers science and ideas. Jack history in this country.” The report goes on to criticize six professors Stripling is a senior writer at The Chronicle, where he covers college for declining to participate in the NAACP chapter’s inquiry, a char- leadership, particularly presidents and governing boards.

MAY 14, 2021 35

Ronald Crutcher’s Racial Reckoning How the University of Richmond’s first Black president found himself at odds with student activists.

ONALD A. CRUTCHER is acutely aware that his presence as the first Black president of the University of Richmond is a sign of progress. When he graduated from high school in 1965, his race barred him from even enrolling at the campus he now leads, an institution sprawled across 350 acres of a former plantation in what was once the capital of the Confederacy. RCrutcher, 74, will step down this summer as president of the private liberal-arts institution of 4,000 students but will remain on the faculty. A classical cellist and professor of music, he has listened to the crescendo of discordant voices on his campus as battles have raged over building names tied to slavery and segregation. BY KATHERINE MANGAN His own voice is soft and conciliatory. But he is less inclined than many of his white counterparts at other colleges to agree to the demands of student activists: He decries “cancel culture,” dislikes the term “marginalized,” which to him implies powerless, and thinks many people are too quick to take offense at perceived slights or “so-called microaggressions.” His position on the building names left many in the campus community dissatisfied. Crutcher says he’s more convinced than ever of the importance of bringing people together across ideological divides to discuss some of the most deeply polarizing issues of the day. But events have repeatedly tested his optimism that the result will be mutual understanding.

JULIA RENDLEMAN FOR THE CHRONICLE BEN WASSERSTEIN Protesters on campus at the U. of Richmond

Early last year, as he addressed a crowd of national higher-education said they respected how he had commissioned research into the tion leaders in Washington, D.C., he said that the student body was backgrounds of the two men and ultimately called for more commu- continuing to rapidly diversify. Richmond was on its way, he felt, to nity input. being a model of true inclusivity where conversations across race and Crutcher is accustomed to ruffling feathers in his efforts to get class would be welcomed. students to openly confront, rather than, as he sees it, hide from The next day, a Black student found the N-word scrawled on her viewpoints and historical events that trigger strong feelings. He un- name tag outside her dorm-room door. A student from Pakistan dis- derstands that, as someone who lived through the civil-rights move- covered “PAKI” written on hers, and another from Afghanistan had a ment, he’s speaking across a generational divide. reference to terrorism scrawled on his. “Nonetheless, we are an educational institution, and I am an ed- It was, the president writes in a memoir published in February, ucator,” he says. “We have to recognize that for some students, it “the bitterest evidence of how far we had yet to go.” is very painful — perhaps even ‘traumatic’” — he signals with air This spring, while colleges around the country were expunging the quotes — “but I think we will have failed our students if we allow names of slaveholders and segregationists from buildings and monu- them to remain there. We need to help them get beyond the pain, the ments, the University of Richmond planned a different approach. trauma, whatever it is. Otherwise, we will not have served them well Crutcher supported the Board of Trustees’ decision in February to when they go out.” retain the last names of the Rev. Robert Ryland and Douglas Southall Freeman on an academic hall and dorm, “braiding” them with the HEN the stresses of his job mount, Crutcher turns to mu- additional names of former slaves as a way to educate students about sic. After the pandemic took hold last spring, he played the institution’s complex racial history. Ryland, the university’s first two of his favorite pieces in a musical interlude on You- president, was the pastor of a church that included slaves, but he also Tube. He acknowledged how isolating, frustrating, and enslaved people. Freeman, a prominent trustee, supported racial at times frightening the moment was. Music, he said, segregation and eugenics. Wwas his “salve.” The backlash, from students, faculty, staff, and alumni, was swift. Music also introduced him to the world of higher education that The administration ultimately declared a moratorium on any chang- his devoutly religious parents, neither of whom had graduated from es in the names while a commission was set up that would include high school, knew little about. His father was a stern disciplinarian broad cross-campus input. prone to angry outbursts, his mother a stickler for proper English and In a video message in mid-April, Crutcher conceded that he hadn’t impeccable manners. Crutcher felt stifled by their strict rules and fully understood concerns about retaining the names. “It is clear that ashamed of his father’s crass way of speaking. the Board of Trustees and I did not handle the process or decision as Singing in the school choir at age 14, Crutcher was offered the op- well as we should have,” he said. “For that, I am sorry.” portunity to play a musical instrument, and he chose the cello. He The concession didn’t satisfy everyone, but it temporarily quiet- was an overweight, introverted teen, and the instrument was one he ed the protests. Activists who fiercely opposed the president’s posi- figured he could hide behind on stage.

THE CHRONICLE 38 C OF HIGHER EDUCATION He fell in love with the cello, ignoring the laughter of other kids as he carted it back and forth over the hills of Cincinnati between home and school. Eight months after starting the instrument, he per- “ I had no idea you were Black.” formed in a state music competition at Miami University, in Ohio, where a white college professor in the audience was impressed with his talent. The professor, Elizabeth Potteiger, took Crutcher under The comment shocked her wing, gave him three years of free cello lessons, and remained a mentor and friend until her death in 1998. and angered Crutcher Crutcher went on to double major in music and German at Miami University, where he was one of about 80 Black students in a student body of 10,000. The experience, he says, was alienating, but he nev- at first, but he ended up er spoke about it with his family, his mentor, or other Black students. His father had urged him to avoid spending time only with Black using it as the title people because he said Ronald deserved to be in the same circles and have the same opportunities as white people. In retrospect, he writes in his memoir, he spent little time getting to know his Black peers, of his memoir. some of whom probably considered him arrogant. “I am certain that

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MAY 14, 2021 39 lege graduation, hadn’t she talked to him about race? As he began to think more about becoming a college professor, as well as a professional musician, he vowed that he’d be a mentor who didn’t shy away from tough topics. He has kept that promise; he and his wife, Betty Neal Crutcher, mentor groups of first- year students at Richmond, meeting monthly to talk about current events and other topics, including race. After earning a doctorate in music at Yale Uni- versity and a Fulbright to study cello in Germany, Crutcher returned to the U.S. and began his climb up the academic ranks. He served as provost at Mi- ami University and as president for 10 years at Whea- ton College. As a Black leader at overwhelmingly white institutions, he found that race was never far from the surface. In the mid-90s, as director of the School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin, he met with the CEO of an oil company to ask him to support a scholarship for violin students. The first words out of the executive’s mouth when he saw Crutcher? “I had no idea you were Black.” The professor was shocked and angry. He thought about walking away, and when he tells the story to students now, some say that he should have, that the words were unforgivable. Instead, he decided to listen. The man talked about how he and his wife had attended the Aspen Music Festival for several years and had rarely seen string players of color. He wondered if the classical-music community could do more to nurture that talent. By the end of the conversation, which touched on their shared love of classical music, the scholarship was in the works. Crutcher tells the story to illustrate the benefits of withholding judgment and hearing someone out when they say something that, on its face, sounds offensive. He ended up using the executive’s comment as the title of his memoir.

RUTCHER was attracted to the job at Rich- mond because of its growing diversity and commitment to a need-blind admissions policy. Students of color had nearly tripled

JULIA RENDLEMAN FOR THE CHRONICLE as a percentage of the population under his Ronald Crutcher, president of the U. of Richmond, plays the cello at his home. Cpredecessor, Edward L. Ayers, while the number of low-income students had nearly doubled. But while their numbers had increased to 26 percent of the undergraduate population by 2015, stu- some called me ‘Oreo,’” he writes in his memoir. He was a bit of a lon- dents of color didn’t always feel welcome. Black students talked er, he says, and didn’t let it bother him. about feeling they were being asked to represent their race in class discussions. It brought painful memories to Crutcher of his own FTER reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X during his college experience. junior year in college, he began to realize that not talking Still, he finds it frustrating that debates about racial justice are of- about race had prevented him from asking crucial questions. ten framed as binary. “Either you support the Black students or you Was his father right when he angrily confronted a bus driver support white supremacy,” he says. “Of course, it’s more complex for not picking his family up? Or was his mother’s more re- than that.” This binary thinking shows “the real need for dialogue Astrained approach — dressing her young sons in suits and bow ties and the realization that we are in an incredibly polarized country so no one would have a reason to demean them — more appropriate? now.” Not only are people living in bubbles, he says, but they tend to Why, he demanded in a letter he wrote to his mentor after his col- vilify anyone outside that bubble.

THE CHRONICLE 40 C OF HIGHER EDUCATION Crutcher has suggested that students are too quick to retreat equal footing,” she said. “What I was arguing is that into safe spaces where they’re sheltered from views that offend there’s nothing equivalent to a noose that you can them. He’d rather see them take advantage of being in the most di- throw back at a white person that has the same im- verse place many of them have lived in to hone the tools to respond, pact.” The president’s “sticks and stones” comment, whether it’s through counterarguments or just honest conversations she said, “communicated to white people that you can with people who don’t share their ideologies. Colleges can encourage say what you want. Black students just have to tough- that, he says, by welcoming speakers with diverse, even controversial en up and take it.” views and facilitating ways for students to interact with classmates Richards said she feels “a sense of betrayal” when from different races, economic backgrounds, and sexual orienta- a Black president questions whether microaggres- tions. sions are real and whether safe spaces are needed. As “The world our students will enter after graduation is riven with a Black man, “he can say things and it’s harder to criti- difficult discussions and peopled by those with whom they will dis- cize him for it.” agree,” he writes. “As campus leaders, we have a duty to lead by ex- One thing they agree on is that talking across dif- ample and prepare our students, not isolate them like hothouse flow- ference is important. They just disagree on how to go ers.” about it. FROM THE CHRONICLE STORE He can sound like conservative critics of higher education. But This Chronicle report examines even people on campus fighting to change the building names say RUTCHER is a proponent of the university’s Explore key questions surround- that Crutcher has a clear commitment to racial justice and an appre- “Sharp Viewpoints” series that pairs speaking the lack of racial diversity ciation of how much work lies ahead. ers from opposite sides of the aisle tackling in higher ed with insights from Thad Williamson, an associate professor of leadership studies hot-button issues. One of his favorite pair- campus leaders who have and head of the Faculty Senate, says the president may not have ings was Cornel West, a left-leaning activist made changes to the status quo. fully understood “the sense of existential threat” many students of Cand former Harvard professor, and Robert P. George, Learn what it takes to bring more diversity to campuses and how color feel “in an era of Trump.” When Crutcher says that students a conservative professor of jurisprudence at Princ- to tackle the structural barriers are being oversensitive, “I sometimes disagree, but I’m rarely of- eton University, talking about how they remained that hinder people of color. fended,” Williamson says. “People know him to be a kind and car- close friends despite their sharply opposing political Get this and other products ing person.” views. at Chronicle.com/Browse Mary Kelly Tate, a professor of law who works to identify and ex- He’s also encouraged employees to participate in onerate wrongfully convicted people, and who, like Williamson, is the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor’s Program on white, calls Crutcher “a man with great gravitas who I frequently dis- Intergroup Relations, which describes itself as a so- agree with on these very important issues.” cial-justice education initiative. He takes those lessons to heart in his The president’s call for viewpoint diversity “is a virtuous aim,” she own interactions on campus. says, “but not at the expense of making students of color feel alienat- “Leaders need to be patient,” he says. “If you’re in a conversation and ed” by continuing to honor historical figures tied to slavery and eu- students say, ‘I’m not happy with what I’m hearing from you. If you’re genics. “To point out structural racist realities is not evidence of be- not going to do XYZ, there’s no point in going forward,’” take a deep ing fragile,” she adds. “It’s quite the reverse.” breath, and say, ‘Maybe we can return to it later,’ because it doesn’t do Shira Greer, a junior, was an author of a statement from the Black any better to push it. That’s Student Coalition decrying the refusal to rename the buildings. The just going to exacerbate the commission, she says, is probably a stalling tactic and a way to dodge situation.” the issue for now. Still, she says, “I think there has been progress A lot has changed during “ We have a duty to lead by made under his tenure, taking a school that has always been back- his lifetime, Crutcher says, ward and catching up. He’s been respectful of students.” and the pace of change Crutcher concedes that it hasn’t always been easy taking a posi- seems to be accelerating. example and prepare our tion that puts him at odds with many faculty and students of color. Still, he finds it dishearten- Shortly after a white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., turned ing that some students today students, not isolate them deadly, he was moderating a panel discussion in which a Black so- are experiencing the same ciologist, Bedelia N. Richards, described students being terrorized racism he faced in the 1960s. by a noose found hanging in the theater department the previous But in his day, conversations like hothouse flowers.” year. Crutcher responded that it was unfortunate an inanimate about divisive issues were object had sparked such fear. He had always been taught, he said, loud and welcomed, he says. “that sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never Today, controversial speakers hurt me.” When he saw the aghast expressions in the audience, “I are disinvited, potentially painful debates avoided. realized I’d really stepped in it.” After the session, he said he apolo- “What I find most hopeful is that students of color and their al- gized to Richards. lies are saying, ‘We no longer want to be educated in a culture where Interviewed this week, Richards, a race and ethnicities scholar we feel like a guest in someone else’s home,’” he says. “Some people who has a consulting group that helps people talk about race, said would say, ‘If you’re not happy, just leave.’ No. We’re here. We’re going Crutcher spoke to her briefly after the panel, but she doesn’t remem- to challenge you to change the culture.” But to do that, he believes, ber an apology. She said that while she thinks he is more careful everyone needs to listen. about what he says now, she’s not convinced he’s any more sensitive to the realities of racism on his campus. Katherine Mangan writes about community colleges, completion “The way he frames freedom of speech, it’s almost like he sees two efforts, student success, and job training, as well as free speech kids on a playground throwing insults at each other and they’re on and other topics in daily news.

