Universities Falling
... with a rising administrative class
Another excellent piece in Tablet Magazine, Academic Administrators Are Strangling Our Universities [1].
I largely agree with the content of the piece, and, though I appreciate their constructive ideas for solving the problems of administration, I feel that they are unlikely to succeed. For one, they would have to convince the very administrators in control of US universities to relinquish some of their control. For two, this problem is actually many decades in the making, as chronicled quite eloquently by Benjamin Ginsburg in his book, The Fall of the Faculty.
Some quotes from the Tablet piece:
“Today, even tenure-track faculty must think twice about the reaction of administrators as they conduct independent research, speak in the classroom, or express opinions.”
‘The number of administrators employed by Yale University has risen three times faster than the undergraduate student body since 2003, while new managerial jobs have risen by 150% compared with a 10.6% increase in tenure-track jobs in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The National Center for Education Statistics estimates that “noninstructional activities …” now make up 67% of the expenses of private for-profit four-year institutions.’
“much of what looks to outsiders like student-led protests and campaigns is in fact the product of the determination of the new administrative class to shape campus norms and priorities according to their own beliefs and preferences—which not coincidentally make the case for the importance of their own jobs.”
[1] John Londregan, Sergiu Klainerman, Michael A. Reynolds, and Bernard Haykel, “Academic Administrators Are Strangling Our Universities”, Tablet Magazine, September 19, 2002: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/academic-administrators-strangling-universities