Resident Assistant roles distributed

The conventional Resident Assistant role of earlier days has become so complicated that institutions such as Binghamton University are breaking it up into separate functions and hourly employment. The Binghamton model defines a community assistant, student support assistant, and other hourly jobs related to management and targeted functions. Higher education has relied on RAs for a long time as a cheap way to manage and program residence halls but, with the growing complexity of student demographics and needs, it seems inevitable that the RA functions would have to be segmented in order to reduce stress and probably effectiveness of those who hold these roles.

The question is, how will the new segmented roles relate to one another and what does supervision by professional staff look like under this model? The idea of addressing the wholistic needs of students could get lost in translation and that would not be in students' best interest. I hope that student affairs educators involved in residence life positions are thinking this through carefully. Distributing functions could improve attention to important issues but it might also mean losing a sense of how all the pieces fit together to fulfill the core purpose of student learning and development.

Top 10 developments for higher education

There are some years where not much of note has signaled change but 2023 has been very different. Steve Mintz offered the top 10 developments for higher education, listing issues that will be familiar to most educators who pay attention. Higher education as a social and political dividing line, declining public trust, alternatives to college, an expanding governmental role, and hyperpoliticization are on the list.

As if to respond to the top 10 developments in 2024, Mintz' subsequent opinion suggested that it's time for institutions to think outside the box in their approaches to organization, curriculum, ways of teaching, and assessment. The first recommendation, one that will challenge student affairs educators, was to reconsider the bureaucratic divisions of academic and student affairs in order to better align cocurricular and extracurricular with academic goals, involve more faculty, and relate academic and career advising more purposefully. Recognizing the impediments to change that are part of the higher education scene, Mintz later offer 10 changes that colleges and universities need to implement and he followed that with the recommendation that whole student development be taken more seriously. The only problem with the last recommendation is that he characterized current student development programs as inconsequential for most current students, again challenging the role of student affairs educators.

The issue of public trust is one of the most important conditions that higher education leaders should tackle. Mintz' mid-2024 season top concern is rebuilding trust. The other five are controlling rising compensation costs, graduate education, changes in collegiate athletics, doubts about the value of education, and research misconduct.

Deloitte offered its 2024 higher education trends report, reinforcing some of the Mintz critique and recommendations. At the top of its list was addressing its credibility crisis, leadership turnover, changes in athletics programs, AI and disruptive innovation, and private-public partnerships.

Republicans plan to target affordability and accountability in the proposed College Cost Reduction Act. House Republicans are poised to reduce funding for the Education Department. Democrats' opposition of the sweeping measures included in the Act are reflected in their Roadmap to College success, which includes provisions for affordability, access, and supporting students.  Review of the Republican provisions provide fair warning for how they view higher education and how they see federal policy controlling it. Conservative efforts are progressing at a rapid pace with 84 bills in 28 states and at the federal level now being considered to put controls in place for higher education institutions.

With the highly controversial 2024 U.S. Presidential election underway, the politicization of higher education is becoming a major issue, with conservative candidates throughout the ballot claiming "wokeness" and violation of freedom of speech. The Trump Supreme Court has made decisions that change decades of precedents, the result being a highly unsettling and unpredictable legal environment. The questions higher education leaders would like to ask President Biden and former President Trump delve into highly critical issues. Campus responses to the Supreme Court reversal on affirmative action are likely to draw greater scrutiny and the risk of dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts is significant, which necessitates stronger defense if institutions are to be able to "create and advance structures in higher education that are just, equitable and inclusive." Democrats defended diversity initiatives during the U.S. House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee meeting. Education world wide may see changes as key elections take place across the globe in 2024.

It's difficult to determine if lack of confidence contributed to politicization or politicization led to lowered confidence. An article in the U.S. News and World Report related declining public confidence to politicization, cost of attendance, and access. Edge Research identified many of the same concerns noted in the U.S. News and World Report and attributed the negativity to news sources highlighting concerns rather than benefits of higher education achievement. It may not matter what or how the concerns emerged. The point is that higher education faces a barrage of challenges and negotiating them simultaneously will challenge educators of all types, ranks, and places.

Politicization is reflected in numerous legislative initiatives across the country, including challenging tenure, curricular control, DEI offices/programs, and accreditation. An Indiana legislative bill demanding "intellectual diversity" sounds reasonable, except that it mandates post-tenure review of faculty by governing boards, a move that could threaten the careers of faculty whose scholarship does not conform to the preferences of board members. Civil rights groups are pushing back on the Indiana legislation as well as numerous other anti-DEI measures in other states. On the other hand, whether or not President Biden's support of HBCUs will bring Black voters back to the Democratic party is yet to be determined.