MAY 14, 2021 41 INSIGHT Metaphor misfire | Diversity dilemma | Library leadership | Grading gaffe

The ‘Flagship’ Folly The metaphor is a poor classifier of colleges but a clear signal of higher ed’s status obsession.

AMERICAN higher education is full term. When researchers did define of jargon. We have all kinds of bam- it, they used phrases like “selective” boozling lingo to categorize different (58.6 percent of the time) or “research- types of colleges: SLACs, HBCUs, R1s, intensive” (31 percent), or they identi- MSIs, PWIs, “mega-universities” — fied a specific university as a concrete the list goes on. While many of these example. terms are helpful, others are less so. The term’s academic origin similar- Consider, for instance, “elite” col- ly fails to clarify its meaning. The term leges. This term suggests everyone has “flagship” institution barely appeared agreed on which in- in print before 1980. stitutions are “elite” In our sample of ac- and what their fea- ademic research, ap- tures might be. That, THE REVIEW proximately five arti- of course, is not the cles a year mentioned case. Another misfire, flagship universities somewhere near the top of this pan- from 1980 to 2005. From 2006 to 2015 theon of parlance, is “flagship.” the number of articles using the term The term is pervasive. In an analysis crept up to between 10 and 15 articles of segregation of Black and Latina/o a year. Since 2015 the usage of “flag- students, the Education Trust dove ship” university has skyrocketed — into the data by identifying 50 pub- there were 40 articles in 2020 alone. lic universities as flagship campuses. A third of all articles mentioning the The Urban Institute’s “Understanding term “flagship” in regard to a univer- College Affordability” project simply sity in the journals we examined have identifies flagship public universities been published since 2015. as “generally doctoral institutions.” The early scholarship we identified The Hechinger Report recently exam- doesn’t help much to define the term DAVE PLUNKERT FOR THE CHRONICLE ined the recruitment, enrollment, and or pinpoint its origins. A 1982 Review campus racial-climate issues of spe- of Higher Education article identified cifically the more selective flagship a flagship university as one with cred- to the 1800s in the United States, but ship concept and category sets it apart campuses. The Chronicle also uses the ibility, resources, and “carefully con- provides no specific origin. The old- from other taxonomies of higher ed. term widely, in referring to quite di- structed prestige.” A book from 1985 est university in a state, land-grant The Carnegie Classifications are tech- verse public universities with varying recognized flagship universities as universities, and normal schools are nical and rarely used in public con- resources, selectivity, and academic public universities with the “highest all named as part of the flagship tra- versation, and don’t seem to capture and research offerings. classification” in a state, allowing for dition. Just about anything virtuous much of what people discuss about “Flagship,” then, is a confusing multiple flagships per state, and iden- about public universities seems to be flagship status. Other terms convey term, and those of us who work in tified 65 in total. But a 1987 book said part of the flagship tradition. information about history, mission, higher ed should probably avoid it that each state could have only one The flagship concept is not always culture, and curriculum. “Historical- altogether unless we can settle on a flagship. So, again, no agreement. synonymous with virtue, however. ly Black Colleges and Universities” is a clear definition of what it means. In More recently, the higher-ed schol- The Education Trust shows how flag- historical and legal category imbued our research, we found that while ac- ar John Aubrey Douglass has cham- ship universities abandoned their with social meaning about race and ademic researchers seem to be able to pioned the model of the new flagship public mission, operating as engines education in America. Liberal-arts identify which universities are flag- university. Douglass’s idea pushes of inequality and segregation. Exclu- colleges refer to a distinctive mission ships, they often don’t know why. back against the research-first notion sionary admissions prioritize wealthy, and curriculum, even if there is no We identified nearly 350 articles in of the world-class university, which mostly white students from out of dispositive way of identifying all the 12 academic journals that used the became popular in the early 2000s state who can pay full freight. Flag- liberal-arts colleges. Those categori- term “flagship” to refer to colleges — right around the time the Shang- ships fail to sufficiently serve Black, cal concepts come with a clarity that since 1980. Of those, only 29 — slight- hai and Times Higher Education world Latina/o, Native American, Asian, and eludes “flagship.” ly more than 8 percent of all articles rankings emerged. He distinguishes a low-income students. Other research we examined — included any defi- “flagship” college from a “world class” has come to similar conclusions. So IS IT STILL POSSIBLE to produce a list nition of what constitutes a flagship one as emphasizing access and civic much for community and opportunity of flagship universities? The Educa- college. None of the articles offered a engagement in addition to research. as distinguishing characteristics. tion Trust reports do, and the lists are clear and compelling definition of the Douglass traces the flagship concept The extreme malleability of the flag- credible. But are they conclusive?

THE CHRONICLE 42 C OF HIGHER EDUCATION One issue is whether there can be are also land-grant institutions, but only one flagship per state. Flagship HBCUs seem never to be honored with is a nautical metaphor. The flagship the flagship designation. Nor are any Brendan W. Carson Byrd is the grandest vessel in a flotilla, the two-year institutions called “flag- leader. In this metaphor, the flagship ship,” even though some communi- is faculty director of research Cantwell initiatives in the National Center is the “top” campus in a university ty colleges are part of large systems. is an associate professor for Institutional Diversity at the system. For some states, this makes In short, our selective use of the term of higher, adult, and lifelong University of Michigan at Ann sense. The University of Wisconsin at undervalues important educational education at Michigan State Arbor. University. Madison leads the University of Wis- communities. consin system. In other states, two Writers often define flagship univer- universities claim flagship status, such sities as selective. Yet plenty of cam- as the Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses typically identified as flagships bor and flagship-labeled West Virginia much in size, demographic compo- puses for the University of California admit more than half of all applicants. University. Down South, the Georgia sition, higher-ed-system complexity system. Some states have two or more According to 2019 data, the University Institute of Technology is both more and governance, and state funding to major university systems. The Univer- of Vermont admitted two-thirds of ap- selective and more research intensive make much sense about the condition sity of Texas at Austin is the University plicants, the University of Arizona ad- than is the state-identified flagship, of higher education by comparing one of Texas system’s flagship, but the Col- mitted 85 percent, and the University the University of Georgia. semi-arbitrarily identified campus in lege Station campus is the Texas A&M of Kansas admitted 93 percent. Most Analysts and policy advocates each state. system’s flagship. people think the University of Kan- sometimes compare flagships to mea- Does this mean that the flagship Some states seem not to have a sas is a flagship, but no one believes a sure how accessible, affordable, or concept is bunk? Not always. Re- flagship at all. The State University 93-percent admit rate could be char- equitable public higher education is searchers have made good use of the of New York system does not have a acterized as selective. in different states. A 2019 Institute flagship concept when examining clear leading campus. The Education Others associate flagships with re- for Higher Education Policy report state-level processes. An excellent Trust says the University at Buffalo is search intensity. And certainly, some about college finance and education- example is the scholar Dominique J. the flagship, but it could also be Al- places typically identified as flag- al opportunity made such compari- Baker’s study about state affirmative- bany or Stony Brook. The University ships do a lot of research. The Univer- sons and characterized flagships as action bans. Baker found that states of Wyoming is the only four-year uni- sity of Michigan and the University those that “tend to be the most se- are more likely to impose affirmative- versity in its state. Taking the analo- of Washington are among the world’s lective, academically rigorous, and action bans when minority students gy literally: What fleet of institutions largest research-performing universi- well- resourced public school in each enroll at relatively high rates on cam- is Wyoming leading? Delaware has ties. But things don’t always work out state.” The goals behind these com- puses perceived to be a state’s flagship. two public universities: the Univer- that way. The nonflagship University parisons makes sense to us. But the The study showed the power of the sity of Delaware and Delaware State of Pittsburgh has almost six times the utility of the categorization is less flagship image in the public imagina- University, an HBCU. It took a court research funding of its regional neigh- clear across research. States vary too tion and demonstrated a connection order to persuade the state to desegre- between the flagship concept and sys- gate in Parker v. University of Delaware temic racism. (1950). What sort of historic leadership The Growth of ‘Flagship’ Labeling an institution as a flagship is that? sends a message about who and what The number of articles using the term “flagship” institution in 12 journals from Alternative flagship lists could in- is valued in American higher educa- 1980 to 2020. clude the oldest public university tion: specifically, name brands and in the state, but that would produce 40 the allure of status. The way people re- some odd results. The College of Wil- spond to the term is more instructive liam & Mary was founded more than than what it tells us about the institu- 120 years before the University of Vir- tions we call flagships. On the other ginia, but it was private until the Com- 30 hand, as an analytic category used to monwealth of Virginia saved it from answer other questions, about, say, af- financial ruin, in 1906. How would fordability, accessibility, equity, or re- one rank that? Should Ohio University, search performance, “flagship” leaves which opened in 1808, steal “flagship” much to be desired. Such impreci- 20 status back from Ohio State? sion causes us to mistakenly com- Sometimes flagship universities pare institutions, and also gives rise are associated with the Morrill “land to a world of research, data, and policy grant” Acts that included the theft recommendations premised on faulty of land from Indigenous communi- 10 assumptions. In short, “flagship” has ties to fund institutions. Again, lit- outlived whatever purpose it once tle consensus appears. Few think the had, and now clearly does more harm land-granted Michigan State Univer- than good. Until we have a clear defi- sity should be a flagship instead of 0 nition of particular features that can 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 the Ann Arbor campus of the Uni- help understand a segment of public versity of Michigan. Several HBCUs Source: W. Carson Byrd and Brendan Cantwell institutions, it’s time we stop using it.

