The 2023-24 academic year is undoubtedly one of the most difficult years in recent history to be a college president.
After Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s retaliatory bombing of Gaza, campuses erupted in activism, with thousands of students, teachers and community members gathering to protest an Israeli offensive that has killed 10,000 people to date. More than 36,000.
College presidents — and their responses to the war and protests — have consequently come under withering scrutiny as they struggle to respond to the events.
As the face of higher education institutions, they have been criticized for saying too much or too little in their statements about the war. Amid campus protests, students, families and advocacy groups have complained that they are not doing enough to keep students safe from Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and anti-Palestinian racism.
By December, it was clear that many college presidents were unwinnable. Powerful donors seized the moment, pressuring presidents to resign, while House lawmakers summoned them to Washington for televised hearings to grade them on their performance. The result? There have been several presidents since the fall announcement Their resignations are sending schools looking for new leaders.
While some may focus only on the height of the role – some are college presidents earnings Seven Figures — This year’s nonstop challenges reveal how increasingly public and scrutinized the role of the college president has become at a polarizing time. The drama surrounding the leadership has raised questions about what the status of the college presidency should be.
“A lot of attention is being paid to what the college presidency is,” said Hiro Okahana, assistant vice president and executive director of the Education Futures Lab of the American Council on Education, which publishes a major survey of U.S. college presidents.
Explanation of the job of the president of the college, Md
The role of college president has always been complex and difficult. They illustrate the breadth of their responsibilities, from students and faculty to alumni, trustees, donors, and state and federal regulators.
The job may involve overseeing a large medical center, running a sports organization or leading their city’s largest employer. Thus, college and university presidents are sometimes viewed as chief executive officers or even mayors.
“One of the biggest challenges of the president’s role is balancing all the different constituencies,” said Frederick Lawrence, a former president of Brandeis University and a lecturer at Georgetown Law, who recently testified before Congress at a hearing on campus anti-Semitism. “And that’s always true about any issue, but it’s especially true when it’s one that’s so polarized and fraught as the issues of our present moment.”
Even earlier this year, college presidents said many of the obstacles they faced in the role were unexpected. According to the American Council on Education’s 2023 report, women in the position were more likely than men to feel they were not adequately informed about the challenges of the role during the search process, while presidents of color were more likely than white presidents to disclose this.”President of the American College” survey.
And before this year’s challenge, the turnover rate among presidents is increasing and term lengths are decreasing. The survey found that presidents in 2022 will have an average of 5.9 years in their current role, up from 6.5 years in 2016 and 8.5 years in 2006.
While most presidents said they had a support system, some indicated they “struggled to find people who understand the experience of being president,” a signal that all presidents, but especially women and presidents of color, need help, the report said. is over
“The president regularly has people he consults with and the last couple of people he wants in the house. It could be the chair of the board, the provost or the chief of operations,” Lawrence said. “You’re always trying to get input from people who can help you make decisions, because it’s never a good idea to make decisions in isolation.”
But when it comes down to a binary moment, like whether a school student will negotiate with protesters or call the police, presidents make the call.
“At the end of the day,” Lawrence said, “the president has to say, ‘This is the way we’re going to go.'”
How the Israel-Hamas conflict changed everything for many presidents
The protests that erupted on campuses last fall exposed larger questions about free speech and the role academia should play in protecting it — questions that some looked to college presidents to answer.
On campus after campus, many presidents have failed, shutting down lines of communication directly with students and offering little transparency. Although many tried to have an open dialogue with the students at the beginning of the year, by the end of the year they succumbed to the pressure to lock down the campus.
University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill is the first to resign under pressure. When lawmakers asked him whether calling for the genocide of Jews would constitute bullying or harassment under school policy, Magill responded that it was a “context-dependent decision.” His response, during a highly politicized hearing led by Republican lawmakers, exemplified the predicament many college presidents find themselves in.
Under constant pressure, others resigned, including Claudine Gay, Harvard’s first black president, while others took tough, often provocative decisions, such as abandoning the college’s promise of free speech or suppressing student protests by calling in the police.
