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.

Professionalization in student affairs?

As student affairs perspectives and practices have spread across the world, those employed in student support positions have questioned how they should best prepare for their roles. The new edited collection of articles, Towards Professionalization of Student Affairs Across the Globe, raises questions about the purpose of professionalization and how it is unfolding in different regions. The Student Affairs Now podcast with the editors provides summary points from the book.

A repeated message throughout this collection is that professionalization has merits but must be pursued within the unique cultural context of each higher education institution. And, increasing professionalization is dependent on capacity building at the local level that draws educators into these roles instead of erecting barriers that exclude them. The essential questions of "for what purpose" and "to whose benefit" must be addressed in looking at a field that rests in the ambiguous "third space" of many institutional organization charts.

Steve Mintz' Inside Higher Education thinking outside the box piece reinforced the "third space" notion by asserting that organization divisions of academic and student affairs might be dismantled. Mintz identified the benefits of linking extracurricular activities to academics, increasing faculty involvement, and aligning academic and career advising to dismantling the bureaucracy of these divisions. Such a proposal challenges notions of expertise and professional preparation that may threaten some student affairs educators but it's actually consistent with the thinking of some early visionaries of student affairs work.

Understanding democratic decline

The warnings are accelerating that democracy is at risk around the world, and especially in the U.S.A. The Brookings Institute report, Understanding Democratic Decline in the United States, indicates that by multiple measures it has fallen out of "full democracy" to "flawed democracy" status.

Evidence of democratic decline is most alarming as a lead-up to the 2024 U.S. Presidential election. The recent PRRI and Brookings research indicates growing acceptance of violence as a tool of political change and agree that it may be necessary to break laws or norms in order to correct the drift of the country toward views that they oppose. Former President Trump appears to have a strangle-hold on the Republican nomination, a clear reflection of the anti-government mood that endorses lawlessness as a legitimate alternative.

Higher education has long claimed a role in cultivating citizenship and democratic practice. The hope is that this commitment can be renewed by adopting principles such as those recommended by the Constructive Dialogue Institute, which launched a Leadership Institute for presidents and higher education leaders to help them improve inclusion and belonging while advocating free expression.  Even while being threatened by conservative state leaders like Ron DeSantis, it's important to renew a commitment to foster open and free inquiry on campus. Fostering open dialogue open is central to democratic practice and student affairs educators play an important role in preparing students and student organizations to engage in fair processes of participation and engagement.

The scrutiny higher education leaders have faced in the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas attack and Israel's months-long retaliation may cause institutions to cease public comment on highly-charged political issues. Criticism of slow, weak, or unpopular responses is presumably the rationale for Harvard University's interim President announcing that it will begin to refrain from comment.

Central to countering democratic decline is a commitment to embrace the true pluralism that exists throughout the U.S.A. Few enclaves can afford to remain closed to the diversity of culture, thought, faith, and politics that exists in their midst. Eboo Patel's essay ends with, "In this moment of extreme polarization, to serve the nation and improve themselves, campuses need to become laboratories and launching pads for pluralism." Zimmerman's Campus Politics was published 7 years ago but Mintz recommends it as a timely perspective as campuses are caught in the cross-hairs of ideological conflict.

One of the questions that must be asked is whether the ideals of democracy have ever worked for everyone in the U.S. and elsewhere. This question is addressed in the "Democracy Re/Designed" project which asserts from the start that it has not worked for many in the American context. This project and the explanation of its origins and purpose describes an aspirational democracy that is equitable, inclusive, and just. With voting an important of demonstration of democratic engagement, registering youth to participate in elections is critical. However, conservatives are actively discouraging voter registration efforts; Florida enacted penalties for in-person voter registration that has killed most of the state's higher education voter drives.

A core challenge to protecting democratic ideals and systems is the profusion of information from various media, including uncontrolled social media. Media of all types reflect specific philosophical and political views which warrant examination for both information and disinformation. Tamara Schwartz, author of Information Warfare, recommends teaching that highlights 1) the individual, 2) the information ecosystem, and 3) rivalry for power as important elements to judging the credibility of various information sources. Examining the psychological dynamics of technology and media can then reveal how the power of cults and propaganda lead to control of information and people.

House Republicans blamed diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives for the rise in anti-Semitism that has accelerated in recent months. Perhaps those blaming higher education and DEI work should review the discord and dissension spurred during Trump's rise to the U.S. Presidency and sustained in his current bid to return to the White House. Trump's emergence as the favored US Presidential candidate of conservatives is coupled with a general shift toward authoritarianism as documented by the PRRI. Republicans in general, and especially those who support Trump, endorse authoritarian parenting, violence as a legitimate form of dissent, and see the US as a privileged enclave for formerly white Europeans to practice and protect their religious rights and culture. Three out of 10 Americans adhere to or sympathize with Christian nationalism. While partisanship and open conflict dominating the news is challenging, the current circumstances will become history and should be explored with a full understanding of how we got to a place where divisiveness seems to lurk everywhere.

Accelerating the attack on democratic practice in higher education, conservative activists issued the General Education Act as a way to dictate the content of higher education institutions. The legislation "would force public colleges to adopt a uniform general education curriculum devoted to conservative values, give a new dean near-total power to hire all faculty to teach these classes and then require the firing of many existing faculty members in the humanities and social sciences."

The Brookings report is not an opinion piece, but is supported by multiple indicators of decline in democratic institutions including a dysfunctional legislature, executive overreach, and an increasingly biased judiciary. The report also clearly indicates that the Trump presidency was not responsible for the decline but was more a wake-up call for the gradual erosion of democratic safeguards.

Supporting International Students in U.S. Higher Education - new book

Darbi L. Roberts and Ravichandran Ammigan saw a need for a resource for student affairs educators and they filled it with an impressive list of chapter contributors in their book, Supporting International Students in U.S. Higher Education: A Theory-Based Approach. Now available, the description reads, "The book explores practical and strategic implications of a more integrative approach to international student support both inside and outside of the classroom, while also utilizing a critical lens in applying models that were originally built for predominantly white institutions and US citizens."

The critical factors of 1) inclusive rather than exclusionary cultures and practices, 2) critical examination of theory and practice to respond to diverse cultural backgrounds of students, and 3) partnership among student affairs educators and international educators are artfully addressed in ways no authors have previously attempted. International students are a valuable resource and should be treasured for the perspective they bring to US institutions. It's time to move away from seeing them as "exceptional" or "other," a move that will enhance their US learning experiences as well as all those who fully engage them.

International students comprise a large proportion of graduate school enrollment in U.S. institutions and addressing how to better support them is included in Roberts and Ammigan's book. Roshni Rao of Johns Hopkins University offers complementary advice to international scholars which includes self-advocacy that highlights the value each brings to the institutions where they study and serve. Sherry Wang and Merab Mushfiq offered similar advice and added the importance of assisting international students with career advice. Deborah Saki recommended "decentering oneself" as international graduate students strive to connect with U.S. domestic students. Saki comments, "it simply argues for the recognition of the value and contributions of all students and genuine interest in everyone's capacity to advance teaching and learning goals."

This book couldn't be more timely after revelation that the U.S. News cut factors related to international students in their rankings. Doing so demonstrates a major point of Supporting International Students... that international students should not only be the responsibility of internationalists but that success results where institutions adopt a highly integrated approach.