Being humiliated in the public's eyes has frightening potential as higher education leaders navigate public scrutiny and regulatory whiplash. Some of the critique is based on questioning what proportion of young adults really need a college degree, especially since the return on investment has declined in recent years. As questions loom, it's not surprising that state higher education officials identified workforce preparation as the major concern for their institutions. Preparation for careers in a knowledge-based economy and improving return on investment of time and money indicators for higher education are integral to the workforce development focus and this is the benefit that students expect. With this in mind, research indicating that states' contribution to post-college outcomes are low is a clear vulnerability.

Addressing what students want and recognizing issues about which they have concern is essential. The faculty's focus is central to students' experience, with students and their families expecting teaching to be their core function. Yet this expectation is often not actualized in campus culture and rewards. If institutions want to be perceived as benefitting the public, they need to do more than post their commitment to teaching on the website. The headlines for higher education, with the number of issues educational leaders face, require attention to fulfilling "their mission as purveyors of a liberal education, producing students well-equipped to participate in today's unstable, uncertain, unpredictable and extraordinarily diverse global environment." And solutions will likely only come from reaching across entrenched political perspectives.

Elite higher education institutions are at the center of the scrutiny of higher education, which was demonstrated during the House Committee hearings on anti-semitism. Derek Bok's book, Attacking the Elites, is one of several critiques that warrant consideration of how elitism plays out in an era of populism. Steve Mintz equated elite higher education's dilemma to that of a Greek tragedy saying that privileged institutions need to "recenter themselves and to declare, quite boldly, that their purpose is to produce global citizens who serve the world... to ensure that those fortunate enough to attend or teach at an elite university are respectful and are able to interact civilly in a world of discord."

Although 2023 represented some return to stability after the 2020-21 pandemic, there are numerous issues that will challenge higher education leadership in 2024 and beyond. With the likelihood of continuing, and perhaps escalating, dissension about higher education, clearly asserting the values of a university will be paramount and support from Boards will be pivotal. Presidents serve many constituents as they navigate defining and communicating the education value proposition and helping oversight boards think strategically is critical. Dan Edelstein's opinion was that the essential values include that universities are places of learning, they are places to distinguish fact from fabrication, learning comes from interaction with others, and orthodoxy has no place here. Edelstein's advice might be useful to higher education Presidents who expressed confidence in their own institutions but uncertainty about higher education in general. The annual Provosts' survey identified the need for AI policy, concerns about free speech, DEI, and several other areas as their top concerns. 

International educators - please avoid missteps of U.S. higher education

One of the challenges international higher education faculty and staff face is determining what is transferrable in other national and cultural contexts. The dominance of U.S. higher education, and the assumption of its superiority, can result in unknowingly transporting an idea that clearly does not fit in other cultures, and perhaps is failing even in U.S. higher education. In the case where it is failing, U.S. institutions often have a very difficult time letting go.

One anachronistic element of U.S. higher education is Greek organizations - fraternities and sororities. The result of grass-roots student interest in the early 20th century, fraternities and sororities sprung up to provide enriching out-of-class experiences such as debate societies, sports, self-governance, and even lodging and food. As higher education embraced a wholistic philosophy, the things that fraternities and sororities offered were democratized - offering them more broadly to all students. As this happened, Greek organizations drifted to a focus on primarily what they offered in terms of social opportunity.

I was a member of an undergraduate fraternity, and my wife and daughters were also affiliated during their undergraduate years. I know Greek organizations and know that many are good and provide an important belonging place for their members. However, in regard to systemic relevance, they now stand as bastions of socio-economic and cultural separatism and sometimes contribute to anti-intellectual cultures. Such is the possibility at the University of Maryland, which just suspended all of its Greek organizations for conduct that "threatened the safety and well-being of members of the university community." Maryland reversed is broad suspension of all Greek organizations and retained only 5 for further investigation. Of course, the Fraternity Forward coalition issued a restraining order and plans to continue to pursue litigation against Maryland. Some of the national organizations that have affiliates at Maryland threaten legal action as well. When an institution has to act this broadly, something is wrong systemically. Federal anti-hazing legislation after decades of hand-ringing by Greek organizations and campuses is a clear indication that problems within these organizations are persistent and most likely unsolvable. The U.S. Congress approved the first nation-wide anti-hazing legislation in December 2024.

