DEI under attack

I've charted the rise of DEI attacks over the last year and the post summarizing it is extensive. The DEI moniker has been used to attack anything related to inclusion and belonging, alternative words that have been used to circumvent restrictions. Some efforts have been made to push back and in other cases educators are sitting back in sheer wonder and confusion and don't know how to respond. The particular issue of scholars being targeted to discredit them and their ideas, as well as weaponizing plagiarism claims, results in all scholars being vulnerable but the pattern of Black academics being disproportionately targeted is most alarming.

Shaun Harper and other leaders of DEI drew together in defense and published a report to expose the myths about DEI that are part of the politicized environment educators now face. The vilification of DEI, legislation to defund and dismantle it, and staging of spectacles to renounce it have clearly been political. The University of Texas purge of DEI staff, and University of Texas at Dallas doing the same, reflects the depths to which politicians are now plunging. Signs indicate that the attack on DEI may spread to other areas such as free speech, tenure, and unionization. All of these are intentional efforts to discredit U.S. higher education, an effort to play to the MAGA base that includes many who have not had the opportunity to acquire a higher education and resent it.

A Brookings Institute study on world views is revealing in relation to supporters and challengers of DEI work. The vast majority of U.S. citizens are differentiated into two segments - those with a basically hopeful perspective (45%) and the others who view the world as a hostile and dangerous place (43%). The Brookings study broke down these two worldviews by political inclination, sex, race or ethnic identification, and age. The patterns track the personalities and messaging of the two U.S. Presidential candidates - Biden the optimist and Trump the pessimist. DEI fits these two worldviews in that the hopeful world view sees the goodness and possibility in all people and the pessimist sees terrorism, criminals, and immigrants as a threat to their livelihood. The problem is that even though the optimists presently have a 2% edge, their positivity is shrinking.

I'm thankful for thoughtful scholars such as Harper and his colleagues. I also celebrate the statements made by ACPA - Student Educators International as it seeks to protect and advance racial justice and decolonization. Leading in our time is difficult and requires engagement, deep listening, and advocating a continuing commitment to opening the doors for all to learn. Those individuals and organizations willing to take the heat should be supported by all in education as they seek to protect quality, open inquiry, and advancement of knowledge in the modern day.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation granted $5 Million to the City University of New York (CUNY) to fund the state's first graduate program in Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies. Support like that of the Mellon Foundation provide a glimmer of hope that the anti-DEI movement will be countered by supporters. The recently selected President of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators commented in an interview with Inside Higher Education that the focus of some student affairs educators on diversity and inclusion is challenging but is part of the holistic commitment to students' overall experience.

April 17 is scheduled as a day to push back against the attacks across a number of campuses. Over 75 AAUP chapters have joined protesting "academic freedom restrictions, defending protest rights, supporting diversity, equity and inclusion, calling for free public education, and advocating for more secure faculty job."

Advocating for pluralism and discourse, a conference of higher education leaders sponsored by Interfaith America and the American Association of Colleges & Universities, began with comments by the AAC&U President noting the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel as sending shock around the world that "thrust campuses into the international spotlight amid the student protests that followed." The shock resulted in higher education effectively being placed on trial by conservatives who seized the opportunity to take down elite institutions such as Harvard, Penn, and MIT.

Creating "home" on campus

Most student affairs educators have recognized that a critical element of campuses achieving high student satisfaction and retention is that the campus environment fosters belonging - or a sense of being at home. Belonging is even more important for U.S. domestic students from diverse backgrounds as well as international students studying in U.S. institutions. Belonging doesn't mean that you feel accommodated but that you are part of the institution and matter to peer students, faculty and staff.

Advice for international students on how to engage in ways to foster belonging is helpful and includes joining a club or sports team, pursuing volunteer opportunities, and becoming an institutional ambassador.  Graduate students' need to belong is often overlooked but is just as important. Introverts are another type of student who may have difficulty connecting with others and the institution. And it strikes me that the reluctance of international students to engage in an unfamiliar environment and graduate students who have less opportunity to be involved may actually be part of the introverted student population that needs that extra nudge.

Renewal by "gut punch"

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin referred to his prostate cancer diagnosis as a "gut punch." While Austin received more attention for not revealing the health challenge earlier and more publicly, it is the gut punch that caught my attention. Diagnosis for any life threatening illness is traumatic and is likely to result in dark nights following long days of exploring prognosis and treatment options.

