There is considerable angst being expressed about the impact that the new administration will have on higher education.  There is worry that the sector is being targeted in the executive orders that are flowing from Washington, as well as by state governments.  In this episode I’ll try to sort out some of the rhetoric from reality.  I’ll look at the evolving relationship of government to higher education and how higher ed might fare going forward.  And why none of it should come as a surprise.

EdUp Insights with Bill Pepicello is part of the EdUp Experience Podcast network

Authority in higher education is a dicey issue. It has traditionally been assumed that faculty own the curriculum, protected by the principles of academic freedom that allow them the license to pursue controversial topics in teaching and research. This stands apart from the First Amendment right of free speech enjoyed by all American citizens. Recent actions by state boards of trustees and legislatures, most notably in Florida, have impacted the content and structure of general education curricula. Faculty have characterized this as an infringement of academic freedom. In this episode I’ll examine how ownership of the curriculum has become a political hotbed that blurs the line between academic freedom and freedom of speech.

EdUp Insights with Bill Pepicello is part of the EdUp Experience Podcast network.

There is considerable disagreement these days over what constitutes general education and who determines what the curriculum should be.  One point of view characterizes the core of general education as a body of content that provides students with a common, unifying body of knowledge that all educated Americans can build upon.  Another view sees the core as including a survey of culturally relevant current topics that provide students with an understanding of contemporary issues. Central to managing the tension between these positions is the question of who makes the decision about what constitutes the core and whether the two points of view can be accommodated in a single curriculum. In this episode I’ll look at this struggle and how forces both internal and external to higher education are dealing with the academics and politics of the situation.

EdUp Insights with Bill Pepicello is part of the EdUp Experience Podcast network.

Recently, the higher education sector has been attempting to redefine its role in both the education ecosystem and society. This episode looks at how the function, but not the form, of higher education has evolved from serving an agrarian society to today’s knowledge-based economy. Specifically, I’ll maintain that the struggles of higher education to re-establish a self-identity come from higher ed remaining monolithic as society has become diversified and specialized. The democratization of education has occurred as higher education watched.  Now it needs to engage and compete.

EdUp Insights with Bill Pepicello is part of the EdUp Experience Podcast network.

The ongoing debate about how students figure into the higher education business model has a new entry.  They should be treated as “clients.” In this episode I’ll contrast this view with the traditional view of students as empty vessels to be filled and the student-as-customer view. In all cases, I’ll reveal that the models are not really about serving students; they are about faculty, institutions, and control. In the end, higher ed needs to more clearly understand the roles involved in the education process, and what the process is.

EdUp Insights with Bill Pepicello is part of the EdUp Experience Podcast network.

Higher education is facing a perilous metaphor.  It is approaching a demographic cliff, a precipitous decline in student population that could have devastating consequences for the higher ed ecosystem. Recent studies chide higher education for not responding to a change that has been projected for some time, and that apparently comes as a shock to many institutions. In this episode I’ll explain how simple math could have mitigated the effects of this phenomenon and ask what higher ed has done, or not done, to avoid what is coming. 

EdUp Insights with Bill Pepicello is part of the EdUp Experience Podcast network.

Noam Chomsky once said, “Nobody is going to pour truth into your brain. It's something you have to find out for yourself.” As I reflect on some of the turmoil in higher education—and society in general—it occurs to me that Chomsky’s counsel is falling on deaf ears.  Increasingly, the public is relying on the media as a proxy for direct access to information and the truth. This has resulted in the epidemic of misinformation and disinformation that is infecting and influencing the higher education ecosystem.  In this episode I’ll assess the necessity of maintaining skepticism and critical thinking as we consume information filtered through the media and poured into our brains.

EdUp Insights with Bill Pepicello is part of the EdUp Experience Podcast Network

A recent study by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association outlines trends in the relative contributions made by states, the federal government, and students to the cost of higher education. The study also makes several policy recommendations that might ease the burden on students. That sounds promising, except that the recommendations all involve increasing state and federal allocations. Since funds for these allocations come from tax dollars, the real recommendations involve robbing Peter to pay Paul. In this episode I’ll take a look at the smoke and mirrors involved in determining the allocation of costs. I’ll then go way off the rails and suggest how a rational budget process for the higher education sector could enable it to become sustainable and integrated into the fabric of the American economy.

EdUp Insights with Bill Pepicello is part of the EdUp Experience Podcast Network.

There is considerable speculation about what a new administration in Washington will mean for higher education in America, and in particular for the Department of Education. It is likely that issues like DEI, rising costs, campus unrest, and federal policy missteps could lead to increased scrutiny of the education sector and possible policy changes.  But would this be a bad thing? In this episode I’ll assess the chances of a second Trump administration making substantial changes to a department that has weathered persistent attacks since its creation some 45 years ago.

EdUp Insights with Bill Pepicello is part of the EdUp Experience Podcast Network.

There’s a lot of conflict in higher ed these days. Students battle with institutions. Faculty battle with students. Everybody battles with state and federal government. But there is relatively little compromise or resolution. And that is because the fine art of negotiation has been abandoned. Combatants in higher education, as well as in broader society, have rejected compromise in favor of chaotic, winner-take-all skirmishes that lose sight of the end game, in case there is one. Without an effort to achieve collaborative negotiation on the part of all parties, the war cannot be won because there is no war, just disjointed battles. Tune in and I’ll explain.

EdUp Insights with Bill Pepicello is part of the EdUp Experience Podcast Network.