Intentional dismantling of America

There have been so many issues to which I've objected politically and personally - starting with Trump #1 and now accelerating in Trump #2. Former U.S. Ambassador Rice is a reasoned voice, emerging from the moment she entered the national and international arena. That's why her address to the Steamboat Institute has so much weight.

Ambassador Rice addresses the five elements of international power and influence; military, economic, global network, domestic strength, and soft power. Her remarks, the "Status of the U.S. in the World" is a must-view. Take a few minutes to view her remarks and then copy the link and send it to everyone you know.

One of the greatest points of influence in the world is that the U.S. has led the world in scientific and health-related research. The Trump administration made it clear that it did not support the systems that dispense research funding from the beginning and the final blow seems to have arrived with the firing of the National Science Foundation chair and dismissal of its board, a move protested by 13 former NSF board leaders. U.S. science leaders called for confirmation of Trump's NSF nominee, presumable to allow fair consideration and debate of his credentials to lead the organization to continued innovation and supremacy in research. With no rationale and declining comment when asked, NSF froze funding for Duke, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, later reversing the freeze for Duke, Harvard and Yale. Princeton was almost back to being approved. DOJ's launch of alleged discrimination in medical school admissions against 15 institutions is another example of the persistent attacks of Trump officials on science and health-related programs. DOJ concluded that University of California Davis Med offered preferential admission based on race.

NSF isn't the only granting agency being transformed by Trump. The Office of Management and Budgets (OMB) posted new rules for comment that modify all federal grant process, including placing Trump's cronies in senior decision making roles, capping indirect costs, and prohibiting diversity and (in Trump's words) "Green scam" research. Health & Human Services, now serving as a reviewer for NIH funding, is sometimes asking for substantive changes in renewals or new research focus. The changes in final decision-making authority at NIH will result in complete control of communication of scientific findings by political appointees, warned two former employees of NIH.

Education is another hallmark of the rise of U.S. influence in the world. Trump's desire, and Secretary McMahon's steps to diminish and/or close the Education Department, highlight a fundamental difference in purposes. McMahon was confronted by Democrats and defended by Republicans over interagency agreements, graduate student loan caps, and threats to TRIO. Trump and his appointees believe that education should focus on workforce preparation, and specifically work that pays well.

The interagency agreements shifting responsibilities from the Education Department to other governmental entities continue to be activated. In the example of civil rights investigations, DOJ will take the responsibility for investigating complaints and the Education Department is presumed to make the final determination of the governmental response. Critics fear that this will disenfranchise those with complaints that are not supported by the Trump administration. Democrats subsequently undertook efforts to impeach McMahon for violation of her oath of office and the transfer of responsibilities in the interagency agreements. Trump officials are also being sued for his April directive halting DEI-contractors in federal programs.

The debate between education for the public good versus private gain defines the fundamental dichotomy, one that does not have to be mutually exclusive but has been a schism since colonial days. The persistence of this identity crisis undermines the historic commitment of the U.S. Constitution - "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor." This statement is foundational to higher education's commitment to both individuals and each other. The AAC&U published a report on how colleges can regain credibility among students, families, and other stakeholders. The recommendation is to "confront 'difficult questions' about how higher ed can fulfill its mission and prioritize community engagement.

With the broader higher education sector under attack, student affairs could easily get lost in the shuffle of the politics of big decisions. The Student Affairs NOW Leading through the Storm: Capacity and Clarity to Lead through Complexity addresses the different sources of turmoil and recommends how student affairs leaders can bridge with academic colleagues by building a shared curricular approach to the shared work of student learning.

Part of the problem is that U.S. higher education was built on the assumption of scarcity. This scarcity philosophy has driven competition for admission, escalated costs, and undermined public perceptions of higher education in general. The predicament is self-inflicted and the only way out is to adopt a new philosophy - abundance of resources based on sharing knowledge and working together to advance the public good.

The U.S. was built on supporting a talented citizenry, collected from throughout the globe, and benefitting from education and opportunity. These very foundations are being dismantled to weaken the resistance to Trump's either ignorant or purposeful vision of a declining America.

Future-proofing graduates

Contemplating what higher education must do to prepare graduates for the workforces and communities of the future can take us down many pathways. The question is, how can consensus be built that will draw faculty and staff together in a concerted effort to actually do something that will be effective.

