Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Echoes of the past...

"The menace he stood for was virtually disregarded because few ever thought of him as a future leader in Germany.  By the outside world he was even regarded as some kind of comic figure, the petty agitator who believed himself to be a prophet, but who in origin was little more than a social outcast.   Nazism had developed at such speed that many thought, wishfully, that it would disappear just as quickly....

"Inside Germany, in spite of the obvious danger signs in the elections and the constant violence on the streets,... no one (the Nazis excepted) ever thought Hitler would be Chancellor."

Manvell and Fraenkel, The Hundred Days to Hitler (New York: St. Martin's Press 1974), page 22.

Monday, January 30, 2017

Trump's Immigration Ban... and more

This morning's Chronicle of Higher Education features three articles on the ban and its impact on our campuses:


  1. Students Left Stranded



And here's what Inside Higher Ed has to offer.

In February, I'll be offering my new 90-minute webinar on the Tump administration to date, including coverage of all the Trump January executive orders:



Changes to Anticipate Under the Trump Administration: Guidance for Higher Education

Best For: Higher Education
Date/Time: 2/16/2017, 1 PM Eastern
Duration: Scheduled for 90 minutes including question and answer session.
Presenter(s): James Ottavio Castagnera, Ph.D. and Attorney at Law
Price: $299.00 webinar, $349.00 CD or Digital Download, $399.00 webinar + CD or Digital Download. Each option may be viewed by an unlimited number of attendees in one room using one unique login. CD includes full audio presentation, question and answer session and presentation slides. CD subject to a $5.95 handling charge.
Who Should Attend? Administrators, faculty, staff, higher education counsel


Now that Donald Trump has been elected – and with a GOP-dominated Congress behind him – it’s time higher education administrators prepare for what’s ahead in 2017 and the succeeding three years of a Trump Administration. Moving beyond the new president’s penchant for provocative tweets, we can identify many road signs pointing in the likely direction of his policies and positions and therefore be better equipped for regulatory changes on the horizon. By examining actions that have already been taken, campaign statements of Trump and Pence, as well as the new president’s proposed appointments to his cabinet and other key posts, we can better understand and prepare for the Trump higher education landscape.
Please join Dr. Jim Castagnera as he reviews all the major topics of concern to administrators and trustees as higher educators enter the new Trump Administration.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

Just a sampling of what this webinar will cover:
  • What are the likely changes we can expect in the federal approach to student financial aid?
  • Will the new secretary of education, billionaire Betsy DeVos, favor for-profit providers over community colleges, reversing the Obama Administration’s policies, and will this mean a revitalization of private higher education across the board?
  • What changes Secretary DeVos is likely to mandate for her Office of Civil Rights regarding Title IX enforcement, especially regarding sexual-assault investigations and enforcement on our campuses?
  • How will the Supreme Court be affected by a Trump replacement for the late Justice Scalia, and how will the reconstituted Court impact affirmative action?
  • Will the Supreme Court revisit the Yeshiva University decision and lower the bar for tenured-faculty managerial status under the National Labor Relations Act?
  • How President Trump’s two new GOP appointments to the National Labor Relations Board will impact GA/TA unionization rights
  • Whether President Trump is likely to nullify his predecessor’s “Dream Act” executive order and how that could impact undocumented students on our campuses
  • How enhanced enforcement of U.S. immigration laws may spill over into university administration of international and exchange students
  • Whether the Department of Labor’s new exempt-employee salary regulations, enjoined by a federal judge in last November, will be rescinded
  • AND MUCH MORE!

YOUR CONFERENCE LEADER

Your conference leader for “Changes to Anticipate Under the Trump Administration: Guidance for Higher Education” is Dr. Jim Castagnera, Esq. Dr. Castagnera holds a J.D. and a Ph.D. in American studies from Case Western Reserve University, where he was director of university communication. He has taught full time at UT-Austin and the Widener University law school, and part time at Penn’s Wharton School of Business. Currently, he is the associate provost and legal counsel at New Jersey’s Rider University and an adjunct professor of law at Drexel University in Philadelphia. He has published 20 books on education and employment topics and is managing director of his own consulting company.

EducationAdminWebAdvisor.com QUALITY COMMITMENT

EducationAdminWebAdvisor, a division of DKG Media, LP, wants you to be satisfied with your webinar. If this webinar does not meet your expectations, email us at service@educationadminwebadvisor.com.