Right of association adherents will say that institutions cannot prohibit student associations such as Greek organizations. Case law demonstrates that they are correct. However, as far as I know, case law does not require an institution to support and provide resources to organizations that it does not officially recognize. Colleges and universities could choose to simply say "enough already" and push these organizations into an independent status and inform students to affiliate with them at their own risk.

A second example of anachronistic practice is competitive intercollegiate athletics. I have long been an advocate for U.S. higher education to stop pretending that athletic programs such as the University of Michigan and Ohio State University are "college teams." They haven't been for quite some time and continuing the fantasy is expensive and harmful to institutions that strive to compete with the likes of teams that are essentially semi-professional farm teams for the NFL and NBA.

The University of Michigan's former coach Harbaugh is an arrogant example of the problem of privileged semi-professional sports on college campuses. After coaching the NCAA winning football team in 2023 he was hired to coach the LA Chargers for $13 million per year. When the NCAA disciplined Harbaugh for rules violations and blatant disregard for its governance, his spokespeople commented, "today's COI decision is like being in your college and getting a letter from your high school saying you've been suspended because you didn't sign the yearbook."

The number of institutions that break even or make money from Division I NCAA competition is somewhere around 10%. In the other cases, students are charged to underwrite the deficit. Demonstrating how real intercollegiate athletics might work, some less competition institutions have used the creation of new athletic programs as a recruitment incentive.

Charlie Baker, Chief of the NCAA, finally announced a possible strategy to allow big-time athletic programs to compensate their players. Such a strategy would reward student work and that turned into the question of whether or not student athletes should be allowed to form unions. Baker's proposal would allow Division I athletic programs free rein in determining compensation related to athlete's names, images, and likenesses. For a mere $30,000 annual investment in athlete support, institutions would become part of a new subdivision with the highest revenue sources and the best records. These wealthy and successful programs have proposed the Baker model for years. Two institutions' faculty representatives expressed support for paradigm change in the NCAA, equating it to an opportunity to heal long-term problems.

By 2024, college athletes began reaping the reward from selling their names and conferences reorganized to further advantage institutions that win in the "big time athletics" competition. Then came the big idea of creating a super league that confirmed that many collegiate teams are really all about money. The super league would "infuse $5.3 billion in private capital - borrowed from future media revenues... to provide schools immediate cash during a three-year transition period, helping them buy out non-power opponents and supplementing their annual television distribution."

Moyen and Thelen's College Sports: A History summarizes the problem of "collegiate athletics" slipping into sport that has been driven toward commercialization. The review of the book poses the possibility that commercial interests were there all the time but few would deny that the money associated with star athletes selling their names and endorsements has taken commercialization to another level. Recommendations that student athletes meet admission requirements, attend class, and have limits on time spent in practice seem impotent in the face of athletes and athletic programs seeking financial gain.

There are numerous things that international higher education planners and leaders should avoid and these two anachronistic practices are among the most egregious.

Colonialism's other names

The 2024 Nobel prize in economics recognized three researchers who explored the long-term impact of colonialism. The difference between extractive colonialism where colonizers harvested natural resources versus colonialism that built capacity through inclusive organizations and rule of law is dramatic. Extractive colonialism results in reduction of economic prosperity while capacity building has the opposite impact.

With colonialism and decolonization becoming more common in academic and general conversation, Steve Mintz offers a list of different types of colonialism (citing Nancy Shoemaker) and advice on how social justice critiques in the humanities can be preserved as an analytical tool rather than used to politicize discourse. Specific to how we understand history based on personal and familial experience, Mintz opined in a later essay that "history's purpose is not to establish definitive answers but to foster an ongoing dialogue that each generation revisits, reinterprets and refines."

The subjectivity of our own experience has to be managed in order to avoid charges of politicizing the classroom, Mintz advises scholars to:

• Teach students how to analyze and critique ideas from multiple perspectives, rather than promoting a single political viewpoint.
• Actively include a wide range of perspectives in the curriculum, not just various political viewpoints but also diverse cultural, historical, and philosophical perspectives, ensuring that the curriculum is not dominated by any single ideology.
• Be transparent about the use of theory and methods, demonstrating that humanities research is grounded in rigorous scholarship rather than political bias.
• Ensure that classrooms and academic forums are spaces for open dialogue and debate and encourage intellectual diversity and mutual understanding.
• Reaffirm the fundamental objectives of the humanities: to foster empathy and cultural understanding and the complexity of human experience and to contextualize political issues within broader social, economic and cultural frameworks.

