There is growing concern that students do not come to higher education prepared to engage in constructive, civil discourse, nor is this proficiency sufficiently fostered in the higher education community. Politics and social issues have become personal matters in America, and higher education has allowed itself to be unduly influenced by polarizing external factors. The result is that bias is impeding the pursuit of knowledge.  In this episode I’ll ponder whether higher education is relinquishing its role as an impartial arbiter and how it can regain that prominence.

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

In an effort to recover from the blowback of having taken public positions on political and social issues, institutions of higher education are seeking refuge in the shelter of institutional neutrality.  By wading into the contentious fray of current events, institutions have learned the difference between being an impartial facilitator dedicated to fostering open discourse and an active advocate of specific political, social and moral issues.  Many have found the latter posture to be both uncomfortable and injurious. In this episode I’ll examine how institutional neutrality is faring and what the future may hold.

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

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.