CERTIFICATES OF PARTICIPATION

EducationAdminWebAdvisor certificates of participation are available to everyone completing this webinar.

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Job loss: "It's coming like a tsunami..."

So says 78-year-old Professor Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, in a January 23 TIME Magazine interview.

This, he continues, explains why "People feel they are losing control over their own lives."  That's the nerve Trump touched and it goes a long way toward explaining his victory.

I've been harping for a long time --- on this blog and elsewhere --- about the coming tsunami... the Fifth Wave.  It's both gratifying and frightening that Dr. Schwab is in such firm agreement.

As the Fifth Wave washes away the traditional, narrow notions of how to get a college education, it brings to our shores a challenge: what will everybody do... whether we all need to earn a living in the post-Wave brave new world, or we are subsidized by our government.

And it's not just about jobs... or their disappearance.  It's about civil rights and civil liberties.  In Schwab's words, "Following World War II, the world mostly shared values about human rights, democracy and so forth.  Many believed that Western liberal ideas would be universal.  But today it is not the case that we share the same values.  If you look at Russia, China, Turkey --- and even inside our societies --- people have different concepts about how to organize big societies."

As I see it, higher education has three goals vis a vis our students:  (1) preparing them to make good livings in satisfying careers; (2) preparing them to be good citizens who value and defend their civil rights and civil liberties; and (3) guiding them in discovering how to live satisfying, rewarding lives beyond their professional and civic engagements, i.e., how to make leisure time worthwhile.

And we need to do all this within a disrupted higher-education establishment.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Is there a "skills gap"?

This morning's Chronicle of Higher Education offers a long and intriguing article on this very question.  The thesis of this piece is that "skills gap" means different things to different people and may be used for questionable purposes, such as justifying funding for pet projects.

If companies decide to require bachelor's degrees for jobs that didn't used to require a college education, is that a genuine skills gap?  Well, not really.  As the article indicates, many executive assistant jobs now call for a BA, while most current incumbents don't have the credential.

Then there are the so-called "soft skills," such as speaking, writing, quantitative reasoning and information literacy.  The lore in higher ed is that employers are crying out for more graduates with these generalized abilities.

And what about the reverse of the skills gap?   That's when an English major fresh out of college works as a barista, for instance.  Is that lad over-skilled for the position?  Or does his education make him a more interesting service worker, who can enhance his tips by charming his customers?

If "skills gap," per the Chronicle headline, has launched a thousand strategic plans, it also has piled blame on our schools and colleges for failing to plug the perceived fissure.

Meanwhile, the elephant in the living room --- but not in the Chronicle story --- is in my mind automation.  Call it "AI," which sounds sexier or "robotics", which probably doesn't.  It seems to me that automation is destroying more jobs than it's creating.  And this may mean an ever-growing underclass of the chronically unemployed, if I am right.

While we in the US may be focused on the alleged "skills gap," other countries, notably in Europe are hotly debating the concept of a guaranteed salary to meet the latter, and more troubling, issue.  Here's a Wikipedia piece on "guaranteed minimum income" and how it has fared globally and temporally.

Last year Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected such a program.  But the Scandinavian countries, as might be expected, are more open to the idea.  And in other countries, such as Ireland, the dole is already a way of life for some.

Bottom line, as is so often the case, our species surges ahead in the fields of science and technology, while economists and social scientists are left  scratching their heads and arguing about what the impact of IT and other advances will be on our species and our societies.  We accept technological advances as inevitable and call anyone who resists them a "Luddite."

The real skills gap may be the yawning crevasse between technology, on the one hand, and public policy, dependent upon social science at best and political ideology at worst, on the other.

Monday, January 23, 2017

Now comes the hard part: persistence

The Women's March was a remarkable and inspiring event.  The crowd in Washington is estimated to have topped 500,000.  As one of the ten percent who were males at the gathering, I am prepared to accept that figure.

That, of course, is in sharp contrast to Trump's claims about attendance at his inauguration.  His claim that his inauguration drew the largest crowd of any would be silly and laughable, were it not for the bold-faced lie that it is.  The willingness of the man and his press secretary to state such a bold faced falsehood is extremely troubling. They seem to have learned that their core supporters will accept whatever they are told by them as the truth, ignoring all evidence to the contrary.

Added to the administration's willingness and propensity to say that black is white is their complimentary campaign against the news media, which they say are the real liars.  Hitler and Goebbels could not have been a better tag team than Trump and his press secretary.

