Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[secundem_artem]

...when a school believes its primary purpose is to serve as a device to bring about social justice, instead of focusing on teaching and scholarship.....

Does that have to be a polarized either/or situation?

Wouldn't a good place do both?

M. (puzzled)

Theoretically, yes.  But consider for a moment this case:

A single mom, 2 kids, living on food stamps in public housing.  What about this is unfair?

To a liberal, it's unfair that anyone in the richest country in the world has to live like that.  Justice demands she be afforded better opportunities and perhaps even better outcomes.

To a conservative, it's unfair that they have to pay for the upkeep of somebody else's kids.  Justice demands their tax dollars not be devoted to this cause.

So sure, go pursue justice.  But whose?????

[marshwiggle]

...when a school believes its primary purpose is to serve as a device to bring about social justice, instead of focusing on teaching and scholarship.....

Does that have to be a polarized either/or situation?

Wouldn't a good place do both?

M. (puzzled)

The problem is that social justice ideology dictates that only certain types of scholarly questions are "appropriate". Open-ended intellectual inquiry, on the other hand, tries to be as unbiased as possible about what the results of research should suggest. You can't have it both ways.

[apl68]

...when a school believes its primary purpose is to serve as a device to bring about social justice, instead of focusing on teaching and scholarship.....

Does that have to be a polarized either/or situation?

Wouldn't a good place do both?

M. (puzzled)

Theoretically, yes.  But consider for a moment this case:

A single mom, 2 kids, living on food stamps in public housing.  What about this is unfair?

To a liberal, it's unfair that anyone in the richest country in the world has to live like that.  Justice demands she be afforded better opportunities and perhaps even better outcomes.

To a conservative, it's unfair that they have to pay for the upkeep of somebody else's kids.  Justice demands their tax dollars not be devoted to this cause.

So sure, go pursue justice.  But whose?????

I've always considered myself quite conservative in most respects, but I see nothing inherently unjust in spending tax dollars on helping people in poverty.  I'd like to see it not abused, certainly, or promote a dehumanizing long-term dependence on handouts that requires no responsibility of the recipient.  But the poor are always going to be with us, and will always need some help.  This sounds more like some kind of radical social darwinist libertarianism.  Which, unfortunately, has come to be what's often billed as "conservatism" today.  Genuine conservatism seems mostly absent from our political discourse anymore.

If we could get the best of what goes under the labels "liberal" and "conservative" it would be a wonderful thing.  Unfortunately all we seem to get now is the worst of both worlds.

[spork]

University of St. Thomas (Houston, TX) eliminates faculty positions in cost-cutting move:

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/education/campus-chronicles/article/University-of-St-Thomas-to-layoff-faculty-14882774.php.

To be fair, I will note that IRS Form 990s show that this university has been consistently in the black through FY 2018.

[polly_mer]

Cheyney was mentioned upthread, but the whole of Pennsylvania higher ed is looking bad:
https://www.inquirer.com/business/student-debt-pennsylvania-colleges-penn-state-20191127.html

[Asymptotic]

Cheyney was mentioned upthread, but the whole of Pennsylvania higher ed is looking bad:
https://www.inquirer.com/business/student-debt-pennsylvania-colleges-penn-state-20191127.html

Lovely. I just took a job at one of the smaller Penn State campuses. They are definitely investing in capital projects, so either they anticipate an upswing in enrollment or they are truly delusional. I am eagerly hoping the former.

[Hibush]

Cheyney was mentioned upthread, but the whole of Pennsylvania higher ed is looking bad:
https://www.inquirer.com/business/student-debt-pennsylvania-colleges-penn-state-20191127.html

The former state leader for higher ed said it well: the state has no plan for the role of higher education in Pennsylvania society. Accordingly, the state has little reason to fund the schools. In turn they get empty and expensive.  The vast network of schools in the parts of the state that are depopulating is untenable.

Pennsylvania really needs to come up with a radical plan for public higher education while there is still something to save.

