Canary: Higher Ed Issues Landscape Report 12/09

December 9th, 2024

• What We’re Watching: BDS on campus, foreign students, diversity statements, presidential search criteria
• Provost Communications: roles and perceptions
• What We’re Reading: Rufo’s anti-DEI crusade, free speech teams, PPE degrees, and “mega-universities”

What We're Watching

BDS on Campus

Bipartisan legislation was introduced last week that would financially punish universities that participate in boycotts of Israel (BDS).

Specifically, universities could lose access to the federal financial aid system. The bill defines BDS as an action “intended to limit commercial relations with Israel or persons or entities doing business in Israel or Israeli-controlled territories.” Divesting from Israeli companies, as well as American companies involved in military sales to Israel, has become a central demand of pro-Palestinian protestors on campus.

“Enough is enough. Appeasing the antisemitic mobs on college campuses threatens the safety of Jewish students and faculty and it undermines the relationship between the U.S. and one of our strongest allies. If an institution is going to capitulate to the BDS movement, there will be consequences.” - Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, R-NC (House.gov)

"The new bipartisan . . . act will give the Department of Education a critical new tool to combat the antisemitic BDS movement on college campuses. Now more than ever, we must take the necessary steps to protect our Jewish community." - Congressman Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J (USA Today)

Foreign Students

In anticipation of how President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration proposals will affect college campuses, universities are trying to warn and inform foreign students without creating panic.

For example, Cornell has told students to expect a travel ban, while MIT has advised students to “avoid making decisions" based on social media and news reports.

“Given that a new presidential administration can enact new policies on their first day in office (January 20), and based on previous experience with travel bans that were enacted . . . the Office of Global Affairs is making this advisory out of an abundance of caution to hopefully prevent any possible travel disruption.” (UMass-Amherst)

“It’s affecting students across populations. It’s affecting staff and faculty and their families. There’s multiple pressure points. Campuses should be taking the opportunity not to panic students or individuals, but to prepare the community.” - Miriam Feldblum, Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration (Politico)

Diversity Statements

The University of Michigan has amended faculty hiring, promotion, and tenure policies to no longer require diversity statements. The move is being perceived by some as a first step in a wider dismantling of UMich’s extensive DEI programs and initiatives.

“Many of us are concerned that the regents are about to make decisions that stretch beyond their charge (financial oversight of the university) and encroach upon our educational and research missions... driven by a conflation of DEI with pro-Palestinian protest.” - Rebekah Modrak, Chair of UMich Faculty Senate (The Guardian)

From PhD to GED

Local news outlets reported last week that Florida Atlantic University has dropped a critical requirement from its presidential search criteria: a college degree.

The decision has been widely panned by academics on social media. However, some commentators pointed to prominent business people without degrees, including Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Michael Dell.

“By dropping the requirement, FAU is essentially saying that success doesn’t depend on attending college. FAU is looking for a new football coach; will it hire someone with no background in football?” (BOCA)

Provost Communications

The New York Times recently featured “provost” as its word of the day, defining it loosely as the “university’s highest academic position.” The Times went on to invite readers to use “provost” in a sentence, leaving their submissions in the comments section. Here are a selection of responses:

According to the Times’ search engine, the word “provost” appeared in 88 stories in 2024, a number that seemed low to the Chronicle of Higher Education, “considering the number of recent higher-ed stories that drew … attention in which top academic officers likely played a key role.” However, compared to recent years, 88 mentions represented a veritable bumper crop for provosts.

When provosts get news coverage

Compared to those of college presidents, athletic directors and coaches, the role of provost is little understood by the public. Indeed, if provosts are quoted in the media, it is usually for bad reasons — a sudden resignation, a budget crisis or an academic controversy.

Provosts are much more likely to be quoted in a story alongside a college president than vice versa, underlining the value of coordination between the two offices. While Provosts generate a small amount of news mentions compared to college presidents, they are often sought out by the media during controversies.

During the encampment protests, provosts stepped into a complex communication fray, tasked with outwardly explaining institutional rationale and actions to local media while working internally to maintain faculty buy-in with administrative decisions.

Internal communicator-in-chief

As a university’s chief academic officer, a provost is often seen by the campus community as “next in line to the throne.” Their internal communications are, therefore, subject to the same internal scrutiny as college presidents. Communication skills are, therefore, increasingly prominent in provost job descriptions.

“A dynamic communicator, who champions and represents TCU’s faculty and academic staff, as well as students and alumni, to internal and external audiences” (Texas Christian University)

“Strong oral and written communication skills.” (Missouri State University)

“Build community across the university by listening, engaging thoughtfully, and communicating effectively with stakeholders” (Emory Universtiy)

“Serving as key communicator of academic priorities and initiatives” (Arkansas University)

📖 What We’re Reading

The Wall Street Journal: Christopher Rufo Has Trump’s Ear and Wants to End DEI for Good

• In Trump’s second term, Rufo sees an opportunity to finally excise the ideology that has animated his campaigns. His stated goal: make America a colorblind society by eliminating rules that mandate behavior or special treatment according to race. Rufo said he has succeeded in demonizing CRT and DEI in the public’s mind. Now he wants to uproot what he sees as an administrative state that keeps the policies in place across universities, government and businesses.

The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Race to Pacify Protesters

• With pressure intensifying to both rein in protesters and protect free speech, colleges, including Towson, Princeton University, Yale University, and the University of Texas at Austin, have set up or expanded free-speech teams, in some cases hiring full-time free-speech administrators and mediators. The goal, they say, is to protect people’s right to peacefully demonstrate by making clear what kinds of actions are and aren’t permitted. Representatives serve different roles, showing up at events to hand out flyers with the latest rules, issuing warnings, and mediating or de-escalating situations when protesters and counterprotesters clash.

Bloomberg: The Oxford Curriculum That American Universities Need

• A PPE degree can be the new signal, no matter which school it comes from, that a graduate has all the skills an employer might need. If taught well, a PPE degree indicates that a person knows how to think critically, is well-read and understands how power and economics work in the modern world. This is exactly the kind of perspective that will be valuable in an increasingly AI-dominated world.

Forbes: The Mega-Universities Disrupting Higher Education

• The theory of disruptive innovation suggests that new players can enter a marketplace by offering services to overlooked consumers, eventually reshaping entire industries. In the higher education sector, this theory has profound implications as emerging institutions challenge traditional models. This has resulted in a surge in enrollment at new low-cost, flexible institutions, many of which operate on online platforms and cater to working adults. This shift is giving rise to an increasing number of “mega-universities" — massively scaled institutions that are rewriting some of the rules of higher education.

#️⃣ Trending on Social This Week

Sources:

• halica (@DISSOLVED_GIRL)
• Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy)
• unusual_whales (@unusual_whales)

Legend Labs is a brand and communications consulting firm for the digital age. We help ambitious leaders create, grow, and protect their Legends. This analysis of reputation-related trends in higher education features insights from Meltwater and direct social media & web analysis.

For more information, email us at hello@legendlabs.com.