The media will need all the help they can get from we in higher education who claim an equal dedication for the search for and promulgation of the truth.

The biggest challenge, following the downer of the inauguration and elation of the March, is to sustain and build momentum.  My daughter, who was by my side on Saturday, has vowed her dedication to the coming confrontations.  Millions more, not only in America, but world-wide have done the same.  In Hamburg, my son was an organizer of the march there.  He had 100 RSVPs, hoped for twice that number, and got 700.

In this time of the tweeting president, we probably cannot penetrate the minds of his willingly ignorant followers.  But they are a minority by any measure (except his, of course).  The converts we must reach are the members of the blue-collar class who voted for Trump out of frustration and desperation, but who were Democrats historically and, hopefully, still are at heart.

Higher education is a vast, diverse and decentralized mass of very smart truth-seekers.  We have plenty of problems, especially financial ones.  But, united, we are a mighty force dedicated to truth-seeing and truth-telling.  The shrunken news media --- those who have not sold out to infotainment --- are under attack.  Truth is under attack.  Democracy is under attack.  Justice is under attack.

Our moment is now.  We are the base upon which to build a sustained and sustainable counter-force to the fascism that America faces now.

Friday, January 20, 2017

As my daughter and I look forward to tomorrow's march in Washington...

... memories of my first march --- November 15, 1969 in New York City --- flood back.

I've written about it more than once since them:



Wednesday, January 18, 2017

DeVos and Disruption

Harvard Biz School Prof Clay Christensen is the daddy of disruption theory.  He has postulated that online learning is the cheap technology that will disrupt higher education by lowering the cost of entry, just as Amazon has disrupted the retail world.  So far the impact of the internet has been less than Christensen predicted... though not insignificant.

Billionaire Betsy DeVos poses a different sort of disruption threat to education, as her testimony before the Senate yesterday illustrated.  At the K-12 level she wants to do for America what she did for Michigan: divert public funds from public schools to charter schools and school vouchers.  That may be good for the kids who get to use those private alternatives.  But it's a disaster for public schools already hard pressed for funding, who become the dumping grounds for the kids who can't take advantage of the alternatives.  Left with the least capable kids, public schools fail, leading the DeVoses of the world saying, "See, told you so."

As for higher ed, one quote should suffice: "“For too long a college degree has been pushed as the only avenue for a better life. The old and expensive brick-mortar-and-ivy model is not the only one that will lead to a prosperous future.”

Turning to the for-profit sector of higher ed, Senator Elizabeth Warren commented, ""Swindlers and crooks are out there doing back flips.  If confirmed, you will be the cop on the beat and if you can’t enforce the existing rules then you shouldn’t be secretary of education."

DeVos --- surprise, surprise --- would say only that she will study the situation.  In fairness, she probably knows very little about it.  It wasn't her thing in Michigan.  But, like Sen. Warren, I picture some backflips being performed by the likes of Apollo Group, corporate parent of the flagging University if Phoenix, as well as all those other for-profit schools that had their accreditor taken from them in December by the DOE.

Disruption will likely be the order of the day and Betsy DeVos will be a force with which we college administrators must recon.

Monday, January 16, 2017

I guess the Greatest Show on Earth will be in Washington now.

    Two days ago, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced that its spring tour will be the last.  Here's the website announcement:


Feld Entertainment Announces Final Performances of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® Circus in May 2017

Ellenton, Fla. – January 14, 2017 – Feld Entertainment Inc., parent company of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® and the world’s largest producer of live family entertainment, announced today that the iconic 146-year-old circus would hold its final performances later this year. Ringling Bros.®’ two circus units will conclude their tours with their final shows at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, R.I., on May 7, and at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., on May 21, 2017.
The decision to end the circus tours was made as a result of high costs coupled with a decline in ticket sales, making the circus an unsustainable business for the company. Following the transition of the elephants off the circus, the company saw a decline in ticket sales greater than could have been anticipated.
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey was the original property on which we built Feld Entertainment into a global producer of live entertainment over the past 50 years,” said Kenneth Feld, Chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment. “We are grateful to the hundreds of millions of fans who have experienced Ringling Bros. over the years. Between now and May, we will give them one last chance to experience the joy and wonder of Ringling Bros.
“This was a difficult business decision to make, but by ending the circus tours, we will be able to concentrate on the other lines of business within the Feld Entertainment portfolio,” said Juliette Feld, Feld Entertainment’s Chief Operating Officer. “Now that we have made this decision, as a company, and as a family, we will strive to support our circus performers and crew in making the transition to new opportunities,” she added.
Feld Entertainment’s portfolio includes Marvel Universe LIVE!, Monster Jam, Monster Energy Supercross and Disney On Ice, among others. The company recently announced a new partnership to produce live tours of Sesame Street and expanded television coverage for the 2017 Monster Energy Supercross races.