Using AI to generate ideas about where higher education should focus resulted in four areas:

• Metacognitive agility - The ability to "learn how to learn" and the humility to remain a "rookie" as tools evolve every few months.
• Ethical discernment - AI can provide options, but it lacks a moral compass. The ability to weigh the societal and human consequences of a decision is a premium trait.
• Empathic leadership - Managing teams in an era of uncertainty requires high emotional intelligence (EQ) to maintain morale and navigate complex human conflicts.
• Systems thinking - The capacity to connect dots across disparate disciplines (e.g., law, tech and sociology) to solve "wicked" problems that AI sees only in fragments.

These are verbatim from Gemini 3 Thinking - because I couldn't find ways to improve them. The question is if higher education has the ability to shift to such encompassing and critical areas when many in the academy are metaphorically focused on how many angels can dance on the tip of a pin. Higher education's work goes beyond knowledge production to negotiating with others about how that knowledge is to be used. Restoring trust in higher education is an important priority and visions of the future; the AAUP statement provides a pathway which faculty may be willing to support.

It's fascinating that Pope Leo XIV is the most prominent international leader to make a definitive statement about how to respond to the emergence of AI. His "Magnifica Humanitas" advocates "Without careful attention, an educational system lacking in a love for truth may emerge, in which an incessant flow of information replaces the essential exercise of research, reflection and discernment. As knowledge becomes increasingly fragmented, it becomes difficult to grasp reality as a whole, to ask profound questions about meaning, or to develop authentic, critical and creative thought."

Displacement of current workers sends a clear message to students, policy makers and other stakeholders. As a result, current students are already rethinking their majors in the light of AI's emergence. Four out of ten students are anxious about how AI will impact their job prospects. As entry-level jobs lag, 43% of students are considering graduate school, 58% are looking to entrepreneurship opportunities. Some graduates are accepting jobs they intend to leave as soon as possible. Graduates' concerns about having AI skills for future workplaces is exacerbated by no clear indication of what that involves. Some institutions are turning to partnerships with local businesses to discern and offer programs that address future AI skills. Institutions like the University of Virginia and State University of New York are focusing on AI literacy and action to respond to students' anxiety. To demonstrate how important the AI question is, the New York Times reported that Anthropic planned to postpone release of its newest model (Mythos) because the prototype was too good at finding software weaknesses. Even as the AI-influenced employment landscape unfolds, graduates are relatively optimistic about their futures, seeing value in their degrees and 79% believing that it is "not too likely" or "not at all likely" to result in loss of their jobs.

Otto Scharmer, futurist and visionary, predicts that "We may be entering a new axial age." He says that the first axial age occurred when humans moved from hunter-gatherers to communities of increasing complexity and advancing technologies. Today's "polycrisis of climate chaos, mass migration, increasing warfare and transformative AI represents a rupture of comparable magnitude. The crisis of depleted social soil of the planet will require the recreation of educational and media ecosystems, democratic structures, and economic systems. Changes this fundamental will not take place quickly but will emerge gradually in the cracks of existing institutions. In this scenario, the future-proofed graduate will live in a world where disruption is normalized and welcomed as the process of recreation unfolds.

Attention to how AI will change workplaces and opportunities needs to be balanced with a people-first commitment, one that focuses on developing different capabilities and capacities. Factors like metacognitive ability, ethical discernment, empathic leadership, and systems thinking can serve as a rallying point for educators if they come together in an effort to preserve our humanity and connections with each other. Advocates say that the major return on investment of humanities education is cultivating these characteristics and the bottom line is that higher education is human, by contrast to AI. The most recent Student Voice survey reinforces the importance of students' believing that they matter and reinforcing the journey of discovering purpose as central to students' seeing college attendance as important. Mattering, whether for students or scholars, can be drained out of learning as AI gains prominence as an information seeking and sorting method. However, AI does not have, nor is it likely to be able to replace, human intuition in the discovery and dissemination of knowledge.

Adam Becker, in More of Everything, predicts that higher education could become increasingly enmeshed with AI companies and oligarchs. To avoid this Becker suggests that higher education must define itself as a counterweight to AI. Specifically, higher education cultivates learning that goes beyond technical capability. Broader education matters because in cultivates "the ability to think critically. This includes being able to understand AI, as those who do will be better positioned to shape how it's used ethically and responsibly." As the AI revolution continues to unfold, some caution against efforts to shut it down, those committed to cultivate written skills say that judgement and attention to one's audience must be preserved, and the full taxonomy of dangers offered by some are alarmist.

Administrative hierarchy, disciplinary provincialism, and obsession with individual and organizational competitive superiority are the hurdles that educators face. After 50+ years as a participant in organizations infested with these dynamics and now a continuing observer, I can't state more emphatically how important it is to get serious about breaking down these barriers and joining together in serving students by striving to future-proof them for the changing world we inhabit.