Blogging again… from AAC&U

I’m resurrecting the Dean’s Bookshelf and blogging from the 2019 AAC&U in Atlanta. The opening plenary panel was focused on “Code Switching: Making the Case for Liberal Education Amidst Critics, Skeptics, and Trolls.” Some highlights:

Brandon Busteed, President of Kaplan University Partners and formerly of Gallup, argued that we have a branding problem. We should stop using the term “liberal arts,” which prospective students don’t understand (“I’m not liberal or artistic”) and start unpacking what the liberal arts do: “broadly prepare students for success,” help solve “unscripted problems,” etc…. A summary of an argument can be founded here: https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/216275/higher-education-drop-term-liberal-arts.aspx . He also stressed something that I have been hammering home: the importance of critical importance of internships for all students, especially those in the liberal arts: https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/222497/why-colleges-internships-requirement.aspx . We should be selling a “’universal education’ coupled with practical experience.”

Gail Mellow, the president of CUNY’s LaGuardia Community College talked about her diverse student body that yearns for the American Dream but does not have a rich understanding of what that could be. If she had a magic wand, she would require every faculty members go out into the community to tell stories of student transformation through higher education.

Eboo Patel, Founder and President, Interfaith Youth Core (sic), invoked Alisdair MacIntyre’s notion that the colleges “initiate students into conflict.” Only the liberal arts can prepare students for living in a religiously, culturally, and politically diverse America.

In sum: drop the jargon, embrace the role of liberal education in a pluralistic democracy, connect with students, communities, and their needs, and above all keep telling our story whenever and wherever we can.

One thought on “Blogging again… from AAC&U

  1. Another excellent point made by the panelists was focused upon the relevance of diversity… The value of equity should be appreciated and pursued inside and outside of the classroom, at work and in our communities. We could all stand to be more aware of each other.

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