scholarly journals Tolerable Suboptimization: Racial Consequences of Defunding Public Universities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura T. Hamilton ◽  
Kelly Nielsen ◽  
Veronica Lerma
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Underrepresented Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Higher Education ◽  
Student Body ◽  
Student Activists ◽  
University Services

The defunding of public higher education has dramatically impacted public universities in the United States, and schools with racially marginalized student bodies are most likely to feel the crunch. Yet, scholars have directed little attention to the on-the-ground racial consequences of limited public postsecondary funding for students. In this article we ask: How is the defunding of public higher education reflected in the organizational practices of a university serving historically underrepresented students? And how do resource constraints affect racially (and often economically) marginalized students’ access to core university services? We draw on a year-long case study of a University of California campus serving a majority Latinx and low-income student body, including ethnographic observations and interviews with administrators, student-facing staff, student activists and organizers, and Black and Latinx students. Our findings identify defunding as a contemporary mechanism through which racial disparities in postsecondary educational experiences are maintained.

The Political Economy of Public Universities in the United States: A Review Essay

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Lowry
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Public Services ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Public Higher Education ◽  
The Public ◽  
Trade Offs

Scholars of state politics and policy have devoted little attention to the public universities where so many of them work. Public higher education is organized at the state level, and its funding and governance have been debated at length in many states in recent years. Moreover, these universities provide opportunities for contributions to a variety of theoretically-grounded research, including the decision to make or buy public services, principal-agent issues and institutional arrangements for governance, the politics of institutional reform, the determinants of government appropriations and budgetary trade-offs, and internal decisionmaking in state-owned enterprises, public bureaucracies, and nonprofit organizations. Research on these issues could not only generate insights relevant to many types of institutions and public services but also contribute to ongoing policy debates over relations between state governments and higher education.

scholarly journals Impact of the Financial Crisis on Higher Education in the United States

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Geiger
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Low Income ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Higher Education ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
Enrollment Patterns ◽  
Education Enrollment ◽  
The Face ◽  
Selective Institutions

In the face of the economic crisis of 2008 – 2009, colleges and universities had to adjust to revenue shortfalls. The decline in endowments influenced especially the wealthiest institutions, which are often leading institutions. States also reduced their funding for public higher education. Enrollment patterns have opted to public, regional, and 2 year institutions. Long-term consequences are the decline of access among low-income students at selective institutions because of tuition increase while less selective institutions might compromise the quality.

Higher Education Policy: Implications for Gender-Balancing the Curriculum

1983 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 12-13
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Mulkeen
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Public Higher Education ◽  
Agriculture Industry ◽  
Scientific Principles ◽  
Industry And Commerce ◽  
New Institutions

American higher education has been molded by forces outside the educational community. From the Civil War through the mid-1970's our political leadership considered investment in education good for the economy and, therefore, good public policy. This link between schooling and the economic system developed as the United States moved from an agrarian to an industrial economy. Industrialization demanded skills that neither the family nor the church could provide, and tax-supported public higher education was to assist the transformation to an industrial society. The catalyst for this transformation came in 1862 with the passage of the Morrill Act establishing the land grant colleges. These new institutions emphasized the development of technical skills and the application of scientific principles to agriculture, industry and commerce.

scholarly journals Integrated and Comprehensive Student Support Programs Aimed at Historically Underserved Students: Creating a Unified Community of Support

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-84
Author(s):  
Adrianna Kezar ◽  
Elizabeth Holcombe
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Underrepresented Students ◽  
Student Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Support Programs ◽  
Campus Community ◽  
Underserved Students ◽  
Integrated Programs ◽  
Community Of Support ◽  
Integrated Program

AbstractWhile numerous support programs have evolved to support underrepresented students in higher education, these programs are often disconnected from the curriculum and only target one area of student need. Emerging research indicates that integrated programs which combine multiple curricular and co-curricular supports may be a more effective way to support historically underserved students. In this article, we report on one such integrated program in the United States,CSU STEMCollaboratives. We describe how integrated programs benefit students as well as the broader campus community by creating a unified community of support that fosters collaboration and connection.

Other Challenges

2018 ◽  
pp. 328-370
Author(s):  
Steven Brint
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Education System ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Underrepresented Groups ◽  
The U.S

This chapter discusses other major challenges to the U.S. higher education system: rising costs, online competition, and controversies over permissible speech. These challenges can be interpreted as problems of growth in the context of resource constraints. Cost problems were largely attributable to universities' requirements for sufficient revenues to support larger staffs and new responsibilities within the context of state disinvestment. Online competition was a result of the search for market alternatives to traditional, high-cost residential campuses within the context of an expanding system that included many low-income students. And the conflicts over speech were, in most cases, the by-product of tensions between students from comparatively privileged backgrounds and those from underrepresented groups.