Col. President Martha E. Pollock declared that he would get down Seven years later, and although he says the decision is his own, he has faced criticism for it Revised Faculty Political Speech Terms And Temporarily suspending pro-Palestinian student protests This spring. after Celebrated last fall to nurture”Genuine discussion about different perspectives” Dartmouth President Sean Leah Bailock was later denounced by the faculty Called the police Hours after the students set up a pro-Palestinian camp. University of Southern California Faculty Senate Condemned President Carol Folt After he banned the school’s pro-Palestinian Muslim valedictorian from giving a commencement speech.
The California State University system has suspended Sonoma State University President Mike Lee for “opposition” after he reached an agreement with pro-Palestinian students that would make the school the first US university to refuse to work with an Israeli academic institution.
Many eyes remain on Columbia University, where President Nemat “Minoche” Shafiq is facing intense pressure from all sides to resign from his post. Last month, hundreds of students protested the annual “Primary Scream” tradition to signal their disapproval President’s House and screamed for a minute and a half, then chanted “resign” and “shame on you”.
Some free-speech experts think presidents have made it tough on themselves this year. By shutting down student protests over controversial phrases like “from the river to the sea,” presidents have stifled debate and been accused of violating free-speech promises.
“They’ve been exposed as hypocrites about free speech, as many have preached how we must punish offensive speech that makes campuses uncomfortable to ensure they remain civil and peaceful,” said Zach Greenberg, a senior program officer at the foundation. for Individual Rights and Expression, an organization that protects free-speech rights on college campuses. The group also called on higher education leaders to adopt “institutional neutrality” — that is, taking a stand on social and political issues only when they “Threatens the university’s mission and values of free inquiry”
This position would argue for college presidents to avoid pressure to comment on social and political issues that inevitably alienate various groups. About 70 institutions have adopted this position in the last few years.
“It is difficult to fight for freedom when the speech is offensive or controversial. It’s easier when the speech is gentle and gentle,” says Greenberg. “Being principled means protecting free speech even though it may be difficult or unpopular to do so.”
But crises like this year’s “are usually through dialogue and with processes that go back long before the immediate moment,” Lawrence said. “So while the immediate crisis is upon us, there are already long-standing relationships and understandings that exist within and between constituencies.”
The upcoming school year probably won’t be easy
This summer, presidents will try to pick up loose ends in student disciplinary cases and congressional and federal inquiries and investigations. By August, millions of students will be back on campus and the upcoming academic year is likely to present more challenges with the presidential election between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
“We’re living in a polarized time, so people are looking for ways to take complex issues and make them black-and-white issues, or perhaps more accurately in our time, blue-red issues. People are looking to capitalize on that,” Lawrence said.
Traditionally, fall protests have had the highest intensity, Greenberg said. “This is the biggest season for free speech and getting out there. [Students] They are back on campus, energized, motivated and they want to make their voices heard. We hope they improve it [fall] Because of the election. We are stuck in it and preparing for it,” he said.
Schools are already changing. Harvard recently announced that it would adopt a new “institutional voice” protocol to avoid making statements on political or social issues that would “side with one point of view or the other.” Report About new techniques. Under the policy, the school will not make statements about “public matters that do not directly affect the core functions of the university.” But Harvard says The position is different from “institutional neutrality”.Because “universities as institutions can never be neutral,” the report’s authors wrote.
A continuation of Loss of confidence in higher education With enrollment declining, the moment calls for action to support what stakeholders see as pillars of American democracy, leaders told Vox.
“It’s not just about putting people of color or women in college presidency but setting them up so they can succeed as leaders,” Okahana said. “How can fields and individual organizations create work environments where leaders can also thrive?”
Lawrence, a former president of Brandeis, echoed the sentiment. “It is critically important that there be a broad recognition that, flaws and all, these are institutions and leaders that require public support everywhere. The mission of the university includes the creation and discovery of knowledge and the transmission of that knowledge, an important service.
“I hope that we will be able to restore a sense that when one has a concern about the college, as an alumnus, as a student, as a faculty member, it should be looked at constructively, ‘How can I help?’
