The Hardest Job on Campus
Universities are non-profit organizations
Three decades ago, my family spent two years in Atlanta, Georgia. My wife and I brought our one-and-a half year old son to America. Our choice was somewhat inevitable because the bubble economy burst in Tokyo. Almost no one stay in the investment bank. The next journey started in big city of Atlanta, the southeastern part of the United States.
At that time, the tuition of Georgia Tech Business School was moderate, charging $2,000 for the out-of-state residents. For two years, my family live in a very nice apartment complex, Post Park, in the north-east of Atlanta. The monthly rent was affordable at $750. My wife was very pleased with it because it included the usage of water. In Tokyo, my family spends $100 or more per month.
On February 21st, 2024, a British weekly magazine published a news story of the school management in America. The Economist illustrated the hard situation of top job becoming incredibly hard for some top universities. The tile of the story is, “Is running a top university America’s hardest job?” As of today, the tuition of top school has inflated so high that it is unbearable for many Americans. Even for me, it is outragious.
But the story is not entirely the cost of education. It is more on the hardest job in college campuses. Here is the summary with a clip of video.
In this short story, I like to make an argument on four areas of disputes. These are length of tenure, purpose of higher education, free speech and diversity, and search for president.
For a start, the Economist article mentions that six of top universities will have vacant positions for a president. The average tenure is currently six years. Is it possible to run the university for a long time like ten years?
Here is my answer to this quesion. Yes, it is possible to run for a long time. It is also true that president of a university should stay for a long time and run a school like a non-profit organization. Currently top universities in America operate like a business institution. The top job became very complex to balance the interests of different parties such as the board of trustees, faculty, students, donors, and the administrative staff. Yet, universities are adacemic institutions, not business. President should run it in a stable way.
The second question is related to the purpose of the insititution. Which is more important for a university, knowlege-seeking or profit-seeking? It is obvious to me that academic instituions should seek knowledge and education. Therefore, faculty and students spend a lot of time on research of the subject such as science and technology.
Here comes the controversial topic of free speech and diversity. This is the third thing to ask. The newspaper suggests that the school should limits the ability of a college president to make political statements, or reinforce the obligation to free speech and merit. Do I agree or disagree with this?
Yes, I agree with the role of school to put the limitation to president. The board of trustees selected president or chancellor of the universities. So they should carry a responsibility to the power of presidents.
The fourth question is regardin the search of president. The search is on. Should the academia look for the candidate outside the universities? Can a new president be a former corporate executive, a lawyer, a politician, a writer, or an artist?
My answer is no, they should not look for a prospect outside the universiteis. The prospect should have obtained a good record from academic institutions with Ph.D. They should run the universities like universities. They are not profit-seeking business.
In thirty years, the U.S. academic institutions went through massive transformations. But academia should stay the original course to provide the education to students as non-business customers and employ faculty as not-for-profit workers.
Do I want to bring my family to U.S. graduate school now? It is a very tough question. Given the facts such as IT bubble burst in 2001, Lehman shock in 2008 and subsequent hardships in my work experiences, the answer is looking for “No”. But the joy of learning with group work with my eager minds of my classmates is irresitible. Cost-benefit analysis has never been applicable for decisions to go to.
But I admit that the job of running the school is not easy.