For me, this news triggered a rush of reflections and memories.  In the former category, I place P.T. Barnum's observation that "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the intelligence of the American public."  (Some credit the great journalist H. L. Mencken with the statement, but I'm in the camp that gives the honor to the equally great Mr. Barnum,)  
Either way, the statement certainly must resonate with Donald Trump.  Wouldn't he make a fine ringmaster in a red coat and top hat?  Certainly we can expect the Barnum tradition to continue in the three-ring circus (White House, Congress, Supreme Court) that will be perform in Washington (DC) for the next four (please,  pray God... not eight) years.
In the latter category are many wonderful memories of taking the kids to the circus, which has come annually to Philadelphia.  These memories are easy to sustain, because down in our foyer we have a photo of Marc and Claire --- ages 10 and six, or something like that --- in the clown costumes they were allowed to try on... part of the pre-show exhibits, fun and games that were a standard part of the experienceof going to the Greatest Show on Earth.
I note that the company says in its announcement that the retirement of the elephants contributed significantly to the decline in ticket sales.  Ah, yes... animal rights.  I have written about animal-rights activists in both a journal article and my self-published novel.  You can read what I think in those writings.
Suffice to add only that in our brave new world of CGI and virtual reality, the circus --- like all live theater, only more so --- is an anchor to the real world of flesh-and-blood people and other beasties, pushing their skills and talents to their physical limits... real feats providing real thrills.  So the elephants get to graze until they die.  Being one who refuses to retire until forced by health failure, I feel rather bad for the brutes... are you animal-rights advocates so very sure those elephants aren't missing the excitement and applause?  How arrogant of you, if so!
We have come loose from our moorings to that real world and drift farther and farther from it all the time.  With a president who tweets his hour-to-hour impulses inaugurated as national ring master, the Greatest Show on Earth is certain to achieve an unprecedented level of unreality.

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Beyond micro-aggressions...

      Last week I was privileged to attend an outstanding, day-long program on racism.  in which a substantial part of the  presentations and discussions focused on micro-aggressions... those little insults and slights that spring from insensitivity and a lack of empathy.  A panel of very bright and articulate LGBTQ and African-American students candidly talked about their personal experiences with micro-aggressions and the cumulative effect they can have.  While I'm all for free speech and academic freedom, especially on our college campuses, I can report that I am won over by their revelations.

     But let us look beyond micro-aggressions to the broader umbrella topic of good manners.  Many an American poo-poos manners.  Some revel in their rudeness, brashness and their big mouths.  You know some, just as I do.  They miss the point: manners are the essential veneer that turns the rough surface of human interaction into a smooth and attractive surface.  In many respects, manners make civilization viable.

     I used the word "empathy." The great English philosopher, David Hume, understood that empathy is the societal glue that makes social justice possible.  He argued that justice is possible because each of us is able to relate to the feelings and desires of others, and thanks to that empathy, can negotiate the gaps between us.  In the words of one Hume scholar, "[T]he principle of impartial benevolence, associated mainly with writers in the Utilitarian tradition, especially David Hume and Adam Smith,... states a moral act is one that takes into account all people likely to be affected by it --- at the face-to-face level this has become a principle of caring about the well-being of others, including their need for self-respect, dignity, and avoidance of pain."

     More than any of the policies espoused by Donald Trump, his utter disregard for these principles constitutes his greatest threat to American government, culture and society.  By his obnoxious behavior he tells that substantial part of the populace who follow him that this behavior is now acceptable in our society.  He has already taken political discourse way beyond micro-aggressions.

     Let me suggest on this Sunday morning that combatting this behavior on our campuses and beyond is now a front-burner challenge for we who are university administrators and faculty.  If not us, who?

   

Friday, January 13, 2017

Beyond "gainful employment"...

... which, of course, is a crucial component of a college education, we should not be shy about seeking to graduate engaged citizens.  That's the gist of a Chronicle story this morning.