[polly_mer]

Cheyney was mentioned upthread, but the whole of Pennsylvania higher ed is looking bad:
https://www.inquirer.com/business/student-debt-pennsylvania-colleges-penn-state-20191127.html

Lovely. I just took a job at one of the smaller Penn State campuses. They are definitely investing in capital projects, so either they anticipate an upswing in enrollment or they are truly delusional. I am eagerly hoping the former.

I would be doing some of my own investigation now using IPEDS and other publicly available information.  It's crummy to have to immediately start looking for a new job, but sometimes the writing is already on the wall, and the "leaders" at the institution are seriously delusional right up to the day that they have to publicly announced the institution has ceased operations as of last Friday.

For those who aren't in PA, but are still potentially concerned, if your institution is on the Dept of Education watch list and has declining enrollment, and appears with a C or lower on the Forbes financial list, then now's the time to start that next job search.

[Hegemony]

I am a little confused by why Trinity College Dublin is on the Department of Education Watch List.

[Vkw10]

I am a little confused by why Trinity College Dublin is on the Department of Education Watch List.

I looked at the report mentioned in the article and poked about the website a bit. The watch list is for schools that participate in federal financial aid programs, disbursing federal loans and grants to qualified students. I found a list of schools currently participating, which included dozens of places outside the U.S.A. Schools can get on the watchlist for failure to follow certain program rules, which indicates issues with financial management. So being on the list doesn't necessarily indicate the school is broke, but finance offices who don't follow money management rules is a bad sign. If I saw my school on the list, but other indicators were positive (stable enrollment, efficient reimbursement processing, endowment use at 4%, basic supplies readily available, salary increases keeping pace with inflation, etc.), I would monitor without panicking. If it's just a matter of finance office goofing up, then we should come off the list in a year or two. But if I saw my school on the list and other indicators were not positive, I'd be on the job market and building my emergency fund.

[spork]

Cheyney was mentioned upthread, but the whole of Pennsylvania higher ed is looking bad:
https://www.inquirer.com/business/student-debt-pennsylvania-colleges-penn-state-20191127.html

Lovely. I just took a job at one of the smaller Penn State campuses. They are definitely investing in capital projects, so either they anticipate an upswing in enrollment or they are truly delusional. I am eagerly hoping the former.

The latter.

I might have posted this previously on this thread, but I can't remember for sure (maybe I linked to it on the old CHE fora): http://activelearningps.com/2013/10/27/our-building-are-empty-but-they-are-new-and-shiny/.

[polly_mer]

I am a little confused by why Trinity College Dublin is on the Department of Education Watch List.

My bet is study abroad partner programs for the dozens of foreign schools on the list.  As Vkw10 wrote, those decent schools probably didn't follow all the US rules, including sending in specific reports in a timely manner.  Missing the deadline by one day is a way to get on the list and there have been a few huge state systems that ended up on the list for that reason.

Vkw10 is correct if the only problem is someone didn't press send for an IPEDS submission (there are no extensions granted ever, even if your entire state is under 6 feet of water and has had no power for the week leading up to the deadline), then just keep an eye on it.  If, though, the supply closet is always short and multiple programs are being closed due to lack of enrollment, then now is the time to polish that CV and get back on the job search horse.

[downer]

The Evergreen State College lost 40% of its enrollment over the last decade:

https://www.theolympian.com/news/local/education/article237591209.html.

No loss there.  This is what happens when a school believes its primary purpose is to serve as a device to bring about social justice, instead of focusing on teaching and scholarship.

Maybe they can take Oberlin with them on their way down the drain.

Evergreen still takes its primary goal to be education. It is just particularly "woke."

Just about every Catholic school is explicit about having a social justice mission. Take Notre Dame:

the University seeks to cultivate in its students not only an appreciation for the great achievements of human beings, but also a disciplined sensibility to the poverty, injustice, and oppression that burden the lives of so many. The aim is to create a sense of human solidarity and concern for the common good that will bear fruit as learning becomes service to justice.

[polly_mer]

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/12/12/wesley-college-asks-state-funding

[Wahoo Redux]

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/12/12/wesley-college-asks-state-funding

I'll post the same thing I did on IHE:

I hope DE helps Wesley.  Private school or not, let's keep our system of high ed from sustaining any further damage if we can.  We all stand to win or lose.