MAY 14, 2021 43 INSIGHT

Demands for Diversity Lead to Corporatization Students are empowering administrators at faculty expense.

THIS PAST FALL, the Core Strike Col- lective, a collection of student groups at Bryn Mawr College, submitted a list of 16 demands to the college administration. At the top was a call for mandatory diversity, equity, and inclusion training for students, faculty, and staff. The students, insisting on robust “quantitative and qualitative assess- ments,” asked for a data dashboard to track 38 proposed equity metrics con- cerning recruitment, retention, and financing. Demands for diversity training and other DEI initiatives, such as bias response teams, have been central to student protests against racial injus- tice since 2015 and have only prolif- erated in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Many student demands have been framed in terms of resisting capitalism, corporate logic, and labor exploitation. The Core Strike Collective called out Bryn Mawr as “a corporation that poses itself as an educational institution.” Indeed, the University of Virginia scholars Rose Cole and Wal- NICOLAS OGONOSKY FOR THE CHRONICLE ter Heinecke applaud recent student activism as a “site of resistance to the neoliberalization of higher education” and 2012, the number of faculty and student admission and aid policies leave because of a $637-million cut that offers a “blueprint for a new social staff per administrator declined by that produce inequities. in state funding. Later the same year, imaginary in higher education.” roughly 40 percent. This administra- Instead of tackling those challeng- the San Francisco campus appoint- But this assessment gets things tive bloat has helped usher in a more es, institutions can rally behind quix- ed its first vice chancellor of diversi- backward. By insisting on bureaucrat- corporate mind-set throughout aca- otic rhetorical goals such as eradicat- ty and outreach with a starting sala- ic solutions to execute their vision, re- deme, including the increased willing systemic and structural racism on ry of $270,000. In 2012, faced with the plete with bullet-pointed action items ingness to exploit low-paid and vul- campuses. They can, as Portland State threat of a $250-million cut in state and measurable out- nerable adjuncts for University has done, pledge to apply funding, the San Diego campus none- comes, student activ- teaching, and the ea- “an antiracist lens to every signal we theless hired its first vice chancellor ists are only strength- gerness to slash bud- send, every model we create, and ev- for equity, diversity, and inclusion, ening the neoliberal THE REVIEW gets and eliminate ery policy we enact.” Or, like the Uni- with a starting salary of $250,000. “all-administrative academic depart- versity of Louisville has done, they can The other chief beneficiaries are di- university” — a mod- ments not considered announce their aspiration of becom- versity trainers and consulting firms. el of higher education that privileges marketable enough. ing “a premier anti-racist metropoli- Diversity training is a billion-dollar market relationships, treats students College leaders, for their part, have tan university.” industry. A one-day training session as consumers and faculty as service been more than happy to comply with for around 50 people can cost any- providers, all under the umbrella of the recent demands for trainings and HIRING EXECUTIVE DEI OFFICERS is the where between $2,000 and $6,000. an ever-expanding regime of bureau- DEI personnel. Nothing is more con- primary way in which many colleges Speaking fees for Ibram X. Kendi, the cratization. Fulfilling student DEI de- venient from an institutional perspec- have signaled their commitment to antiracist scholar at Boston Universi- mands will weaken academe, includ- tive than hiring more administrators antiracism and diversity. More than ty, are $20,000, and Robin DiAngelo, ing, ironically, undermining more and consultants. It simultaneously two-thirds of major universities across the author of White Fragility, charges meaningful diversity efforts. assuages angry students and checks the country had a chief diversity offi- $50,000 to $75,000. Some colleges, The rampant growth of the admin- the box of doing the work of improv- cer in 2016. Even in lean times, insti- I’ve been told, are forking out north of istration over the years at the expense ing campus inclusivity, without hav- tutions of higher learning appear to $140,000 for multisession antiracism of faculty has been well documented. ing to contend with the sticking points have continued appointing executive and diversity training for faculty and From 1987 to 2012 the number of ad- of university policies and procedures diversity officers. Consider the Uni- staff. ministrators doubled relative to aca- where real change could be achieved: versity of California system, where in EAB, a prominent higher-education demic faculty. A 2014 Delta Cost Proj- tenure-review processes, limited pro- 2010 faculty and staff had to take up consulting firm, reports on its website ect report noted that between 1990 tections for contingent faculty, and to three and a half weeks of unpaid that racial justice is by far the larg-

THE CHRONICLE 44 C OF HIGHER EDUCATION est driver of student activism over the burgh-area activists, the course focus- past five years. The firm points out es on the Black experience and Black that acting on racial-justice demands cultural expression, and it considers requires the coordination of five de- the interplay of race with ethnicity, partments: athletics, health services, gender, class, sexuality, and nation- student life, housing, and the admin- ality. istration. Other efforts, like tailored course- Note the conspicuous absence of ac- work, seminar series, discussion pan- ademic departments. What we have els, student speak-outs, collegewide is a wholesale transformation of col- teach-ins, exhibitions, performances, leges where faculty members, once and common readings allow institu- the beating heart of educational insti- tions to harness the knowledge and tutions, are sidelined. And every addi- expertise that their faculty, students, tional dollar spent on augmenting col- and staff already have on issues of lege administration eats away at finite race and inequality. resources. Alas, such thoughtful respons- In the name of riding out the pan- es have been few and far between. demic, some colleges are freezing and The vast majority of college admin- cutting faculty positions. Many, in- istrations have simply genuflected to Amna Khalid cluding those purportedly committed student demands for trainings. The is an associate professor to diversity, are laying off contingent most galling aspect of institutional of history at Carleton College faculty, a group that is more racial- responses, one that is conspicuously ly and gender diverse compared with neoliberal and anti-educational, is the tenured and tenure-track faculty. A embrace of the-customer-is-always- number of liberal-arts colleges are right attitude. Evidence and research choosing to focus on STEM and busi- suggest that diversity-related train- ness at the cost of the humanities and ings are not effective. According to social sciences. These are the very de- the sociologists Frank Dobbin and Al- partments and programs that attract exandra Kalev, diversity training has more diverse faculty than STEM fields; “failed spectacularly” when it comes what’s more, these are precisely the to reducing bias. To the contrary, academic domains that focus most these trainings can reinforce stereo- heavily on issues of race, equity, and types and heighten bias. Yet colleges social justice. across the country have chosen to dis- To be clear, student concerns about regard the evidence and instead pan- inequities are genuine and important. der to the “customer.” But instead of asking for bureaucratic Institutions of higher learning, the

“ What we have is a wholesale transformation where faculty members, once the beating heart of colleges, are sidelined.” solutions such as trainings, students very bastions of rigorous analysis and would be better served if they insist- evidence-based knowledge produced that colleges redirect resources to- tion, have reneged their key responsi- wards things such as increasing finan- bility of educating students. In doing cial aid, providing better academic so we are squandering a prime op- support systems for underrepresented portunity to seriously think through students, and instituting educational and constructively address some of initiatives. the most serious problems that plague A good example is the University of American society. Indeed, it is a grim Pittsburgh’s multidisciplinary course moment in the history of education “Anti-Black Racism: History, Ideolo- when the raison d’être of colleges is gy, and Resistance” introduced in the overwhelmed by the logic of the mar- wake of George Floyd’s murder, and ket. For reasons very different from which all first-year students are re- those of the students at Bryn Mawr, I quired to take. Drawing on the exper- find myself coming to the same con- tise of Pitt faculty from the human- clusion: Colleges today are indeed cor- ities, social sciences, public health, porations masquerading as educa- sciences, and the arts, as well as Pitts- tional institutions.

MAY 14, 2021 45 INSIGHT

Librarians Lead the Way They helped guide their institutions into the socially distant era. Now what? WHEN THE PANDEMIC HIT in March of Hinchliffe. The pandemic was an ex- last year, administrators at Davidson periment in accelerating those ser- College approached the library, which vices without planning and under had instructional designers on its duress. Libraries need far more-ag- staff. Could those designers and other gressive outreach programs to patrons librarians help shift Davidson’s cours- and more careful curation of digital es to an online format in the middle of collections and e-resources, just to the semester? keep the library’s expertise and re- “It was all hands on deck,” said Lisa sources in front of students and re- Forrest, director of Davidson’s library. searchers. “Even though the librarians may not “The more people work remotely, the have thought of themselves as in- less they seem to actually seek out the structional designers, I think every- expertise of library workers,” Hinch- body quickly learned that we were liffe says. “If we wish to stay ‘in the speaking a very similar language, workflow’” — that is, to borrow from and folks realized they all had a role the library scholar Lorcan Dempsey, to play in helping to transition those to operate in the online environments courses.” where users work — “we probably Within a week, those courses were need far more aggressive outreach online. Within another week, the li- programs than we currently have.” brary had moved its student- and fac- On his blog, Dempsey has said that ulty-research consultations online, the pandemic should push libraries while working on other resources: The to offer a “holistic online experience,” library ramped up its digitization ef- apart from the physical space that now forts, book-retrieval and contactless marks the value and identity of many book pick-up services, and self-check- libraries. “The forced migration online CHAD HAGEN FOR THE CHRONICLE out, including a service that allowed may mark a final transition into a more people to check out books from their full digital identity for the library.” phones anywhere in the library. terials, and some people wondered sources and services even more than Certainly, in many cases, librar- Forrest has been working to push whether we would need libraries when it does now, according to library di- ians noticed that the challenges of the library to establish more digital patrons could get so many materials rectors and scholars of the field. It’s an moving materials and services on- collections and online services, and to online. In a cover story that discussed overdue evolution, says Lisa Janicke line paid off, with more participation do more outreach since she arrived at the impact of that article many years Hinchliffe, professor and coordina- among students and professors in li- Davidson three years ago. The later, Library Journal noted that one ac- tor of information-literacy services at brary activities. Susan Goodwin, as- pandemic put those plans into over- ademic library director left her job at the library of the University of Illinois sociate dean for user services at Tex- drive. Bentley College when a senior admin- at Urbana-Champaign. Yes, libraries as A&M University at College Station, “It showed us just how nimble and istrator there came to the conclusion had robust electronic resources and says the pandemic response has of- agile we can be when we need to be,” that academic libraries were obsolete. virtual services before the pandemic. fered opportunities to rethink the li- she says. That view, of course, was wrong. But at many of them, technology was brary’s processes and priorities. The In fact, over the past year, academ- Providing paper books and journals still at the margins of their activities, librarians were already helping (and ic libraries across the country helped is only one aspect of what libraries do. and staffing roles were still very much persuading) instructors to shift their lead their institutions into the socially Libraries are social hubs on campus. oriented around analog services and course materials to more widely avail- distant era — in part because librar- They are increasingly the location of collections. able online educational resources; ies had already spent decades figuring classrooms, auditoriums, cafés, mak- “The assumption should be that the pandemic, says Goodwin, “only out how to offer online services and erspaces, virtual-reality rooms, busi- people never use us in person, ex- strengthened our resolve to continue get information to people who rarely ness incubators, and more. And li- cept sometimes,” says Hinchliffe. to get the word out.” came into the building. In that time, brarians themselves are increasingly “The question is, will we go back to Consultations and workshops also campus librarians have also grap- reaching patrons outside their walls. analog first and digital second, or moved to Zoom, and librarians found pled with the symbolism and role of In the past year, when many ac- will we remain digitally first with the they were engaging with more people, the campus library, a structure usu- ademic libraries were now literally analog in a complementary, import- from farther distances. ally situated in a prominent place on deserted, they continued to support ant, but not front role? I see the po- “We had all these participants from campus. students and researchers on cam- tential for this shift to digital-first to other campuses that now suddenly In 2001, The Chronicle published puses. The emergence of the internet be permanent.” were able to sign up for these work- my article about the role of the library changed libraries. Will the pandemic Most of the planning around how shops that they otherwise would have building in the online era, under the change them even more? patrons will use their libraries focus- had to drive to,” Goodwin says. “I inflammatory headline “The Deserted es on what happens within a building, think our users are ahead of us. The Library.” At the time, online resourc- THE LIBRARY that emerges from with remote services being a contin- faculty member in a distant building es were quickly supplanting paper ma- Covid-19 is likely to value its digital re- gency if patrons don’t come in, says — we have a large campus — doesn’t