       Americans continue to amaze with their ignorance of current affairs.  In a recent poll, according to NPR this morning, half of respondents didn't know that 20 million more Americans have health care thanks to the Affordable Care Act.  Meanwhile, the GOP Congress is teeing up to repeal it.

      Two important investigations hopefully will be moving forward in parallel in Washington: one into why the director of the FBI made his announcement about Clinton's emails on the eve of the election, the other about Trump's Russiagate.  We should be insisting that both investigations are carried to conclusion.

      An old buffalo, I'm carried back to my college days in the 1960s.  That era, which carried into the early seventies, set the benchmark for student engagement in political issues.  Echoes of that have been heard of late on some campuses, particularly on the issue of racism.

     If students are rousing from their intellectual slumbers once again, this time administrators should be prepared.  In the sixties, many administrations were taken by surprise when the SDS and Weathermen hit the campus bricks.  The downfall of some college presidents around racial issues recently suggests that we may be no better prepared today than 50 years ago.

     This time around perhaps we ought to be pointing the direction and leading from in front.  Just a thought, which the Chronicle article suggests may be gaining some currency around the country's campuses.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Russiagate: What Academe Should Be Doing

       What do we know?


  • Trump wants to rein in China militarily and economically.
  • Russia wants to rein in China militarily and economically.
  • The Russian government favored Trump over Clinton.
  • Trump has nominated Tillerson, who has been honored by the Kremlin as a friend of Russia, to be his Secretary of State
  • The Russian government hacked Clinton and the Democratic party... which in yesterday's press conference Trump finally acknowledged
This is what we know.

We don't know if the three dozen pages of revelations of Trump campaign collusion with the Russians is true.   We don't know if the sexual shenanigans alleged in that document are true.

Do you believe Trump and his campaign staff were capable of these things? (This is really a rhetorical question.)

So what should academe be doing?

For a decade and a half I have been arguing that in this Infotainment Age, we can't count on the news media to ascertain and report the truth.  This is a great opportunity for qualified faculty across the country to put their considerable talents, computing power, and international contacts to work, either verifying or debunking this volatile document.

So get on it!


Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Obama nailed it last night

"But we're not where we need to be. And all of us have more work to do. (Applause.) If every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hardworking white middle class and an undeserving minority, then workers of all shades are going to be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves. (Applause.)" Here's the whole speech.

Just like in the days of Jim Crow in the South, when white sharecroppers were pitted against black share croppers, while the elite ate everybody's lunch.

The more things change the more they seem to remain the same in the USA.

Russiagate may be slamming in Trump's face faster than expected

Reports in the media this morning are that the FBI have shared with Obama and Trump a two-page summary of allegations concerning contacts between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, as well as of shenanigans by Trump about which Russian intelligence has a dossier.  If true, says Forbes,  some of these allegations are impeachable offenses.

Legitimate media sources, such as NPR radio, are declining to discuss the details of the two-pager.  Less credible sources, such as Buzzfeed, have had no such reluctance.  Here it is, for however long this link survives.

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Will Trump be the most uncouth, rude and offensive president ever ?

Well, he certainly is making ever effort to claim that dishonor.  His latest Tweet repost... to Meryl Streep's Golden Globe acceptance speech, where she took him to task for making fun of a disabled journalist and sexual assaults... added to his growing list of rude and offensive comments.

      Even so, some cursory research reveals that he faces some tough competition from his predecessors in the White House:


  • Prior to becoming president, Andrew Jackson fought a dozen duels, usually over perceived offenses to his wife.  He killed one opponent.  After entering the White House, he became the first president to be targeted for assassination.  The would-be assassin's guns failed to fire (yes, both of them), after which Jackson personally beat the guy half to death with his cane.  It's said that Jackson not only used foul language but taught it to a parrot as well.
  • Zachary Taylor reportedly spit tobacco juice on the WHite House carpets if no spitoon was handy.
  • When Thomas Jefferson was forty-three, he crippled his right hand jumping over a fence while out strolling with the married twenty-seven-year-old Maria Cosway, with whom he was having an affair.  And that was not his only documented affair.
  • Lyndon Johnson was very well-endowed and reportedly was not averse to proudly proving it now and then, including displaying his manhood to unsuspecting female journalists.  He was also known for his salty conversation and crude metaphors.  And those of us old enough will never forget the time he displayed his surgery incision to the press corps.
  • Although revered now as a martyred president, Jack Kennedy was also one of the most sexually active presidents of all time.  Skinny dipping in the White House pool with "Fiddle" and "Faddle," as well as documented and rumored (Marilyn Monroe) affairs are as emblematic of his brief presidency as are the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile crisis.
So Trump has his work cut out for him.  Sadly, I think he is up to the challenge.

