On Wolves and Shattered Shields
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CounterCurrent: Week of 6/14
On Wolves and Shattered Shields
CounterCurrent is the National Association of Scholars’ weekly newsletter, bringing you the biggest issues in academia and our responses to them.
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Category: Higher Ed. Finance; Reading Time: ~2 minutes
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** Featured Article - Defending Against the Jacobins by Peter Wood ([link removed][UNIQID])
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The National Association of Scholars released Critical Care ([link removed][UNIQID]) on April 18, a report detailing our recommendations for the federal response to the present financial crisis faced by higher education. Many American colleges and universities will need additional bailout funds in order to survive the COVID-19 pandemic. But what conditions, if any, should be attached to this aid?
NAS believes that further federal support should only go to schools that prioritize institutional reform, including cutting administrative bloat, putting students first, pursuing intellectual freedom and diversity, and protecting the American national interest. For far too long, colleges and universities have guzzled from the well of taxpayer money while simultaneously hurtling towards a cliff of financial insolvency and supplanting traditional education with activist training. To use a tired yet fitting phrase: enough is enough.
Critical Care has received praise ([link removed][UNIQID]) from some and criticism from others, who argue that its recommendations are wishful thinking in light of the realities of higher education leadership. If college presidents were racing toward the cliff before, why would they stop now? Many have already announced plans for even more social justice programs in response to the killing of George Floyd. One anonymous professor working in the southern Appalachian mountains says ([link removed][UNIQID]) “It seems that a day has indeed come when the courage of men failed, and we have forsaken our friends and broke all bonds of fellowship. You know what comes next? ‘An hour of wolves and shattered shields…’ It is here,” a quote from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Return of the King.
These concerns are legitimate. Most college presidents have shown themselves to be inept leaders, hell-bent on conforming to progressive orthodoxy at the expense of their institutions and students. But will their boards of trustees be as willing to follow them off the cliff? Will they allow academic departments to be cut in order to preserve offices of diversity and multicultural affairs? Or will they take a stand for educational reform, both for the sake of their colleges’ survival and for the betterment of their students?
In this week’s featured article ([link removed][UNIQID]) , NAS President Peter Wood gives his forecast for the immediate future of higher education. He writes:
Trading in whole academic departments and cashiering full-time faculty in order to save the sinking boat, while doubling down on diversity programs, has little chance of working. Our college presidents and other administrators will want to do this. Some will want desperately to do this, in order to be "the right side of history." But they also have a strong desire to save their own skins. Running the college into the ground is not a good career path.
If college presidents won’t right the ship, we hope that those to whom they are accountable will. These decisions are not a matter of leadership preference or philosophy. They will determine the long-term health or sickness of higher education, and now, for many schools, short-term survival or death. Yes, the wolves are coming, but can they be defanged?
Until next week.
John David
Communications Associate
National Association of Scholars
Read More ([link removed][UNIQID])
For more on COVID-19 and higher ed. finance:
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April 18, 2020
** Critical Care ([link removed][UNIQID])
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NAS
American higher education will undergo an unprecedented financial crisis in the coming months. Critical Care is a plan to guide the federal response to these unprecedented disruptions facing higher education in the midst of the pandemic.
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June 11, 2020
** The Crisis Cure for Higher Education ([link removed][UNIQID])
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NAS
On June 10, the National Association of Scholars hosted, "The Crisis Cure for Higher Education." The discussion focused on the potential for reform during the pandemic and ensuing economic crisis.
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June 2, 2020
** The Mandatory Banality of University Presidents ([link removed][UNIQID])
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Peter Wood
College presidents have rushed to issue statements on the George Floyd case for fear of being deemed racist—after all, we’re assured that “to be silent is to be complicit.”
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May 01, 2020
** Open Letter: Urge the President to Rescue American Higher Ed Through Reform ([link removed][UNIQID])
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NAS
The President must lead Congress to pass a bailout linked to regulatory reform that will make our colleges and universities the greatest in the world.
** About the NAS
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The National Association of Scholars, founded in 1987, emboldens reasoned scholarship and propels civil debate. We’re the leading organization of scholars and citizens committed to higher education as the catalyst of American freedom.
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