THE CHRONICLE 46 C OF HIGHER EDUCATION necessarily want to have to come over line platforms, they might learn some- nature of human relationships.” Zoom to the library to talk to an expert about thing from the experience of their is far too formal and requires schedul- their research. They’d rather connect libraries over the past two decades, ing, which are barriers; with everyone from their office.” Radford says. in the building, employees can ser- The same dynamic seems to be hap- Online services might be more con- endipitously run into each other, and pening for events for the public as well. venient, she warns, but they have their into students and researchers. Before Covid-19, the library at the Uni- share of pitfalls. “There’s an informality about be- versity of Rochester, like many aca- “They seem deceptively simple being on site,” Mavrinac says. “I’d like to demic and public libraries across the cause we live online now,” she says, understand more about how relation- country, would regularly hold events “but what’s underneath there is the ships are built. I like to think we actu- with prominent speakers — and some- level of complexity about human in- ally do need face-to-face.” Scott Carlson times draw a meager audience. teraction.” Unlike face-to-face inter- is a senior writer who “We’d have a Pulitzer Prize win- actions, online interactions give users IN MANY WAYS, academic libraries are explores where higher ner, but there’s so much competition an opportunity to drop away easily; among the most important public education is headed. Follow for people’s time that if we happen to those providing service on the oth- spaces on a college campus. A library him on Twitter @carlsonics. pick a night that something else was er end have to be aware of engaging building is often perceived as a campus’s “heart”; Hinchliffe prefers the term “front porch,” borrowed from the signed or renovated libraries often “ Libraries never were about books” but were, sociologist Tressie McMillan Cottom, led people to rediscover these build- for the way it emphasizes the notion ings, and to want to hang out within historically, sites for interaction and debate. of community rather than collections. them. For much of the public, a library is a “The Charles Library is an environ- “That type of energy, that type of messiness “third place” much like a coffeehouse ment where you walk into it, and it has or a bar — a space that is neither home a feeling, a lightness, a lifting quality is something the internet cannot replace.” nor an office, but where people can that is inspiring,” Lucia says. “The de- gather to socialize, work, or simply be sign environment, the layout of spac- alone in public. es, the physical materials, and the going on, we’d have 50 people,” says them. Radford’s studies indicate that Joseph P. Lucia, dean of Temple Uni- way they fit together — the geometry Mary Ann Mavrinac, vice provost and patrons come to services like virtual versity Libraries, believes that many communicates a sense of specialness. dean of libraries at the university. The chat with some anxiety — confusion of the academic functions of a library It takes from a deep history of library library moved those events to Zoom, about how to find the materials they can be conducted online. Surely, stu- architecture, this notion that libraries and started drawing 200 to 400 people need, or even what to look for — and dents will take advantage of that for should be spaces that inspire.” for some of them. making that human connection can convenience, and certainly many fac- The library was designed in part “And they’ve been from around the be challenging. ulty members prefer to be off campus around the notion of the stoa in clas- U.S.,” Mavrinac says. She thinks the “Now you ask a librarian, and we’re if not needed in the classroom, lab, sical Greek architecture — walkways, library could use such events to ac- behind this little button,” she says. or office. It’s not clear whether people lined with columns, that were public tively woo alumni and donors to sup- “They’re not really sure who they’re will still prefer to work remotely after marketplaces and community spaces. port library projects, or the university talking to, so you have to develop this offices and public spaces reopen. It was designed to be a social space, overall. Consider the possibilities: Not rapport.” “We will have to work out what the but a versatile one that could change just guest speakers, but discussions of Remote work could have impacts social dynamics of the face-to-face en- with the times. items in the university’s special col- on the internal culture of library or- vironment look and feel like,” he says. If you go back far enough, to ancient lections or interactive sessions with ganizations as well, something li- “If fewer people are on campus every Egypt, Greece, and Rome, “libraries university scholars. “The engagement brary directors are already consider- day, will some of that urban density never were about books,” says Craig is incredible, and they feel really con- ing — with few answers at this point. that was the characteristic of Temple’s Dykers, a founding partner at Snøhet- nected to the university.” At Rochester, administrators are just dynamism — just people everywhere ta, which also designed the Biblioth- beginning to convene universitywide — be diminished a bit? And what will eca Alexandrina. They started as out- CONVENIENCE IS KEY — and it has been discussions about who might be able the center of campus feel like?” door spaces, he says, then moved to for some time. Marie L. Radford, pro- to work part or full time from home. In the fall of 2019, Temple opened a semi-enclosed spaces. They were sites fessor and chair of the department This raises important questions about new library building, the Charles Li- of legal debates and community space of library and information science equity: If someone gets to work at brary. It was designed by the Norwe- before they became “semi-sabbati- at Rutgers University, says that one home, is that a privilege? How do you gian architecture firm Snøhetta and cal” places where people sit alone at a of her most-cited studies, from 2011, extend that flexibility to people whose sits along a crossroads of that campus, cubby. noted that people use virtual services work is based in the office? in a spot that can sometimes feel as “In recent history, we have broad- because they’re the most convenient During the pandemic, Mavrinac, of crowded as Times Square during the ened that definition to be actually option, not because those patrons Rochester, has hired several people to height of the day, says Lucia. much more like the ancient libraries of are in a rush, as many people had as- fill vacancies in critical positions at Space affects mind-sets — some- Greece and Rome, to be highly active sumed. the library; she is skeptical that those thing that has been as true of librar- places,” he says. “That type of action, Radford has studied virtual refer- people can be integrated into the cul- ies as it has of churches or prominent that type of energy, that type of mess- ence services for 15 years, and many ture of her university from behind a government buildings over centuries. iness is something the internet can- of the librarians she surveys while screen at home. One of the themes of “The Desert- not replace, even in chat rooms. We’ll studying the field have been offering “Most of those people have nev- ed Library” and a number of related yearn for that after the pandemic eas- person-to-person online services for er met colleagues in person, and they and follow-up articles was clear: The es our fear of being with other people, even longer. If colleges move more of don’t have the same shared experi- “deserted” libraries were often drab, and we will once again reoccupy li- their own outreach and services to on- ence,” she says. “I wonder about the poorly lit buildings. New, well-de- braries.”

MAY 14, 2021 47 INSIGHT

Stop Grading Class Participation Students shouldn’t have to battle one another for airtime to earn a good grade. WHEN I BEGAN TEACHING, I adopted the common practice of grading student participation. I set aside 10 percent of my students’ grades for that purpose, and did my best to keep track of how much they spoke up in class. That was challenging, especially early in my career, when in a typical semester I was teaching three or four courses of 20 to 30 students each. I had no formal system for tracking who spoke and how often — I simply relied on my observations and recollections. Practically speaking, I tended to use the class-participation score to reward students who I felt deserved a grade boost at the end of the semester. When I was sitting down to assign final grades, I would first look at how they did on papers, tests, and projects, and then at their class participation. If they’d participated a lot, I would give them an A in that category, and it might raise their final grade from, say, GETTY IMAGES a B to a B-plus. If they didn’t participate much, I didn’t punish them for it — I would just match their participa- rately measure how much every stu- ticulars, this grading practice raises ing challenges or disabilities that pre- tion score to whatever grade they had dent participated in all my courses some hard questions that usually are vent them from engaging in a whole- earned for the other 90 percent of the during a 15-week semester. left unanswered: Are all comments class discussion as actively as do their course, so their overall grade would Such a “system” is subject to every equal? What counts as a comment peers. Should they be punished for remain the same. kind of bias imaginable. In addition to worthy of a good grade? How am I their character traits or anxieties? Even as I write these words, I am whatever unconscious biases I might tracking the quality of the comments, cringing at the thought that I engaged be carrying toward students based as opposed to the sheer quantity? A FEW YEARS AGO those concerns in this pedagogical practice for a good on their identities, I might find myself And don’t even get me started on reached enough of a fever pitch to per- dozen years or looking more favor- the biases of our very imperfect hu- suade me to stop this practice alto- more. ably on a student whose man memory. Perhaps most relevant gether. It was difficult to abandon, be- I no longer grade comments or demean- here, psychologists will tell you that cause grading participation does stem class participation. ADVICE or remind me a little of we’re all subject to the recency ef- from a positive intention: I want stu- I seem to be in the myself — or unfavor- fect — a tendency to recollect, most dents to take part in class. Those who minority on that, ably on a student who easily and prominently, things from participate are more likely to succeed based on my conversations with other reminds me of someone I dislike. the very recent past. As the instruc- in the course because they have artic- faculty members. But I have come to You also don’t have to teach for very tor, what I remember happening in ulated their thoughts, have received believe that grading student participa- long to discover that some students the final weeks of the semester might feedback, and can revise them for tion is a poor pedagogical choice, and love to participate in class, and will shape my evaluation of a student’s graded papers, quizzes, and assess- that a better alternative exists. Here do so at every chance they get, some- participation more than what hap- ments. Those are excellent reasons to I’ll explain why — and how I culti- times in very superficial ways. How pened in the first few weeks. That encourage participation. vate participation in my courses, even do I measure the difference between might not be fair to a student who If you grade participation, you without hanging a grade-based incen- an introvert who makes one comment participated a lot early on but then might also do so because you believe tive over my students’ heads. that changes the way we all think of got overwhelmed and quieted down it helps students develop thinking What drove me away from grading the material, and an extrovert who later in the semester. and speaking skills that will bene- student participation was an uneasy makes 10 comments that are all the Even if I could track everyone’s par- fit them in the future. In some disci- feeling — and it grew each year — equivalent of “I agree with that.” ticipation accurately, I am not sure we plines the ability to think on your feet that grades were not something that I do know fair-minded graders of really should grade students on how might be an essential skill. As with should be fudged based on my hunch- class participation who do things like willing they are to raise their hands any skill, it will improve with prac- es and instincts, or influenced in any keep a roster on their desk and put and speak in front of a group. We all tice, so regular classroom participa- way by my informal observations and check marks next to the names of stu- know — or have been — students who tion can hone it. memories. In retrospect, it seems ri- dents who speak. are made anxious at the thought of But while those are excellent rea- diculous to believe that I could accu- But when we drill down to the par- class participation, or who have learn- sons to encourage participation, the