Sunday, January 8, 2017

A Trump-Putin Alliance?

       What would have been Russia's motive in trying to aid in Trump's election?  And why would Trump now be trying so hard to discredit the intelligence community's evidence of Russia's interference?
       The chief clue is Trump's selection of Rex Tillerson, the man so often pictured pressing the flesh with Putin, as Secretary of State.  Combine this with Trump's China bashing during the campaign, and I think we have it.
       It's kind of a reverse of Nixon's strategy in the early 1970s.  Then, Nixon --- a crook but also a skilled statesman --- realized that the Communist monolith was a myth.  He opened relations with China to undermine  the Soviet Union by aligning the US with the Peoples Republic.  It took another 20 years and another Republican president, Ronald Reagan, to bring the strategy started by Tricky Dick to full fruition.
      Now Putin's Russia is struggling to be resurgent.  Meanwhile, China has risen to be the second most powerful power on the globe.  Thus, aligning with Russia is the obvious way to shift the scales against China... a sort of reverse-Nixon move.
      And, thus, Tillerson at State.

Friday, January 6, 2017

Will Russiagate be Trump's Watergate?

Way back in November the Huffington Post reported that a Russian diplomat had revealed that his government knew members of the Trump campaign team and in fact had been in touch with some of them.  Also in November the Daily Beast ran a four-part series on Trump's Russia connection that's well worth reading.

Then came the allegations that the Russian government had indeed tried to influence the election's outcome in Trump's favor.  Trump poo-pooed these claims, and continues to do so.  Today he will be briefed by top US intell officials on their evidence of such actions.  We common folk will then get a watered-down version of the story.  Meanwhile, Congress is showing some interest in the story.

Trump's choice for Secretary of State, the former CEO of EXXON, has been pictured smoozing with Putin.  How he will fare on Capital Hill during his confirmation hearings is uncertain at this time.  But the hearings are unlikely to be a cakewalk, albeit they have been (strategically?) scheduled for a particularly busy day in the Senate... the so called "Votathon" day, when all proposed budget amendments get a thumbs up or down.

Of course, just as a correlation doesn't prove a cause-effect relationship, these facts do not prove that the Trump campaign knew of the Russian interference, much less solicited or encouraged it.  And just because the Russians celebrated Trump's victory, that doesn't mean they helped engineer it.

On the other hand...

This old man is reminded of his salad days in the 1970s, when the Watergate break-in was initially nothing more than an attempted burglary of Democratic headquarters by a few over-enthusiastic, low-level thugs in the Nixon campaign.  But in August 1974, Tricky Dick resigned from the presidency in the face of a likely impeachment trial.

Now, consider that, if history repeats itself, the Democrats will win back the Congress in 2018.  Should Russiagate gain momentum, instead of going away during the intervening two years, we may see a second historic repeat... Watergate Redux.

Thursday, January 5, 2017

What's involved in actually closing a college?

With many private, non-profit colleges struggling currently across the country, there is much talk about some of these institutions actually closing.  In fact, only about 75 out of some 2700 have actually closed or merged in the past decade.  The failed effort of Virginia's Sweet Briar College to close in 2015, halted by a court action initiated by faculty, students and alumni, illustrated how hard committing suicide can be for even the weakest of schools.

This morning's edition of Inside Higher Ed includes a terrific article that describes the devil in the details of actually liquidating an institution that did indeed close its doors after graduating its class of 2014.

Most interesting to me is that Virginia Intermont College's 20+ acre campus ended up in the hands of a Chinese company intending to use it as a college once again.  The property went for $3.3 million, which sounds like a fire sale to me.  In fact, the transaction was handled by a bank, which had foreclosed on the property.  It took two years to get the deal done.

One reason that these closures are so difficult is that they are so relatively rare.  Few administrators and trustees have even been there and done that.  Consequently, there is an element of wheel reinvention when they do actually happen.  The for-profit world has its professional hatchet men, who specialize in down-sizing, foreclosures, bankruptcies and the like.  A similar cadre of experts has yet to emerge in higher ed to the best of my knowledge.  Would that we never needed them.  But that seems to be too much to hope.  Moody's predicts increasing closures in the future, and I don't disagree.