The moment we realize, perhaps for the first time, that we are vulnerable to something outside our control can also be an opportunity to refocus on the things that matter most. Joy Jones-Carmack revealed the recentering that she experienced as a result of her cancer diagnosis. In fascinating ways, her advice applies not only to traumatizing health events but perhaps to the general well-being of all faculty and staff who are attempting to recenter after the COVID pandemic. The major recommendations include:

• Don't let your career keep you from focusing on your health.
• Take leave if you want to, and make the most of it if you do.
• Be willing to relinquish control.
• Don't be afraid to get personal or be transparent.
• Realize you won't be the same afterward.

Hmmh... Might each day have more purpose and impact if we took the foot off the gas in ways that reflect this advice? Passion for what we do is a good thing but can also blind us from the limitations of our own humanity. Conviction punctuated by reflection and humility, sometimes stimulated by a shocking moment, may have the potential for greater impact than we could ever have imagined.

Critical studies defined and applied

Some public comment has attacked critical studies and others have advocated it as essential to the future of contemporary learning. Steve Mintz defines what critical studies actually is and takes it another step by suggesting that evolution of critical studies in practice might lead to a reorganization of disciplines. He says, "If colleges and universities were to establish academic departments and disciplines today from scratch, we'd shift away from the traditional departments established in the late 19th and and early 20th centuries. The stand-alone, stand-apart department model would give way to interdisciplinary studies to a greater extent and reflect the complexity of global challenges that do not fit neatly within traditional disciplinary boundaries."

Amen! My view has almost always been that academic departments are dysfunctional and undermine the truly cutting-edge transformation of learning. The departments' insistent on maintaining supremacy tells us a lot - the insularity is sought because it protects enclaves of intellectual independence and thereby fails to see all of the important issues that fall between the cracks. My background in music is probably the origin of my belief in interdisciplinarity but experience being marginalized in student affairs also demonstrates the inadequacies of the department model.

Texas Regents abandon Qatar's Texas A&M partnership

As partisanship and populism continue to surge across the U.S.A. and around the world, internationalization efforts are seeing new vulnerability to the educational objectives of knowledge diplomacy and capacity building through higher education. One apparent casualty of political intervention is the Texas A&M Board of Regents vote to abandon the 20+ year relationship with Qatar Foundation in offering select engineering programs at Education City in Doha, Qatar.

Discerning the background and reasoning of the Texas A&M decision is muddied by Regents' claims versus reactions from Qatar. A decision of this magnitude likely includes multiple tensions and considerations. Former President Bowen of Texas A&M took issue with the way the decision was made and the rationale for abandoning the partnership in a Dallas Morning News Opinion. He called for an independent investigation of the claims that resulted in the Board decision and public announcement of what is found.

Coverage by the Texas Tribune quoted a statement from Qatar Foundation that "It is deeply disappointing that a globally respected academic institution like Texas A&M University has fallen victim to such a campaign and allowed politics to infiltrate its decision-making process." Predictably, the Texas A&M Regents accused Qatar of misunderstanding its decision and claimed that their 7-to-1 vote was based on "regional instability in the Middle East and a desire to focus on the system's stateside campuses."

Coverage from local/regional media such as the Doha News and Middle East Monitor reveal that Texas A&M's relationship with Qatar was called into question when a report by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy raised questions about the partnership soon after the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war. The report claimed that Qatar had access to knowledge of weapons and nuclear engineering through Texas A&M's presence, which posed a threat to U.S. national security. ISGAP also asserted that the relationship between Qatar and Texas A&M University was troubling because of Qatar's funding of Hamas and links to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Jerusalem Post article about ISGAP's accusations indicated that their report not only went to Texas A&M but also to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Governor Abbot of Texas, and Senator Ted Cruse (R-Texas). Considering the recipients of the report and review of the ISGAP website provides insight on their research and influence priorities. Analysis for the ISGAP report Follow the Money: Qatar Funding of Higher Education started in 2012 and led to a presentation to U.S. DOJ officials in 2019 claiming that Qatar was secretly funding U.S. institutions in order to foment anti-Semitism and anti-democratic ideals. Charles Asher Small, founder and director of ISGAP, published Unreported Foreign Donations to Universities Foment Anti-Semitism as an "Opinion" piece in Newsweek in October of 2020. The opinion references U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Education review but there is no record of action on their parts.