At Berkeley

2018 ◽  
pp. 192-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Mark Cohen ◽  
Leigh Raiford
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Fund Raising ◽  
University Of California ◽  
Documentary Photography ◽  
Public Higher Education ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Student Activists ◽  
The University

In “At Berkeley: Documenting the University in an Age of Austerity,” Michael Mark Cohen and Leigh Raiford address documentary’s evolving capacity for political mobilization by focusing on the role of documentary photography and film in the struggle around austerity at the University of California, Berkeley. While the university administration used documentary’s graphic appeal to enlist alumni in a fund-raising campaign that effectively naturalized the privatization of public higher education, students took up documentary forms to challenge the logic of neoliberalism. Working with Cohen and Raiford, who teach at UC Berkeley, student activists produced their own counterdocuments, repurposing documentary images that the university uses to sell education in an era of skyrocketing tuition fees, and rendering themselves as active participants in the struggle to reshape the university and the broader society.

The Changing Mission and Nature of Partnerships in Public Universities

2013 ◽  
pp. 726-741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Robin Russo ◽  
Kristin Brittain
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Public Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public University ◽  
Public Higher Education ◽  
The Public ◽  
Academic Mission ◽  
New Business ◽  
K 12 ◽  
The University

Reasons for public education are many; however, to crystalize and synthesize this, quite simply, public education is for the public good. The goal, or mission, of public education is to offer truth and enlightenment for students, including adult learners. Public education in the United States has undergone many changes over the course of the last 200 years, and now public education is under scrutiny and is facing a continual lack of funding from the states. It is due to these issues that public higher education is encouraging participatory corporate partnerships, or neo-partnerships, that will fund the university, but may expect a return on investment for private shareholders, or an expectation that curriculum will be contrived and controlled by the neo-partnerships. A theoretical framework of an academic mission and a business mission is explained, the impact of privatization within the K-12 model on public higher education, the comparison of traditional and neo-partnerships, the shift in public higher education towards privatization, a discussion of university boards, and the business model as the new frame for a public university. A public university will inevitably have to choose between a traditional academic mission that has served the nation for quite some time and the new business mission, which may have negative implications for students, academic freedom, tenure, and faculty-developed curriculum.

Whose pedagogy is it anyway? Decolonizing the syllabus through a critical embrace of difference

2020 ◽  
pp. 016344372098092
Author(s):  
Sulafa Zidani
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
White Male ◽  
The United States ◽  
Participatory Culture ◽  
Education Student ◽  
Student Body ◽  
Media Communication ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Communication Culture

The higher-education student body in the United States is increasingly diverse. Diversity and transnationalism are present in the classroom through the increased numbers of students and instructors who are international and/or non-White-identifying. However, syllabi in media, communication, and cultural studies remain centered around an orthodox body of literature that has come to be conceived of as the canon, consisting of scholars who are mostly white, male, and U.S.-American or European. This essay brings communication, culture, and media studies theories into conversation with critical pedagogy to suggest changes in the organization of syllabi and class activities. Namely, I use participatory culture, critical and decolonial pedagogical theories, and Black and transnational feminist pedagogy, to suggest a critical embrace of different as an approach for designing syllabi that center the students rather than the Western-rooted tradition. This paper is part of the critical body of knowledge that pushes for a decolonizing and transnationalizing intervention in higher education.

Affirmative action quotas in Brazilian higher education

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyusyena Kirakosyan
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Affirmative Action ◽  
Low Income ◽  
White Students ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Socioeconomic Inequality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Disadvantaged Populations ◽  
Brazilian Case

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to address its drastic socioeconomic inequality and to compel its higher education institutions to diversify significantly while democratizing access to those schools. Brazil recently passed a sweeping affirmative action law requiring its public universities to reserve half of their available spots for low-income and non-White students. This article examines the underlying assumptions and implications of Brazil’s adoption of affirmative-action quotas for higher education. Design/methodology/approach – The article offers comparative analysis of Brazil’s efforts with the experiences with quota and diversity policies in higher education in other countries. Findings – It can be contended that, while the recent quota law in Brazil represents an important step in addressing socioeconomic and political inequalities, the measure is too limited in scope to empower historically disadvantaged populations and diminish future inequalities confronting these populations. This article concludes by underscoring the importance of efforts to develop a more comprehensive framing of affirmative action and diversity policies in Brazil’s higher education, along with a simultaneous reform of public secondary education in the nation. Originality/value – The article considers experiences with educational quotas in other countries and draws some useful comparisons and parallels to the Brazilian case.

scholarly journals Shrinking Budgets, Growing Demands: Neoliberalism and Academic Identity Tension at Regional Public Universities

AERA Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 233285841875773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daryl Dugas ◽  
Kelly H. Summers ◽  
Lindsay N. Harris ◽  
Amy E. Stich
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Academic Identity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Faculty Work ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Teacher Researcher ◽  
Combined Impact

Faculty ( N = 156) at regional public universities (RPUs) in the United States were surveyed for self-reports of their primary academic identity (teacher, researcher) along with alignment of that identity with perceived departmental expectations and how their time is spent. Well-being and job satisfaction were examined as outcome measures of identity and alignment. The results are examined in the context of international concerns about neoliberalism in higher education, particularly with respect to academic identity. Participants were employed by RPUs in Illinois, a state with severe budget challenges, to assess the combined impact of neoliberalism and financial pressures on academic identity at traditionally teaching-focused institutions. Results of MANCOVA and MANOVA analyses suggested that participants who identify as teachers had greater overall well-being and job satisfaction than those who identified as researchers. Greater satisfaction was associated with alignment between identity and how time is spent. Implications and challenges to faculty work and strains on academic identity at RPUs are discussed.

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