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Less fat, more pre-school in Philadelphia

Yesterday I congratulated Drexel's leadership on standing up for free speech and academic freedom.   This morning I have another reason for feeling proud of my hometown.

Last year a gutsy mayor and a ballsy city council passed a sweet-drinks tax.  The city solicitor then successfully defended it against a court challenge.  And today the first pre-school facilities opened that are being funded by the tax.

The tax hopefully means we over-weight Philadelphians will be putting fewer worthless, empty calories into our already well-fatted bodies.

But, better yet, our kids will get more pre-school prep.

You don't think that's important?

Well, it's too true that we in higher education point the finger at our high schools when freshmen show up ill prepared for college.  The high school teachers and administrators no doubt blame the elementary schools, and they in turn point a finger at the parents.

Fact is, the parents do deserve the lion's share of the blame... at least in this commentator's view.  Especially in the case of low-income households, the kids come to kindergarten (if there is one) or first grade with little to no reading ability and often no social skills.  This I have on very good authority.

Now, of course --- as came out during the 2016 election campaigns --- there is a philosophical side to the soda tax.  It is indeed a regressive tax, meaning it hits the poor harder than the rich.  In that respect, it just isn't PC with some on the left.  At the same time, it will diminish sales of sodas, annoying those on the right who are slavishly dedicated to free markets.

But, honestly, does it do harm to the poor?  Rich, middling or poor, we would all do well to drink more good, clean, calorie-free water.  And as for the merchants, let them shift what they bottle and place on their shelves and cover their potential losses.  No need for anyone to suffer.

Meanwhile, the more pre-school programs of quality we have, the better off are our kids, our families and our communities.

Way to go, Philadelphia!

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Well done, Drexel University!

When a white professor tweeted "all I want for Christmas is white genocide," the University administration at first condemned the tweet.  But in reconsideration, the president and provost issued the following statement:

Message Regarding Academic Freedom, Freedom of Speech and the Need for Inclusivity and Respect
December 29, 2016
The social media comments over winter break by George Ciccariello-Maher, Associate Professor of Politics and Global Studies at Drexel, have precipitated a heated public dialogue. The issue has caught the attention of national media and put Drexel in the spotlight. As University leaders, we understand that people have very different perspectives and opinions on such matters; it is our duty to ensure that all members of our community feel truly welcome and can participate in an inclusive learning environment. Instances such as this one both test and strengthen Drexel’s fundamental dedication to the principles of academic freedom and freedom of expression.
The University vigorously supports the right of its faculty members and students to freely express their opinions in the course of academic debate and discussion. In this vein, we recognize Professor Ciccariello-Maher’s tweets as protected speech. However, his words, taken at face value and shared in the constricted Twitter format, do not represent the values of inclusion and understanding espoused by Drexel University. As we engage with one another in conversation, it is important to remember that these principles –academic freedom, freedom of speech and the need for inclusivity and respect – are not mutually exclusive. In fact, Drexel’s long history demonstrates a steadfast commitment to creating an environment in which these principles coexist and complement one another.  
Very often electronic forms of communication (Twitter, in particular) are limited in their ability to communicate satire, irony and context, especially when referencing a horror like genocide. While Professor Ciccariello-Maher has defended his comments as satire, the wide range of reactions to his tweets suggests that his intentions were not adequately conveyed. These responses underscore the importance of choosing one’s words thoughtfully and exercising appropriate judgment in light of the inherent limitations presented by communications on social media.
Vigorous debate on complex and controversial topics, as we are currently seeing in our country, requires that a university provide a safe learning environment for all.  We are committed to ensuring that Drexel is such an environment for those who study, teach and work here, while upholding our foundational commitment to academic freedom.
The University strongly encourages the use of speech—not threats or violence—to counter speech with which one disagrees. In the coming months, we look forward to a constructive exchange of ideas and opinions on the subject of academic freedom and freedom of speech.
Sincerely,
John A. Fry, President
M. Brian Blake, PhD, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost

- See more at: http://drexel.edu/now/archive/2016/December/Message-to-community-on-academic-freedom-inclusivity/#sthash.WIPixIj4.dpuf

As an adjunct professor of law in Drexel's Kline School of Law, I congratulate the administration on taking the appropriate position on this issue.  