These commitments to teaching in the humanities are potentially buttressed by new global histories that are now available. It is critical to update previous characterizations that are the product of, and reinforce the goodness of, colonialist bias. The present age of economic globalism "needs a very different kind of history, a big-picture history that places the biggest issues of our time - colonialism and its legacies, the environment and climate, gender and sexuality, infectious diseases, migrations and diasporas, race and caste, revolutions and civil wars, and slavery and other forms of unfree labor."

International student enrollment surges

While there were mixed messages about overall 2023-24 enrollment throughout U.S. higher education, international 2022-23 student enrollment surged beyond pre-pandemic levels. The surge in applications may partially be attributable to fake applications, the result of prospects originating from the broader southeast Asian region. The eventual figures for 2023-24 will hopefully sustain the increasing number of international students, although the mix has shifted from China to India and Africa.

As the enrollment of international students from China slows, the number of Indian students seeking admission in U.S. institutions is replacing them. For Indian students and their families, enrollment in high quality U.S. programs is viewed as opening doors that would not have opened if they studied in India. Unfortunate delays in processing of visas for students from India may reduce the number who will actually enroll in 2024.

As an alternative strategy, the need for higher education opportunity may also be met by establishing international branch programs and campuses in India. The cooling of interest in branch initiatives may result in more select institutions' unwillingness to take the risk associated with these ventures.

A boon for U.S. institutions, international students' interest in study in Canada and Australia declined according to a recent survey. The "policy volatility in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom is unsettling international enrollments." Australia's decision to limit international student enrollment to 270,000 and Canada's move to limit international enrollment by 10% will make it much more competitive to study there, and likely reduce its desirability. The UK hopes to right its higher education ship with the naming of new ministers of education, which could bring changes attractiveness to international students. The projected decline in UK domestic students could drive even greater pressure to increase international student numbers.

Predictions were that the prospects of former President Trump returning to the Whitehouse could impact international students' interest. With 41% of all international graduates remaining in the U.S. from 2012-20, one of the most important factors is their OPT opportunities which could be at risk under another Trump administration. As post-election concerns swirled around Trump's return to the White House, institutions will need to focus on reassuring international students that they are welcome. International students can enhance their experience in multiple ways, especially by adopting different approaches to friendship and mentoring. Warning for international students to be back before Trump's January 20, 2025, inauguration could be unsettling.

Brown University's "need blind" admission of international students will likely result in more and increasingly well-qualified applicants. Time will tell if this turns into a trend as international students are increasingly seen as valuable not only for the tuition they pay, but the value they bring to the learning community. Analysts warn that increasing competition from higher education providers like Canada may erode gains in current enrollment due to complications in obtaining visas and rising costs. The decline in China's economy is almost sure to result in continued erosion of the number of Chinese students coming to the U.S.

On the other side, institutions need to make sure that international students are not characterized, or profiled, in ways that subjects them to assumptions, stereotypes, and targeting. An essay by an instructor of English offers a specific type of profiling in relation to AI at the University of Manitoba. Profiling of various sorts include language proficiency, privilege, and social engagement.

If U.S. institutions want to continue hosting international students, taking them seriously is of paramount importance. The release of Supporting International Students in U.S. Higher Education: A Theory-Based Approach (Roberts & Ammigan, 2024) could help education leaders improve the experience of international students, retaining those who are now in the U.S. and also contributing to positive experiences that translate to encouragement for others to follow.

Trump's plans and Project 2025

Although Trump has claimed he doesn't know where Project 2025 came from or who was involved in drafting it, his potential future administration is clearly the focus. How Project 2025 could impact U.S. higher education is speculative but raises very unsettling questions about the politicization of higher education through appointments to boards as well as intervention in hiring of campus administrators.

In addition to Project 2025, Trump has proposed revolutionizing higher education through a national on-line university. Skeptics say that, even if he is able to gain reelection, the proposed university will end up like "the wall" - a promise unfulfilled. The strategy to fund it is to use taxes on college and university endowments that are larger than $500,000 to redirect to the new higher education option.

Project 2025 and the national on-line university are designed to addresses multiple points of dissatisfaction that are expressed by his electoral base. The issues that are wrapped into them include: cost, recognizing prior learning, expanding access, replacing "radical left" accreditors (dismantling DEI), and uprooting "wokeness."

"I think it suggests frustration with the political direction of higher education. Trump thinks he can score political points by basically poking higher education and saying that they're too liberal and woke and that his university won't be like that," opined a professor at the University of Tennessee. Trump's choice of J.D. Vance as his VP running mate signals two things: 1) an attempt to reinforce the MAGA base in the Midwest, and 2) the critique of higher education and its role. The AAUP's new president labeled Vance a Fascist for his condemnation of U.S. higher education and calling professors "the enemy." A Trump 2nd term would assuredly result in increased pressure on higher education intensified by controversies that have unfolded during the Biden intermission.

