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The national crisis in public higher education. Gary Rhoades General Secretary American Association of University Professors. The higher education we choose. The California we choose. A crisis 30 years in the making.
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The national crisis inpublic higher education Gary Rhoades General Secretary American Association of University Professors
The higher education we choose The California we choose
A crisis 30 years in the making • The current crisis comes after 30 years of “academic capitalism,” which has heightened social and educational aspects of the crisis. • The crisis has four key dimensions: structure of employment; shifting of cost burden; stratification of access; educational outcomes. • We face a choice: Do we accelerate down the current path?; or do we reorient to expand opportunity and success, and more fully realize our country/state’s potential?
A crisis along four dimensions • Structure of employment: from 2/3 tt to 2/3 contingent with reduced ability to engage students and limited academic freedom to challenge them; decline of college teaching as a middle-class career; impending retirement of baby boom professoriate. • The CSU exemplifies these patterns: slightly fewer t & tt FTE faculty in 2008 than 1988, versus 50% more lecturers; 500 fewer t & tt faculty in 2010 than 2007.
…dimension #2 • Shifting of cost burden: from state support and grants to tuition and student loans. A crushing debt burden (as big as credit card debt)—we are mortgaging our future. • We are reneging on our commitment as a country, and as states, to invest in our students and in our future (LEAP, Michigan’s promise). Here California as a state does better than most, but California universities have been dramatically increasing tuition.
…dimensions # 3 & 4 • Stratification of access: Cascading effects on access by social class. Household income of UCLA v USC students; CSU-cc’s. We are essentially rationing hed by race/class. • Educational outcomes: impact of the above patterns on graduation rates and student learning outcomes. Students pay more for less access to faculty and professionals, and the have less time for studying b/c they are working more to pay for their education.
Economic stratification in US postsecondary education?? WHERE THE MONEY GOES, WHERE THE STUDENTS ARE ENROLLED Source: Delta Cost Project IPEDS Database, 1987-2008; 10-year matched set.
Follow the trend, or reorient • Current struggles make clear what is at stake. • A tale of two Ohio’s: Eric Fingerhut v Jim Petro. Foregrounding public responsibility of state; foregrounding univ’s entrepreneurial flexibility in facilities and tuition. Facilities vs faculties; managing vs uncapping tuition. Follows the 30 year trend. • Portland State Univ vs UO: Local focus through local funding. Breaking the trend, it could prioritize the local, public orientation.
Lessons for California faculty • Speak now or forever hold your peace. Choices are being made about the future of the profession, the academy, and the nation. I encourage you to demonstrate your support for public higher education. April 13th. • We cannot simply do more of the same, but to innovate and do more for more students, public hed needs more public investment. • The issue is not simply how to balance the budget; it also is how to lay the foundation for a prosperous future.