THE CHRONICLE 48 C OF HIGHER EDUCATION motivation does not have to come in anxious students can usually muster ticipation an ungraded classroom the form of a grade. the energy to report a group’s conclu- norm might be one of the most in- I no longer grade participation be- sion or summarize a writing exercise. clusive practices we could undertake cause — as I explain to students on (For more tips on this front, read Jay as teachers. It can help students find the syllabus and on the first day of the Howard’s advice guide on “class dis- their lost voices, empower those who semester — everyone participates in cussion.”) feel deprived of agency in other parts my courses. That’s the expectation n I work very hard to make class a of their lives, and prevent discussions and the reality. Participation is not safe and inclusive environment, using from being dominated by students some optional extra. It’s as essential many of the strategies recommended who talk over their peers and crowd to the course as writing the assigned in the work of Viji Sathy and Kelly A. out other voices. papers and taking the final exam. You Hogan. I also try to express my grat- In a classroom in which everyone can’t be a full member of our commu- itude for participation on a regular participates, everyone is equal. The nity without participating in class. basis, both in class and outside of it. discussions are not combat rings in That participation does not al- Sometimes, when I return their writ- which students battle one another for ways consist of comments lobbed into ten exercises to them, I will write short airtime in order to earn good grades. They are opportunities for us all to James M. Lang think together and learn from one an- is a professor of English and director of the Center for Teach- other. When we drill down to the particulars, this ing Excellence at Assumption If you believe student participa- University, in Worcester, Mass. grading practice raises hard questions tion in your courses benefits your stu- His new book is Distracted: Why dents, give that benefit to every stu- Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It, published that usually go unanswered. dent. Use invitational participation or by Basic Books in October 2020. other engagement strategies to ensure that every student has a voice in your classwide discussions, but can take notes commending or thanking stu- classroom — and not just the ones many forms. Most frequently, students for in-class comments. I might who are competing for a grade. dents in my courses will be speak- also thank students for their participa- ing with one another in pairs or small tion when they visit me in office hours. groups as they complete some as- n Most important, my invitation can signed task. In a literature course I always be declined. Students know might ask them to annotate a certain they can always say “pass,” and they poem in groups; in a writing class I won’t be docked for it. I make this might ask pairs of students to identify clear in the way I frame the invita- the three most effective qualities of a tions: “Kiara, you’ve been quiet for a piece of writing. Over the course of the while, but you look thoughtful. Do you semester, all students will have partic- have something you want to add, or A retired US foreign correspondent who lived in Asia for ipated in enough of these groups that do you want to just keep thinking?” or many years and collected Buddhist and Hindu they will have spoken multiple times “David, I remember you wrote some- in the classroom. thing about this in your essay — do religious art for a lifetime would like to donate But they will participate in class- you want to throw that into the mix the collection of about 700 pieces to a university or wide discussion, too. This happens via now?” I always try to frame invitations museum that would display it, or much of it, in a museum what some people call “cold-calling,” to imply: I bet you have something im- setting. but what I prefer to call “invitational portant to add here; any chance you participation.” When I ask students to want to join the conversation? Institution must have--or plan to hire---an expert in Asian join the discussion, I’m not challeng- I should note here that, in recent religious art as curator. ing them to a duel. I’m inviting them to years, I have received accommodation share their views because I value what letters that specify individual students Collection includes works from China, Thailand, Japan, they think. My invitations are pre- should not be required to participate India, Laos, Burma, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and some mised on the fact that their comments in class involuntarily. Of course, I re- unusual American and European Buddhist art. Gandharan, matter. We can all learn from what spect that accommodation — but I Khmer, Pala and early Chinese works are in the collection. they have to offer to the discussion. also usually meet with those students Some Jain and Daoist works as well. Of course, invitational participation separately, after I have explained the (or cold-calling, or whatever you pre- participation policy, and ask them Alternatively, I would like to contact collectors with similar fer to call it) can provoke fear in stu- whether they would be willing to re- goals of donating their collections to a university or dents, so I prepare them in three ways: ceive an occasional invitation, which museum. Perhaps we can pool our resources. n Every whole-class discussion be- they can of course turn down. Every gins either with a small-group ac- one of those students has been will- Photos available on request---but not for all 700. tivity or with each student writing a ing to receive the invitations, and has one-paragraph response to a discus- eventually spoken in class. sion question. Students can always The key is to create a welcoming Reply to: respond to my invitation to speak in environment for students, ensure Collection Offer class by telling me what they wrote that they have had time to think or [email protected] on their own, or discussed in their write prior to a discussion, and give groups. Even the most introverted or them the option to pass. Making par-

MAY 14, 2021 49 CAREERS

Eliminate Letters of Recommendation They impede progress on diversity and waste your time.

IS YOUR INSTITUTION committed to ters that refer to men as “Dr.” and call an equitable hiring process? Is it women by their first names. We could also concerned about reducing un- even suggest that all letter writers and necessary costs? What about in- readers use the bias calculator to an- creasing productivity without sacri- alyze letters before sending or read- ficing the quality of work life? If you ing them. But all of that seems like so answered yes to all three — and you much work. should have — would it surprise you And speaking of work, let’s consid- to learn that eliminating the hir- er the amount of time and effort that ing requirement for letters of rec- goes into letters of recommendation. ommendation could accomplish all In his account of what it took to find three? his first tenure-track job, Jeremy Yod- We arrived at our position against er determined that, of the 112 job ap- letters of recommendation based on plications he submitted, 57 percent our experience, one of us as a uni- required accompanying recommen- versity dean and the other as a for- dation letters. Assuming each de- mer university administrator turned partment required three letters, that higher-education consultant. We means almost 200 had to be request- know that letters-of-recommenda- ed, written, and managed for a sin- tion requirements are often well-in- gle job candidate. Think about all of tentioned. We also know they pro- the other work his letter writers could duce unintended consequences that have accomplished had they not been work against many of academe’s stat- writing letters on his behalf. ed goals, such as increased faculty di- Let’s also consider the work these letters create for every search commit- versity. ISTOCK It’s time to examine some of the tee and its administrative staff. Imag- faulty beliefs that have sustained the ine 100 applications that require each letter-of-recommendation require- separate those who are qualified from cess on the job and are well known for candidate to have three reference let- ment for far too long. those who are not. being biased against women for many ters. Better yet, imagine 300 such ap- Faulty Belief No. 1: Letters of rec- For an enterprise that positions it- reasons, including differences in lan- plications. That is a lot of document ommendation are a useful indica- self as the keeper and purveyor of fair- guage used to describe male and fe- management. Because attaching let- tor of candidate quality and char- ness and rigor, academe demonstrates male candidates. ters of recommendation to applicant acter. Academics in this country are a surprisingly unquestioning belief Theoretically, it’s possible to teach materials is an administrative head- enamored with letters of recommen- in letters of recommendation — de- letter writers the dangers of refer- ache, many institutions have decid- dation. We require them for admis- spite mounting evidence against their ring to women as “organized and de- ed to upgrade their applicant-tracking sion decisions. We expect them in a validity as unbiased tail oriented” while systems just to organize all of those job candidate’s dossier. We make them instruments of de- describing men as documents. We consider that more of an essential component of the appli- cision making. De- ADVICE “innovative and vi- an expense to support a bad habit. cation process for assistantships, fel- bates about the value sionary.” It may also Given those documented problems, lowships, and awards. Want to break of recommendation be possible to teach academe’s attachment to recommen- into academe, move up, or stand out? letters in admissions have raged for everyone reading these letters how dation letters is curious. Why are we An application and three letters of rec- years, given the lack of evidence for to decode them — how to be alert for so committed to a part of the hiring ommendation are the nonnegotiable their value in predicting student suc- phrasing such as “I’m not aware that process that no one else outside of our first steps. Why? Because we believe cess. In hiring, reference letters are she has ever made mistakes in the sector seems to be using? If these let- these letters have magical powers to equally unhelpful in predicting suc- lab” and how not to be swayed by letters are so essential to assess candi-

INSIDE CAREERS INDEX EXECUTIVE ADMINISTRATIVE FACULTY OTHER POSITIONS 53 54 54 54-57 57

THE CHRONICLE 50 C OF HIGHER EDUCATION date quality, why aren’t they required cover letter would be enough to assess by every employer? And why don’t candidate interest in the opening. Ap- universities throughout the world in- parently, more evidence is required. sist on them? Unfortunately, the requirement for Is it possible that what matters most recommendation letters can actually to search committees is not the con- reduce applications from interested, tent of these letters, but the stami- worthy candidates. Here are some rea- na and ingenuity required to produce sons why: them? That leads us to ... n Wanting to please. Candidates, Faulty Belief No. 2: By requiring especially early in their careers, want letters, we make sure we receive ap- to please their advisers. Often they are Allison M. Özlem H. Ersin plications only from people who ac- more comfortable requesting letters is a professor and dean of the tually want the job. “We don’t want for jobs at high-prestige institutions Vaillancourt College of Health and Human to waste our time considering can- than at places their advisers may con- is a vice president in Segal’s Services at Eastern Illinois Uni- didates who are not truly interested sider less impressive. organizational-effectiveness versity, and founding dean of its practice. She spent three School of Nursing. in us,” search committees tell them- n Trying to be strategic. Job seek- decades as an administrator selves. “Requiring letters of recom- ers know they have to be judicious and faculty member at large mendation makes candidates prove in imposing on their letter writers’ public research universities. their sincerity and commitment to be- time. So they might not bother to ap- ing part of our hiring process.” ply for some openings, fearing (not You would think that a customized always accurately) that they are out

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MAY 14, 2021 51 “ Thinking about international education as a part of work toward diversity, equity, and inclusion could help make the case for internationalization.”

Today’s Global Campus

The pandemic has left no part of college life untouched, and Purchase this issue for international students and study-abroad programs, its brief for insight into: impact has been especially far-reaching. The travel restrictions cut both ways, causing international enrollments to plummet and limiting study-abroad opportunities for students. How the pandemic and political shifts affected From helping international students feel comfortable on U.S. international education. campuses to finding ways to provide “internationalization at home,” exposing students to cultural and global diversity What the future of will continue to be a critical piece of 21st-century college international education education. Explore how colleges adapted to the new realities looks like. of international education and strategies they’re employing to Strategies to recruit revive international enrollments and study-abroad programs. overseas students and internationalize programs at home.

Purchase Your Copy: Chronicle.com/TodaysGlobalCampus

For more information on group pricing, please contact us at 1-800-728-2803 of reach. That might also stop them a counterproductive practice. It will from applying to small, less-known “ Is it possible that what matters most to search reduce dependence on the goodwill institutions. of others, increase diversity, improve n Letter writer exhaustion. It is well committees is not the content of these letters, productivity, and save time and mon- known that women, people of color, ey. It is not often that we get more by and attentive teachers are asked to but the stamina and ingenuity required to doing less. write more letters than others. Can- Still not convinced? Can we at least didates may find themselves compet- produce them?” ask you to gather a few of your col- ing for their letter writers’ attention, leagues to explore the following ques- and not able to get it from people who tions? could be their best allies. from small departments may also be possible that the letter requirement is n What barriers do letters of recom- n Limited options. As a candidate, disadvantaged. Internal candidates leading institutions to hire aggressive mendation create? the more professional acquaintanc- may find securing letters both difficult and greedy people over those who are n How might they limit expressions es you have, the bigger your pool of and awkward. International scholars more generous and respectful of oth- of interest from qualified candidates? potential letter writers. Let’s think from countries where these letters are er people’s time? It is worth thinking n What do we learn from recom- about how those connections are not standard may find it challenging about. mendation letters that we could not made. Some come from helpful intro- to find people willing to write on their Faulty Belief No. 3: Change in learn through a few conversations to- ductions by advisers and colleagues. behalf and familiar with content con- higher education is impossible. ward the end of the process? Others come from being visible in ac- ventions. Higher education changed quick- n Why does higher education insist ademic circles by attending academ- n Asking is not easy. Some job can- ly when Covid hit because it had to. on these letters when other employers ic conferences and similar events. didates struggle to request letters Things we “knew” to be true before do not? Given that there is often a link be- of recommendation over and over March 2020 turned out to be not true n How do higher-education institu- tween meeting attendance and eco- again. In a blog post, Michael Hue- at all — for example, that in-person tions in other countries manage to get nomic means, who gets to go and who mer, a professor of philosophy at the instruction is always superior to on- by without requiring these letters? doesn’t? Candidates who have lim- University of Colorado, wrote that line, that remote work makes collab- n What might the time devoted to ited personal resources or who are the process “unfairly rewards people oration impossible, that being “in writing or reading these letters be bet- from institutions without profession- who are unashamed about bothering the office” is essential for produc- ter spent doing? al-development budgets will have a their friends for favors, while system- tivity, and that social justice can be n If we can’t eliminate the require- far narrower network. While the let- atically disadvantaging people who achieved by teaching people how to ment, can we at least wait until the ter-of-recommendation requirement are considerate of their friends’ time, navigate entrenched systems. very end of the hiring process to ask isn’t meant to be discriminatory, it or who tend to make friends with Abandoning letters of recommen- for letters? unintentionally benefits people with low-status people, or who tend to dation in the hiring process is one way We would love to hear your an- more status and money. Candidates have unusually honest friends.” Is it to continue the momentum and drop swers.