Message Regarding Academic Freedom, Freedom of Speech and the Need for Inclusivity and Respect

December 29, 2016
The social media comments over winter break by George Ciccariello-Maher, Associate Professor of Politics and Global Studies at Drexel, have precipitated a heated public dialogue. The issue has caught the attention of national media and put Drexel in the spotlight. As University leaders, we understand that people have very different perspectives and opinions on such matters; it is our duty to ensure that all members of our community feel truly welcome and can participate in an inclusive learning environment. Instances such as this one both test and strengthen Drexel’s fundamental dedication to the principles of academic freedom and freedom of expression.
The University vigorously supports the right of its faculty members and students to freely express their opinions in the course of academic debate and discussion. In this vein, we recognize Professor Ciccariello-Maher’s tweets as protected speech. However, his words, taken at face value and shared in the constricted Twitter format, do not represent the values of inclusion and understanding espoused by Drexel University. As we engage with one another in conversation, it is important to remember that these principles –academic freedom, freedom of speech and the need for inclusivity and respect – are not mutually exclusive. In fact, Drexel’s long history demonstrates a steadfast commitment to creating an environment in which these principles coexist and complement one another.
Very often electronic forms of communication (Twitter, in particular) are limited in their ability to communicate satire, irony and context, especially when referencing a horror like genocide. While Professor Ciccariello-Maher has defended his comments as satire, the wide range of reactions to his tweets suggests that his intentions were not adequately conveyed. These responses underscore the importance of choosing one’s words thoughtfully and exercising appropriate judgment in light of the inherent limitations presented by communications on social media.
Vigorous debate on complex and controversial topics, as we are currently seeing in our country, requires that a university provide a safe learning environment for all.  We are committed to ensuring that Drexel is such an environment for those who study, teach and work here, while upholding our foundational commitment to academic freedom.
The University strongly encourages the use of speech—not threats or violence—to counter speech with which one disagrees. In the coming months, we look forward to a constructive exchange of ideas and opinions on the subject of academic freedom and freedom of speech.
Sincerely,
John A. Fry, President
M. Brian Blake, PhD, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost

- See more at: http://drexel.edu/now/archive/2016/December/Message-to-community-on-academic-freedom-inclusivity/#sthash.WIPixIj4.dpuf

Message Regarding Academic Freedom, Freedom of Speech and the Need for Inclusivity and Respect

December 29, 2016
The social media comments over winter break by George Ciccariello-Maher, Associate Professor of Politics and Global Studies at Drexel, have precipitated a heated public dialogue. The issue has caught the attention of national media and put Drexel in the spotlight. As University leaders, we understand that people have very different perspectives and opinions on such matters; it is our duty to ensure that all members of our community feel truly welcome and can participate in an inclusive learning environment. Instances such as this one both test and strengthen Drexel’s fundamental dedication to the principles of academic freedom and freedom of expression.
The University vigorously supports the right of its faculty members and students to freely express their opinions in the course of academic debate and discussion. In this vein, we recognize Professor Ciccariello-Maher’s tweets as protected speech. However, his words, taken at face value and shared in the constricted Twitter format, do not represent the values of inclusion and understanding espoused by Drexel University. As we engage with one another in conversation, it is important to remember that these principles –academic freedom, freedom of speech and the need for inclusivity and respect – are not mutually exclusive. In fact, Drexel’s long history demonstrates a steadfast commitment to creating an environment in which these principles coexist and complement one another.
Very often electronic forms of communication (Twitter, in particular) are limited in their ability to communicate satire, irony and context, especially when referencing a horror like genocide. While Professor Ciccariello-Maher has defended his comments as satire, the wide range of reactions to his tweets suggests that his intentions were not adequately conveyed. These responses underscore the importance of choosing one’s words thoughtfully and exercising appropriate judgment in light of the inherent limitations presented by communications on social media.
Vigorous debate on complex and controversial topics, as we are currently seeing in our country, requires that a university provide a safe learning environment for all.  We are committed to ensuring that Drexel is such an environment for those who study, teach and work here, while upholding our foundational commitment to academic freedom.
The University strongly encourages the use of speech—not threats or violence—to counter speech with which one disagrees. In the coming months, we look forward to a constructive exchange of ideas and opinions on the subject of academic freedom and freedom of speech.
Sincerely,
John A. Fry, President
M. Brian Blake, PhD, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost

- See more at: http://drexel.edu/now/archive/2016/December/Message-to-community-on-academic-freedom-inclusivity/#sthash.WIPixIj4.dpuf