Vice President Harris' selection of Tim Walz as her running mate in the 2024 election appears to be a direct counter to Trump's Project 2025. Walz' advocacy for education and policy positions are likely to be targets for Trump and Vance as they seek to take the U.S. Presidency from what they label as "dangerous liberalism."

The Hamas and Israel war added fuel to the fire of anti-wokeness with higher education institutions attempting to navigate the ground of allowing expression of different views in the face of attempts to silence any advocacy for Palestine as anti-semitic. It is easy to conclude that Trump might have observed DeSantis' attack on higher education in Florida as an indication that having a higher education strategy as part of his platform could pay dividends. DeSantis' assault has taken on many of the same issues that Trump champions.

Lack of purpose driving anxiety

A recent study of young adults (ages 18-25) conducted by Harvard's Graduate School of Education found approximately twice as many reporting anxiety and depression compared to the younger cohort of 14-17 years olds. The study found "... key drivers of young adults' emotional challenges, including finance (56 percent), pressure to achieve (51 percent) and a perception that the world is unraveling (45 percent). Social Media was lower on the list of influential factors; it only drove anxiety and depression among 28 percent of young adults." The authors of the report recommended helping students cultivate meaning and purpose through community service, developing deeper relationships, and focusing on more than their achievements.

Fostering hope and possibility has been advocated by others, including my own advocacy for Deeper Learning in Leadership in 2007. Leadership programs on college and university campuses have a critical responsibility to encourage students to pursue a life-long journey of discovering and focusing convictions in ways that make a difference for others while at the same time bringing meaning to their lives. The announcement of the Carnegie Elective Classification of Leadership for Public Purpose is an example of various types of institutions placing higher priority on encouraging students to seek purpose related to serving others. The Aspen Institute's CEO and President, Daniel Porterfield, joined the conversation by encouraging a focus on flexibility and persistence.

The 2020+ pandemic accelerated claims of PTSD-like symptoms, a complication that may be addressed by helping students focus on the journey toward purpose. Discovering purpose also has the potential to help students internalize their perception of achieving, which is a powerful alternative to the "never enough" feeling that can sometimes undermine positive mental health.  Ultimately, aren't the best antidotes to anxiety self-reflection and mindfulness, philosophical and spiritual inquiry, social engagement, and holistic learning.

Placing a priority on discovering purpose which in turn creates hope and possibility in students may sound as if it's something that higher education has been doing for ever, and it probably is. The problem is one of missing the forest for the trees; most institutions offer a breadth of opportunity in curriculum and cocurriculum that looks more like going to the grocery store without a menu or shopping list - just take anything and you can figure it out when you get home. The University of Minnesota provides personal coaching to help students find engagement opportunities that align with their personal goals. Engagement coaching focused on leadership as 'conviction in action' (the definition I proposed in 2007) involves simply starting with a flicker of interest, uses that to drive engagement, remains open to new possibilities, and deepens over a lifetime.

Finding a place to start can occur through personality assessment such as the MBTI and Strengths Quest. What's important to recognize is that these assessments reflect trend and compare patterns among students but they don't necessarily align with the passions a student might have. Using the search for purpose coupled with assessment could be powerfully used to both inform and inspire students in their search.

In addition to encouraging focus in student learning about leadership, institutions could impact students' experiences by being more intentional about what it cultivates in its leaders. When institutions contradict what they advocate in student learning by how they operate and model leadership, students see the hypocrisy. At the same time that institutions are well served to focus on students' leadership learning, they need to provide substantive leadership cultivation for its administrative and academic leaders as well.

The other important issue surfaced by the Harvard study was the importance of deepening relationships. Being engaged then becomes the path to belonging, which often involves barriers that are more present from students of diverse cultural backgrounds. The Surgeon General's "We are made to connect" campus tour is drawing attention to the loneliness and isolation that students can sometimes experience. This need to be part of something greater than oneself is universal across generations and the discovery of purpose is almost always explored with others and results in connecting with and making a difference for others.

Ultimately, students' pursuit of purpose has to be complemented by an effective career services strategy. A recent survey of students' use of the career or placement offices on campus provides important guidance on what students need, most of which is pretty transactional. However, the building blocks of exploring purpose are at the foundation of what will eventually be a positive launch when students graduate. Preparation for work that is aligned with students' interests is at the top of the list of state higher education leaders' priorities.