Communications SOUTHEAST JOBS Other communications 55 Mississippi College Public relations/advertising 55 Biology/life sciences 55 Other sciences/technology 55

Education West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Teacher education 54 Education INDEX Academic administration 54 Chancellors/presidents 54 By Category Health & Medicine Chief academic officers/vice presidents54 Kinesiology/exercise physiology/phys. ed 54 Other executive positions 54 Other health/medicine 54 York Technical College EXECUTIVE Speech/hearing sciences 54 Chancellors/presidents 54 Executives MIDWEST Chancellors/presidents 54 Humanities Other executive positions 54 Other humanities 56 DePaul University Kinesiology/exercise physiology/phys.ed 54 Other arts 54 Science, Technology, & Math Other health/medicine 54 ADMINISTRATIVE Performing arts 54 Biology/life sciences 55 Academic Affairs Speech/hearing sciences 54 Other sciences/technology 55 Teacher education 54 Academic administration 54, 57 Chief academic officers/vice presidents54 WEST Curriculum and instructional development 57 Other Faculty Engineering 57 Blue Mountain Community College Librarians/library administration 57 Chancellors/presidents 54 Other executive positions 54

Business Affairs Mount Tamalpais College Computer services/information technology 57 Academic administration 57 By Region Computer services/information technology 57 Curriculum and instructional development 57 Librarians/library administration 57 FACULTY United States Arts Portland State University NORTHEAST Other arts 54 Engineering 57 Performing arts 54 Harvard University Marketing/sales 54 International Business Towson University The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Accounting/finance55 Accounting/finance55 Other business/management 56 Other business/management 55 Other humanities 56 Marketing/sales 54 Other communications 55 Other business/management 55, 56 Public relations/advertising 55

MAY 14, 2021 53 CAREERS jobs.chronicle.com EXECUTIVE | ADMINISTRATIVE | FACULTY

Part time faculty - Speech Language Pathology Vice Chancellor for the (Summer 2021) PRESIDENT The York Commission for Technical Education invites nominations WV Community and Technical College System The Speech Language Program within the College of Science and and applications for the position of President of York Technical The West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Health at DePaul University invites expressions of interest in part- College. Education seeks to employ a Vice Chancellor responsible for time faculty teaching opportunities for the Summer of 2021 and the 2021-2022 Academic Year. leadership of initiatives in areas of program development, Founded in 1964, the College serves the community by providing workforce development, technology innovation, program wide- ranging academic and economic opportunities and offers recruitment and retention, grant management, and the delivery DePaul University is committed to recruiting diverse faculty to students over 100 certificate and degree programs. The 2019-20 complement the diversity of its student body and Chicago area of community and technical college education. Master’s degree annual enrollment at York Technical College included 6,050 credit and a minimum of eight years senior executive experience is communities. and 1,550 non-credit students. The College has approximately 435 full-time and part-time faculty and staff. Housed on more required. Areas of teaching interest include: Aural Rehabilitation, Intro to than 150 acres, the College has premier facilities to help ensure Audiology and Speech & Hearing Science. Clinical Supervisors are successful student engagement, provision of employee resources, and Review the complete job announcement and application process also being recruited to work with pediatric & adults clients in our community outreach to positively impact the College’s diverse set of at https://www.wvctcs.org/career-opportunities. new Speech and Language Clinic, starting in Jan 2022. stakeholders. In total, the College’s annual economic impact on its service area equals over $190 million each year, driving growth for Applications accepted until position is filled. Review of applications Apply: https://apply.interfolio.com/84080 both employees and employers. begins May 26, 2021. Human Resources (304) 558-2104.

DePaul University is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. York Technical College’s main campus is located in Rock Hill, Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer/Veterans/Disabled South Carolina, and serves a diverse population of approximately 330,000 persons in York, Lancaster, and Chester counties. Within the region, residents and visitors are able to experience an exciting host of historical, cultural, and natural attractions, including the scenic Catawba River. Museums, national parks, and arts centers all lie within close proximity. Rock Hill is just 70 miles north of the state capitol, Columbia, and under 30 miles south of Charlotte, the largest city in NC and a major economic, educational, and cultural hub within the region.

The target date for applications is:May 18, 2021 Term Faculty (Non-Tenure Track) Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Teacher Education / Physical Education (21-22) For detailed information, the Presidential Profile, and guidance on how to apply, please visit: https://yorktech.edu/Presidential-Search The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission seeks The Department of Teacher Education at DePaul University is To apply, go to: to employ a Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs responsible for seeking a term faculty member for the 2021-2022 academic year to https://acctsearches.org/ providing leadership and statewide policy recommendations teach courses in their Physical Education programs. for academic programs and services. Doctorate in an academic For additional information, nominations or confidential inquiries, field and at least five years’ experience as a senior academic DePaul University is committed to recruiting diverse faculty to contact: administrator at a higher education institution or coordinating/ complement the diversity of its student body and Chicago area Mr. Kennon Briggs, ACCT Search Consultant kennondb@gmail. governing body is required. communities. com | (919) 621-7988 Julie Golder, J.D., Vice President of Search Services jgolder@acct. Review the complete job announcement and application org | (202) 775-4466 process at https://www.wvhepc.edu/inside-the-commission/ Master’s degree in Sport, Fitness, or Recreational Leadership (or a career-opportunities/. related field) required and prior teaching experience at the K-12 or York Technical College does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, collegiate level. religion, national origin, age, including pregnancy and childbirth Applications accepted until position is filled. Review of (or related medical conditions), veteran status, or disability in its applications begins May 26, 2021. Human Resources (304) 558- Apply: https://apply.interfolio.com/86586 educational programs, activities, or employment policies. 2104.

DePaul University is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer/Veterans/Disabled

President Pendleton, Oregon

The Blue Mountain Community College Board of Education invites Term Faculty (Non-Tenure Track) applications and nominations for the position of President. The Board seeks a proven leader with a commitment to the community Theatre Studies (21-22) college mission and vision, collaborative decision making, strong partnership building, and strong communication skills. The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago invites Tenure Track Position applications for a full-time, one-year term faculty appointment in Blue Mountain Community College is a valued and vital community Theatre Studies for the 2021-2022 academic year. partner that strives to enrich our expanding community and preparing in Marketing our students to learn, work, and live in a diverse, dynamic, and global DePaul University is committed to recruiting diverse faculty to environment. The Marketing Unit at Harvard Business School invites applications for a faculty position to start in July 2022. We complement the diversity of its student body and Chicago area MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS communities. • A Master’s degree from an accredited institution with a strong seek faculty who are intellectually curious about managerially acdemic background; a Ph.D. is preferred. relevant problems, who have rigorous training in the relevant Long recognized as one of America’s top training institutions, The • Minimum of 5 years successful experience at the Vice President sub-field of marketing or a related discipline (e.g., economics, Theatre School was founded as The Goodman School of Drama or President/Chancellor level in an institution of higher education. in 1925 and is deeply rooted in Chicago’s traditions of ensemble, psychology, social sciences or computer science), and who are physicality, and play. Application Process excited to teach marketing courses. To ensure full consideration, application materials must be received no later than May 21, 2021. This is a confidential search process. Applicants for tenure track positions should have a doctorate Apply: https://apply.interfolio.com/85508 or terminal degree in marketing or a related field by the To apply, please visit www.bluecc.edu/presidential-search DePaul University is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. time the appointment begins, and strong demonstrated For additional information, nominations or inquiries please contact: potential and interest to conduct research at the forefront Dr. Preston Pulliams of marketing management. Candidates should submit a CV, Gold Hill Associates [email protected] copies of publications and working papers, and letters of 503-704-3425 recommendation at: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/positions. Closing date for applications is June 30, 2021. Blue Mountain Community College Harvard is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Phone: 541-278-5850 Applications from women and minority candidates are strongly E-mail: [email protected] encouraged. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for BMCC is an EEO/ADA Employer employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions or any other characteristic protected by law.

