American higher education desperately needs reform and the hour is late. Declining educational quality, oppressive ideology coupled with intolerance, and rising costs amidst questions about return on investment have caused public confidence in the sector to sink. For the first time in generations, the nation’s global competitive edge in human capital is at risk.
Many—not all—institutions have failed to heed reasonable calls for reform, and now colleges and universities face an American public that is openly questioning its tacit social contract with them. And while some academic leaders are working to reform their institutions and repair the damage, too many others are simply reasserting their independence and autonomy without acknowledging the role they have played in bringing us to this crisis.
Recognizing many of the problems and seeing the long history of failure to reform from within, the current federal administration has proposed a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” But while it rightly points to many salutary remedies—some of which the targeted institutions have already been implementing—the proposal offers an arrangement that no institution could responsibly accept. Colleges and universities cannot sign a deal that would violate the constitutional rights of their members and subject their operations to opaque definitions and unpredictable procedures beyond their control.
And while there are actions the federal government could reasonably take to improve higher education, we must also be wary of overreach. The president of the University of Southern California, which declined to sign the compact, properly noted: “Other countries whose governments lack America’s commitment to freedom and democracy have shown how academic excellence can suffer when shifting external priorities tilt the research playing field away from free, meritocratic competition.”
Leviathan is a dangerous creature. Those who allow it to run rampant will regret the stimulation they gave it. Classical liberals and conservatives should be particularly sensitive to the danger of “big government:” We saw plenty of this already under Presidents Obama and Biden.
As a reminder, the infamous Dear Colleague Letter of 2011 set up kangaroo courts to punish alleged instances of sexual harassment; some victims of this governmental bullying masquerading as protection of women found vindication in the legal system. Others did not have the resources to seek this remedy. Private individuals and entities should not have to pour time and treasure into defending themselves against government overreach.
We have had abundant cause to recognize that the selective denial of tax-exempt status for grounds other than documented violations of the tax code is like biological warfare? It is easy for whoever is in power to use and likely to spread contagion that will be near-impossible to stop.
It is a particularly alarming signal that although the federal government entered into an agreement with Brown University in July, it targeted Brown with the proposed compact. Pacta sunt servanda, “Agreements must be kept,” is a watchword of civilization and is at the very heart of libertarian thought. Brown had an agreement in July: Inflicting the compact on Brown is an act of bad faith. Other institutions are likely to view any “compact” with grave skepticism: Several institutions have already declined to participate.
American political winds shift quickly and easily. Insofar as the federal government has a role in higher education reform, it should proceed methodically according to the law and seek to implement reforms for the long haul that will survive the oscillations of presidential elections.
The Trump administration has rare opportunities to implement effective accreditation reform, add free expression commitments to federal grants, and make grants that support reform and build intellectual diversity.
Beyond these possibilities, we need to call ourselves back to basic principles.
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) calls on boards of trustees of America’s colleges and universities, both public and private, to reaffirm their responsibilities as fiduciaries and to commit to the following goals to repair public trust in higher education:
As a corporate board is accountable first to its shareholders, so a nonprofit board is to its stakeholders, that is, the beneficiaries of its charitable mission. For trustees of colleges and universities that receive federal funding, that means putting the public interest foremost.
Despite their well-documented problems, America’s institutions of higher learning have indeed made enormous contributions to America and the world. But some are also guilty of malfeasance, and through intransigence and inaction, they have jeopardized their standing and now face an unprecedented crisis. Having broken the trust of the American people, they must work to regain it, first through reform, and then second by making a case for themselves to the American people. What was previously unspoken must now be articulated: that they are or can be engines of American excellence that are open to and serve all Americans.
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