The persistence of ISGAP in attacking Qatar coupled with the lack of response from U.S. governmental agencies may indicate that the previous reports were not found credible or that U.S. interests in maintaining positive relations with Qatar counter-balanced ISGAP's assertions. Having worked for Qatar Foundation and now watching the political dynamics underway in the U.S., my belief is that the decision was more political than rational. What may have happened is that ISGAP's goal to undermine Qatar's role in negotiating toward a conclusion of the 2023-24 Israel v. Hamas war, including advocacy for a 2-state solution, finally fell on the fertile ground of conservativism and isolationism of Texas.

International higher education hubs have been a growing trend for over 20 years and scholar Jane Knight outlines their emergence and benefit to all. Many countries around the world have added branch programs as a way to cultivate better trained workers and citizens. Qatar is a particularly notable example for their commitment to building its higher education infrastructure, which is reflected in the 2023 Qatar Ministry of Education update. Inside Higher Education raised the ominous potential that U.S. politicization of higher education in the Texas A&M example could result in other higher education partnerships becoming less attractive.

Whether the Texas decision was about unsettling times in the Middle East and wanting to focus on U.S. interests or the result of a U.S. partisan group's intervention, a mutually beneficial educational partnership is now lost. Ripples elsewhere could result in undermining one of the best forms of knowledge diplomacy available to the U.S.

Transatlantic Dialogue in Luxembourg - 2024

A good colleague with whom I became acquainted while serving as a Visiting Scholar at Miami University's European center in Differdange, Luxembourg, provides the genius and commitment behind the ongoing Transatlantic Dialogue. I attended two of the TAD conferences and found them to be informative, engaging, and including a unique artistic spirit. Francois Carbon is the mastermind behind the conferences which began in 2008 and continue to the coming conference this May 29 to June 1. TAD includes programming related to educational exchange, the arts, and peace making. The website provides background information, schedule, and registration assistance.

There isn't a better European destination than Luxembourg to enjoy Europe, engage deeply in understanding across national boundaries, and meet new colleagues that you may end up cherishing for a lifetime.

Recalibrating the cost of higher education

It's not clear if a trend is underway yet, but 2024 is beginning to look like a period of controlling college costs through budget reductions. Job cuts were announced at numerous institutions ranging from community colleges to state universities to at least one elite university. The wave of cuts includes a variety of institutions with Ohio over-represented. Cuts in staffing or budget that could lead to staff reductions were initiated to align with enrollment decline or in other cases were designed to control the increasing cost of higher education. Demographics, cost, and changing attitudes towards higher education will inevitably close some colleges, especially small, private, and religious institutions. Whatever the impetus, it will be important to stay abreast of staffing and other budget cuts and the way these changes play out in public opinion.

While some elite institutions have already crossed a $100,000 per year price tag, predictions are that others will soon follow. Controlling rising costs in U.S. higher education is voiced by both Democrats and Republicans but the two sides have different ways of getting there. U.S. House of representatives passed the College Cost Reduction Act along party lines, confirming Representative Foxx's accusations that all of higher education needs an overhaul. Democrats introduced numerous amendments, all of which were voted down by the Republican majority.

Ironically, overall state support for public higher education increased by 10.2%, offsetting the supplemental funds that were allocated during pandemic relief. The pattern of increases includes hefty increases in some of the states where higher education is under attack, as in the examples of Florida where the state funding increased by 16.6% and Texas where the increase was 46%, a large portion creating an endowment for public education. Illinois announced a funding plan to increase equity among its 12 state colleges and universities, a move that would serve regional and minority-serving institutions.  The U.S. Congress boosted funding for 707 projects in earmarks primarily for equipment purchases to help colleges and universities.

The optimism that may be justified based on increased funding to state institutions is counter-balanced by states where consolidation of higher education is being sought. The Governors of Pennsylvania and Oklahoma have proposed the merger of public institutions in their states, with particular attention to regional institutions with declining enrollment. The proposals face potentially strong opposition where the institutions are in small towns where the institutions are the lifeblood for the economy. Mergers of independent arts colleges may allow them to survive even with current enrollments declines but private institutions such as Goddard College had no place to turn.