C THE CHRONICLE 54 OF HIGHER EDUCATION FACULTY jobs.chronicle.com CAREERS

Towson University (www.towson.edu) was founded in 1866, is recognized by U. S. News Towson University (www.towson.edu) was founded in 1866, is recognized by U. S. News & World Report as one of the top public universities in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic & World Report as one of the top public universities in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, is Baltimore’s largest university, and is the largest public, comprehensive institution regions, is Baltimore’s largest university, and is the largest public, comprehensive institution in the University of Maryland System. TU enrolls over 19,000 undergraduates and over in the University of Maryland System. TU enrolls over 19,000 undergraduates and over 3,000 graduate students across six academic colleges (business, education, fine arts, health 3,000 graduate students across six academic colleges (business, education, fine arts, health professions, liberal arts, science & mathematics), has almost 900 full-time faculty, and professions, liberal arts, science & mathematics), has almost 900 full-time faculty, and offers more than 65 Bachelor’s, 45 Master’s, and 5 Doctoral programs. Our centrally located offers more than 65 Bachelor’s, 45 Master’s, and 5 Doctoral programs. Our centrally located campus sits on 330 rolling green acres and is 10 miles north of Baltimore, 45 miles north of campus sits on 330 rolling green acres and is 10 miles north of Baltimore, 45 miles north of Washington, D.C., and 95 miles south of Philadelphia. Washington, D.C., and 95 miles south of Philadelphia. COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS AND COMMUNICATION COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS Department of Mass Communication Department of Accounting Assistant Professor – Public Relations Assistant Professor of Accounting Tenure-track, 10-month Assistant Professor in Public Relations in the Department of Mass Tenure-track, 10-month Assistant Professor in the Department of Accounting beginning Communication, beginning August 2021. Ph.D. in public relations, mass communication, or August 2021. Ph.D./DBA or equivalent in accounting from an AACSB accredited institution, related fields. ABD applicants considered, but appointment will be at the Instructor rank and or a Ph.D./DBA in a related area with professional certification in accounting. ABD applicants all doctorate degree requirements must be completed by February 1, 2022. Demonstrated will be considered, but appointment will be at the Instructor rank and all degree requirements success or potential to teach public relations courses at the undergraduate level and at the must be completed by February 1, 2022. Applicants should have a record or demonstrate graduate level, with specialties in corporate communication, agency communication, social the potential for a balanced commitment to excellent teaching, quality research and service. media strategy, and audience analytics. Demonstrate the potential to develop a strong body Responsibilities will include teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in accounting, of scholarship. Applicants whose work incorporates a global perspective and a demonstrated research leading to publications in peer-reviewed journals, and university and community commitment to issues of diversity in higher education are particularly encouraged to apply. service. Faculty are assigned an instructional workload of six (6) course units per academic Faculty are required to teach six courses per academic year for the first year. Beginning the year for the first year. An instructional workload of six (6) course units can be continued second year the workload reverts to the standard instructional workload of seven to eight if the individual is maintaining qualification as a Scholarly Academic under the college (7-8) courses per academic year. Graduate teaching responsibilities may include Public standards. Towson University is the only University System of Maryland institution to have Relations and Organizational Communication, Managing Communication in a Diverse AACSB accreditation for both its business and accounting programs. Our greatest needs are Society, Qualitative Research Methods in Communication, Crisis Communication, or others in auditing and financial accounting, but all areas will be considered. Review of applications in the candidate’s area of scholarship and expertise. Undergraduate teaching responsibilities begins immediately and continues until the position is filled. CBE-3418 may include Corporate Communication Management, Law and Ethics in Ad/PR, Audience Analytics, or Social Media Strategy. Undergraduate advising is part of teaching responsibilities. For detailed information on this position, please visit: Expected to supervise graduate student theses and/or professional projects. Scholarly research http://www.towson.edu/provost/prospective/openpositions.html productivity and service to the department, college, and university are expected. Summer Towson University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and has a strong teaching opportunities may be available. The successful candidate must have the ability to commitment to diversity. Women, minorities, persons with disabilities, and veterans are work with a diverse student population and be sensitive to the educational needs of these encouraged to apply. This position is contingent on availability of the funds at the time of hire. students. Review of applications begins immediately and continues until the position is filled. COFAC-3419 For detailed information on this position, please visit: http://www.towson.edu/provost/prospective/openpositions.html Towson University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and has a strong commitment to diversity. Women, minorities, persons with disabilities, and veterans are encouraged to apply. This position is contingent on availability of the funds at the time of hire.

Rector (Under-Secretary-General) Tokyo, Japan Microbiologist About the Organisation: UNU is the academic arm of the United Nations and for the last four decades has been a go-to think tank for evidence-based research on the pressing global problems of human survival, development, and welfare. Fully funded through voluntary-contributions, UNU counts over 400 researchers in 12 countries, and its work spans the full breadth of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, The Biological Science department at Mississippi College, generating policy-relevant knowledge to effect positive global change in furtherance of the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. UNU maintains numerous collaborations with UN a small liberal arts institution, seeks a microbiologist for agencies, leading universities, and research centres. For more information, please visit https://unu.edu appointment as an assistant or associate professor. The The Position: The Rector is the chief academic and administrative officer of the University and has overall responsibility for the direction, organization, administration, and programmes of the University. department has an outstanding pre-medical program with approximately 300 undergraduate and 300 graduate students. Required qualifications: Advanced university degree, with strong preference for a Ph.D. The successful candidate must have a prominent academic profile with evidence of high-quality research work Teaching expectations include microbiology for nurses, in the course of his/her career. In addition, he/she will demonstrate an understanding of contemporary development and policymaking challenges and will have experience translating research for policy microbiology for biology majors and upper level courses communities. Demonstrated management experience as the head of a university or research centre is required. Fluency in English is essential. in the applicant’s field of expertise. While teaching is the primary responsibility, involving undergraduates in research Desirable qualifications and characteristics: Established profile in the international community. Experience in managing donor relations and raising funds for organizations. Knowledge, appreciation is also expected. All faculty must be of the Christian faith. of, and commitment to the principles and ideals of the United Nations. Capability to maintain close cooperation with individuals, governments, and research institutions worldwide to promote scientific cooperation. Great drive and initiative to achieve the goals of UNU. Demonstrated commitment to gender and diversity issues. Fluency in other official United Nations languages is desirable. Founded in 1826, Mississippi College, Clinton, MS, is a private, comprehensive University with over 80 Start Date: It is expected that the appointee will take up the position by 1 March 2023. undergraduate majors, more than 50 graduate areas of study Contract Duration: The appointment will be for a five-year term, with the possibility of a second term. and approximately 5,000 students. It is affiliated with the Remuneration: UNU offers an attractive package at the Under-Secretary-General level within the UN system, including an annual net salary and post adjustment, which reflects the cost of living in Tokyo, as Mississippi Baptist Convention. well as applicable additional benefits and entitlements. Application Procedure: All applications must include a cover letter describing how the qualifications Review of materials will commence immediately and will and experience of the candidate meet the criteria for the position, a curriculum vitae, a list of publications, and a completed and signed UNU Personal History (P.11) form, which can be downloaded at https://unu. continue until the position is filled. Candidate should submit edu/about/unu-services/hr/applying-for-a-position#files. Applications must be sent to rectorship@ unu.edu no later than 15 July 2021. For full details of the position and how to apply go to: https://unu. a CV and reference contact information to Dr. Beth Barlow, edu/about/hr/academic/rector-under-secretary-general.html Chair of Biology, Box 4045 Mississippi College, Clinton, MS Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for this position. UNU is committed to achieving 39058, or sent in Pdf format to email: [email protected] gender balance and geographical diversity in its staff. The University has a zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination.

MAY 14, 2021 55 CAREERS jobs.chronicle.com FACULTY

C THE CHRONICLE 56 OF HIGHER EDUCATION FACULTY | OTHER jobs.chronicle.com CAREERS

Introducing Key Searches at Mount Tamalpais College, at San Quentin State Prison Neuro Ophthalmologist (ranks available: Introducing Mount Tamalpais College, at San Quentin State Prison.

Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor) Mount Tamalpais College is a small independent liberal arts college that provides a general education Associate of Arts degree, as well West Virginia University School of Medicine, Department of as an intensive college preparatory program in math and writing at California’s San Quentin State Prison. We serve approximately 300 Ophthalmology seeks a Neuro Ophthalmologist (ranks available: incarcerated people each term, guided by a commitment to academic Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor). The primary location will excellence; independent, critical thinking; and human dignity. As a be in Morgantown, WV. candidate for accreditation, the College is now conducting several key searches, including: Academic Program Director, Writing Program Coordinator, Math Program Coordinator, Learning Specialist, Duties: The successful candidate will practice in the area of Director of IT and Library Services, Program Manager and Grants . Neuro Ophthalmology. Responsibilities will include providing Officer excellent patient care as well as teaching medical students and For more information about these positions, and about the College, ophthalmology residents and fellows. please see mttamcollege.org/about/careers

Candidates of diverse cultural, ethnic, geographic, and ideological : Applicants must have an MD or DO degree or backgrounds with a strong commitment to providing rigorous liberal arts Qualifications education to underserved communities are especially encouraged to foreign equivalent and be eligible to obtain state medical license. apply. Candidates must have completed an ophthalmology or neurology Kindly disseminate this announcement to interested colleagues and training program and a neuro-ophthalmology training program. relevant networks. All qualifications must be met by the time of appointment.

For additional questions or to send your CV, please contact Megan Core, Senior Physician Recruiter at megan.core@wvumedicine. org.

WVU & UHA are AA/EO employers – Minority/Female/Disability/Veteran – and WVU is the recipient of an NSF ADVANCE award for gender equity.

ENGINEERING with an emphasis on welding PHILOSOPHY and joining processes; contrib- JOB SEARCH ute to scholarly publications; Assistant Professor: Power serve on department, college and Assistant Professor Engineering university committees, partici- University of Nevada, Reno TIPS Portland State University pate in appropriate profession- Teach Philosophy and related Portland State University, Elec- al organizations. Requirements: courses, advise students, main- trical & Computer Engineering Ph.D. in Welding Engineering, tain an active research agenda, Your cover letter should persuade hiring Dept. in Portland, OR is seeking Materials Science Engineering, and perform faculty service. ABD an Assistant Professor - Power Mechanical Engineering, Me- or Ph.D, Philosophy. Interested committees on four different aspects of Engineering. Duties: Develop chanical and Mechatronics Engi- persons should send a cover let- and maintain impactful schol- neering, or closely related field; ter and CV to: Dr. David Rondel, arly funded research. Develop (foreign equivalent acceptable). Department of Philosophy, Uni- your record. coursework relevant to electric Knowledge of at least one of versity of Nevada, Reno, Reno, power systems research such as NV 89557-0086. the following research areas as Use the cover letter to persuade readers about the substance and cyber-physical power systems, demonstrated by journal or con- power system data science, power contributions of your research, to offer a view inside your classroom, and ference publications or doctoral PHYSICS systems cybersecurity, distribut- dissertation and coursework: (1) to show how you “fit” your prospective department and institution. Frame ed power systems modeling, and/ welding-joining processes (arc- your candidacy as an asset. A CV cannot show that you did homework on the or power electronic conversion. based processes, laser, solid state) Assistant Professor Teach undergraduate and gradu- for metallic, polymeric, ceramic Troy University department, but a cover letter can. ate courses; advise students; and and-or composite materials, in- Teach courses in Physics and re- provide service to the univer- cluding sensing and control; (2) lated areas, advise students, main- sity, professional societies, and tain an active research agenda, additive manufacturing; or (3) GetGet more more career career tips tips on on Chronicle Vitae.com the public. Requirements: PhD nondestructive evaluation. Re- and perform faculty service. Ph.D jobs.chronicle.com in Electrical Engineering. A requires successful completion of a Engineering, Physics, or related search background in electric background check. Send CV and area. Interested persons should power engineering as demon- cover letter to: Attn: M. Wang, send a cover letter and CV to: Karen Kelsky is founder and president of strated in publications, confer- Department Business Manag- Dr. Govind Menon, Department ence presentations, and/or the The Professor Is In, which offers advice and er, Materials Science Engineer- of Chemistry and Physics, Troy consulting services on the academic job dissertation. All education, train- University, Troy, AL 36082. consulting services on the academic job ing Department, The Ohio State search. She is a former tenured professor at ing and experience may be gained University, Fontana Labs (MSE), search. She is a former tenured professor at concurrently. Applicants subject Suite 2136, 140 W 19th Ave, Co- two universities. to a pre-employment background lumbus, OH 43210. EOE/AA/ check. To apply: email cover M/F/Vet/Disability Employer. letter, CV, teaching agenda, research agenda and a statement on diversity, equity and inclusion to HOSPITALITY [email protected], attention Ra- MANAGEMENT chelle.

Assistant Professor Assistant Professor University of Nevada, Las Vegas The Ohio State University Teach hospitality management Engineering: Assistant Professor courses, advise students, maintain in The Ohio State University, an active research agenda, and College of Engineering, Depart- perform faculty service. Ph.D in ment of Materials Science and Hospitality Management, Tour- Engineering with the title of Lin- ism Management or related field. coln Electric Professor, Colum- Interested persons should send bus, Ohio. Duties: teach graduate a cover letter and CV to: Valerie and undergraduate engineer- Holsinger, College of Hospitality, ing classes, with an emphasis on University of Nevada, Las Vegas, welding and joining curriculum; Las Vegas, NV 89154 advise students; conduct research

MAY 14, 2021 57 GAZETTE Appointments, Resignations, Retirements, Awards, and Deaths

New Chief Executives

Joseph J. Helble, provost at Dartmouth College, Linda Thompson, dean of the College of Nursing Antonio D. Tillis, interim president of the University will become president of Lehigh University and Health Sciences at the University of Houston–Downtown, will become chancellor on August 16. He will succeed John D. Simon, who of Massachusetts at Boston, has been named of Rutgers University at Camden on July 1. plans to step down. president of Westfield State University.

