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Alan G. Walker, president, Upper Iowa University, writes: Today's colleges and universities are stuck in a twentieth-century mindset. They're still designed to cater to students coming straight from high school who want a traditional on-campus experience. And they're trying to fund their institutions using the old tried-and-true methods like endowments, grants and donations-only those methods aren't so tried and true anymore. This failure to evolve has driven up costs, hurting students and those who view higher education as out of reach. Our system must change-and it can change.
Barry Glassner, president, Lewis & Clark College, writes: It's true that today's campus conversations about food are a world apart from when the main worry was about the "freshman 15" and the grumbling was about the lousy taste of the cafeteria gruel. But I propose we give today's conscientious young food consumers some credit. There is something admirable about considering the consequences of food - for oneself as well as the people who grow it, ship it, and prepare it.
Jay Lemons, president, Susquehanna University, writes: Lawmakers will have to address fundamentally how we invest tax dollars in higher education. The stakes are enormous for our state's economy and for millions of Pennsylvanians. Public university leaders claim that higher education will become unaffordable if the state doesn't provide sufficient support to their institutions. We in private higher education know this isn't necessarily the situation because we've survived for years without large subsidies.
H. Kim Bottomly, president, Wellesley College, writes: We need more empowered, educated, wise women involved in making the decisions that will lead us out of crisis. Leaders must be educated to grapple with the complexities of interdependence and must have the confidence to envision possibilities that others have missed, and then make them happen. Leaders must be able to galvanize disparate groups to solve problems. These are skills that begin in the classroom, and it's time for higher education to sharpen its focus on inspiring that vision, confidence and capability among women.
Kathy Krendl, president, Otterbein University, writes: Women and girls are now the majority of individuals living in poverty in every state. More than ever, women and their families are showing up at local food pantries and struggling to make ends meet. How can higher education acknowledge and advocate for change? How can higher education play a thoughtful and constructive role in improving the life circumstances of women and girls? It is our responsibility to speak. It is our responsibility to address the structural inequities that challenge and undermine women.
Karen R. Lawrence, president, Sarah Lawrence College, writes: Re "Comparison Shopping for College Tuition" (editorial, Feb. 26), as a college president, I expect that both the "net price calculator" and College Navigator Web site will help offset the penchant to focus only on the "price tag" of an education - with little or no consideration of the availability of college grant aid. Of equal importance in the college selection process is the weighing of educational value.
Brian Rosenberg, president, Macalester College, writes: In a well-documented speech, this man who would be president asserted that global-warming claims were based on "phony studies" and that climate science was in fact only "political science. When it comes to the management of the earth, they are the anti-science ones. We are the ones who stand for science, and technology." Could there be any more direct threat than this to the very foundations of education: the ability to formulate arguments based on evidence, to use language with precision, to think critically and analytically?
Helen Drinan, president, Simmons College, writes: Research shows that women account for more than half of entry-level professionals in the largest American industrial corporations, but only 14 percent are on executive committees. The reasons for this disparity are multifaceted, yet one of the strongest answers to this problem, I believe, can be found at women's colleges. As a graduate and president of a women's college, I have no doubt that they continue to play a vital role in educating and preparing women for leadership positions, helping our nation tap into an enormous segment of underutilized talent.
Raynard S. Kington, president, Grinnell College, writes: As it turns out, the two types of debt track fairly closely over the last ten years, per borrower. That is, we tend to go into roughly the same amount of debt to attend a private four-year college that we do to buy a new car. But the degree is likely to increase your lifetime earnings by anywhere from $241,000 to $1,090,000, depending on your field of study; while the car will depreciate the moment you drive it off the lot and will have an average lifespan of just over ten years.
I believe that today's educational environment calls for a different kind of leader - one who is experienced in the world of higher education yet has strong business sensibilities. While acknowledging that it is critical to understand and maintain sensitivity to the academic process and faculty issues, I believe there are certain attributes that are equally important for a college president to be successful today.
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