Chief executives (continued) sity of Missouri at Columbia, has RESIGNATIONS come provost and chief academic been named president of New Col- officer at Pepperdine University on Benjamin Ola. Akande, lege of Florida. She will succeed president of August 1. APPOINTMENTS Champlain College since July 2020, Donal O’Shea, who will retire on Laura A. McLary, Edward Bonahue, plans to step down on May 31. inter- provost and vice July 1. im dean of the College of president for academic affairs at San- Jerome Gilbert, president of Marshall Charles Patterson, president of Man- Arts and Sciences at the ta Fe College, in Florida, has been University since 2016, plans to step sfield University of Pennsylvania, University of Portland, named president of Suffolk County down in July 2022. has been named interim president of will become provost at Community College. Shippensburg University. He will re- Michael McLean, president of Thomas Hollins University on Paul Czarapata, interim president of place Laurie Carter, who is leaving to Aquinas College since 2010, plans to July 1. the Kentucky Community and Tech- LAURA A. McLARY become president of Lawrence Uni- step down in 2022. Megan Mustain, acting nical College System, has been named versity. chief academic officer, vice provost for to the post permanently. RETIREMENTS DeRionne Pollard, president of Mont- student academics, and dean of the Keith Faulkner, dean of the School of Kathleen Hetherington, president of gomery College, in Maryland, will be- core at Saint Mary’s College of Cali- Law at Liberty University, will be- Howard Community College since come president of Nevada State Col- fornia, has been named vice president come president and dean of the Appa- 2007, plans to retire on October 1. lege in August. for academic affairs and chief aca- lachian School of Law on July 1. demic officer at Trinity University. Hiram C. Powell, dean of performing Michael D. Hammond, provost and ex- Kerry Pannell, vice president for aca- arts and communications and former ecutive vice president at Taylor Uni- Submit items to demic programs at the Council of In- interim provost at Bethune-Cook- versity, will become president of Gor- dependent Colleges, has been named man University, will become interim [email protected] don College on July 1. He will succeed provost and vice president for aca- president on June 1. He will replace E. D. Michael Lindsay, who plans to step demic affairs at Presbyterian College, LaBrent Chrite, who has been named down. in South Carolina. the next president of Bentley Univer- Wayne D. Lewis Jr., dean of the School Chief academic officers sity. Monique M. Taylor, dean and execu- of Education at Belmont University, tive director of the Abu Dhabi cam- Jennifer Taylor-Mendoza, APPOINTMENTS has been named president of Hough- vice pres- pus of the New York Institute of Tech- ton College. He will succeed Shirley A. ident for instruction at Skyline Col- George Arasimowicz, dean of the nology, has been named provost and Mullen. lege, has been named president of College of Humanities, Arts, and chief academic officer at Champlain Krista L. Newkirk, president of Con- College of San Mateo. Social Sciences at Central State Uni- College. verse College, in South Carolina, has Barbara Wilson, executive vice presi- versity, in Ohio, has been named been named president of the Uni- provost and vice president for aca- dent and vice president for academ- Other top administrators versity of Redlands. She succeeds ic affairs at the University of Illinois demic affairs at Emporia State Uni- Ralph W. Kuncl, who will retire on versity. System, will become president of the APPOINTMENTS June 30. University of Iowa on July 15. She will Jay Brewster, a professor of biolo- Patricia Okker, dean of the College succeed Bruce Harreld, who plans to gy and dean of the natural science Maria Q. Blandizzi, dean of students of Arts and Science at the Univer- retire. division at Seaver College, will be- at the University of California at Los

THE CHRONICLE 58 C OF HIGHER EDUCATION Angeles, has been named vice pres- become dean of the Potter College of ty of California at San Diego, has been development at Palm Beach Atlantic ident for student life at University of Arts & Letters at Western Kentucky named dean of the School of Dramat- University. the Pacific. University on July 1. ic Arts at the University of Southern Gina Amato Yazzolino, a development California. Damon Brown, vice president for stu- Shannon Campbell, associate vice manager at the Make-a-Wish Foun- dent affairs at Alma College, will be- president for graduate studies at Met- Brinda Sarathy, a professor of envi- dation of Oregon, has been named di- come the first chief diversity officer in ropolitan State University of Denver, ronmental analysis at Pitzer College, rector of alumni and parent relations addition to his current duties. will become dean of the College of will become dean of the School of In- at the University of Portland. Fine and Applied Arts at Appalachian terdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at the Nicholas Eremita, vice president for State University on July 1. University of Washington at Bothell enterprise planning and strategic Carnegie Fellows on July 1. enablement at Southern New Hamp- Diane Chlebowy, director of under- shire University, has been named graduate and graduate nursing pro- Nicole Stedman, associate chair of the The Carnegie Corporation of New chief of staff and senior vice president grams at the University of Louisville, department of agricultural education York awarded the following 26 An- for strategy at the University of Mary- has been named dean of the School and communication in the College drew Carnegie Fellows stipends of land Global Campus. of Health Sciences at Midway Univer- of Agricultural and Life Sciences at up to $200,000 each for their research and writing in the humanities and Laurent Heller, sity. the University of Florida, will become vice chancellor for fi- social sciences, including Kali Nicole Deanna Dannels, associate dean of ac- dean of the college on June 1. nance and administration at the Uni- Gross, a professor of African Ameri- ademic affairs in the College of Hu- Jennifer L. West, associate dean of versity of Wisconsin at Madison, has can studies at Emory University, and manities and Social Sciences at North Ph.D. education and a professor in been named senior vice president for Stefanie Stantcheva, a professor of Carolina State University, will be- biomedical engineering and mechan- finance and administration at the economics at Harvard University. The come dean of the college on July 1. ical engineering and materials sci- Johns Hopkins University. full list of fellows can be seen online ence in the Pratt School of Engineer- Joyce Lopes, vice president for ad- Seth Green, founding director of the at carnegie.org. ing at Duke University, will become ministration and finance at Sonoma Baumhart Center for Social Enter- the first female dean of the School of State University, will become vice prise and Responsibility at Loyola Engineering and Applied Science at Deaths president for business and financial University Chicago, will become dean the University of Virginia on July 1. affairs at Western Washington Uni- of the Graham School of Continuing Scott Beard, provost and vice president versity in July. Liberal and Professional Studies at for academic affairs at Shepherd Uni- the University of Chicago on July 1. Michael Neal, vice president for fi- Other administrators versity, died on March 28. He was 56. Michael Kruger, nance and administration at South- dean of Marshall D. Sahlins, a cultural anthro- APPOINTMENTS west Tennessee Community Col- the College of Arts and pologist and professor emeritus at the lege, has been named executive vice Sciences at the Universi- Diedre D. DeBose, director of access University of Chicago, died on April 5. president and chief operating officer ty of South Dakota, has and equality opportunity programs He was 90. at Johnson County Community Col- been named dean of the at the State University of New York Paul Tschudi, an assistant professor in lege. College of Science & En- College at Geneseo, has been named health sciences and founding director gineering at Texas Chris- Maritza Ruano, senior MICHAEL KRUGER director of diversity, equity, and inclu- of the graduate certificate program tian University. director of talent man- sion at Hilbert College. in grief, loss, and life transition at agement at the AIDS John Nauright, dean of the Stephen Laura Horne-Popp, assistant univer- George Washington University, died Foundation of Chicago, Poorman College of Business, Infor- sity librarian of the James C. Kirkpat- on April 7. He was 73. has been named vice mation Systems, and Human Services rick Library at the University of Cen- Carolyn G. Williams, a president emer- president for human and director of the Clearfield Campus tral Missouri, will become director of itus of the City University of New York resources at College of at Lock Haven University, will become the Greenlease Library at Rockhurst MARITZA RUANO Bronx Community College, died in DuPage. dean of the Richard J. Bolte Sr. School University on June 1. April. She was 81. Williams was the of Business at Mount St. Mary’s Uni- Teresa Maria Linda Scholz, associate James A. Knapp, chief strategy offi- first woman to serve as president of versity on June 14. vice chancellor and chief diversity of- cer at the Cushman School, a private the college, which she led from 1996 ficer at the University of California at Emily Roxworthy, associate dean of nonprofit pre-K-12 school in Miami, until her retirement. Santa Cruz, has been named first vice the Graduate Division at the Universi- has been named senior director of - COMPILED BY JULIA PIPER president for equity, inclusion, and diversity at New Mexico State Univer- sity. Joseph A. Sergi, chief operating offi- THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION cer and chief financial officer at -UMa

ssOnline, the online arm of the Uni- FOUNDER CHAIR PRESIDENT & EDITOR IN CHIEF versity of Massachusetts system, has Corbin Gwaltney (1966-2019) Pamela Gwaltney Michael G. Riley been named senior vice president and chief operating officer at the Universi- ty of Maryland Global Campus. EDITOR Brock Read PUBLISHER & CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER Michael D. Sisk Paula Volent, chief investment officer and senior vice president at Bowdoin MANAGING EDITOR Evan R. Goldstein CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER William J. Peyser College, has been named vice presi- EXECUTIVE EDITOR, CHRONICLE INTELLIGENCE Liz McMillen CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER Don Sargent dent and chief investment officer at Rockefeller University. EDITOR, THE CHRONICLE REVIEW Evan R. Goldstein ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER, CONTENT REVENUE Amy Long

RETIREMENTS EDITOR, VISUALS Ron Coddington MANAGING DIRECTORS Michael E. Cain, vice president for Nick Findlay (Marketing), DEPUTY MANAGING EDITORS Jen Diorio (Corporate & Institutional Programs) health sciences and dean of the Ja- Heidi Landecker (Copy and Production), Jennifer Ruark cobs School of Medicine and Biomed- ical Sciences at the University at Buf- ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITORS Sara Lipka (Editorial Products), falo, plans to retire on August 31. Andy Thomason, Ian Wilhelm (Chronicle Intelligence)

Deans EDITORIAL AND CUSTOMER SERVICE HOW TO SUBSCRIBE RECRUITMENT CORPORATE & INSTITUTIONAL BUSINESS OFFICES P. O. Box 85 chronicle.com/subscribe ADVERTISING PARTNERSHIPS & CLIENT SOLUTIONS 1255 Twenty-Third Street, N.W. Congers, N.Y. 10920 (800) 728-2803 (202) 466-1050 APPOINTMENTS Washington, D.C. 20037 (800) 728-2803 Washington, D.C. (202) 466-1000 (401) 699-4792 Terrance D. Brown, founding executive [email protected] director of the School of the Arts at the University of North Alabama, will

MAY 14, 2021 59 Chapman University Here to Advance Discovery.

TIMELY RESEARCH. TIMELY IMPACT.

We’re expanding our research agenda, tackling great challenges and helping shape a better future for us all.

COVID-19 Rapid Response Researchers who conducted Research Awards awarded faculty, the COVID-19 National Mental 7 with support from Kay Family Foundation. 12 Health Study last spring.

Inventions disclosures External research from Chapman faculty which $ funding in ﬁ scal year 10 led to 5 patent applications. 23M 2020. Chapman.edu/research CHE-I-MAY14-21-5-P