Colleges at the Crossroads: Taking Sides on Contested Issues

Description

Focusing on crucial issues in higher education, this book challenges readers to go beyond taken-for-granted assumptions about America’s colleges and universities and instead critically examine important questions facing them in today’s troubled world. Each chapter presents divergent perspectives, that is, "pro" and "con" views, in the hope of stimulating reasoned dialogue among students, faculty, administrators, and the public at large. Readers will explore how internal factors in the academic community often interact with external social, economic, and political influences to produce conflictual results. They will see that academe is hardly value-neutral and inevitably political. This book urges them to transcend strident political persuasion and instead engage in the careful analysis needed to make colleges better. The text provides in-depth appraisal of key topics of controversy: the purposes of higher education, liberal education, academic freedom, political correctness, tenure, shared governance, faculty workload, admissions tests, student learning, Greek life, the worth of college, equity and social justice, athletics, student entitlement, technology and distance instruction, and college amenities. The book will appeal to students, faculty, staff, and all those interested in the future of higher education. It is especially useful for courses in contemporary issues in higher education, foundations of higher education, higher education and society, college student development, and the organization and administration of higher education. Cover Table of Contents List of Charts, Figures, Tables Introduction (Joseph L. DeVitis / Pietro A. Sasso) Part One: What Should Be the Purposes of Higher Education? 1. What Is College for? (Johann N. Neem) 2. Modernizing College Purposes to Save a Troubled World (Patricia A. McGuire) Part Two: Should Liberal Education Be Modified? 3. The Urgent Need for Liberal Education in Today’s Troubled World (Bruce W. Hauptli) 4. Civic Engagement and Higher Learning (Richard Guarasci) Part Three: Is Academic Freedom Still Necessary? 5. “Flipping” the Tenure Debate and the Continuing Need to Protect Academic Freedom (Neal H. Hutchens / Frank Fernandez) 6. What Is Academic Freedom for? (Ashley Thorne) Part Four: Should Tenure Be Abolished? 7. The Contingency of Tenure (David Shiner) 8. Why Tenure Needs Protection in These Troubled Times (Philo A. Hutcheson) Part Five: Is Higher Education Stifling Free Expression in an Era of Political Correctness? 9. Free Expression at Public Colleges and Universities: Why Students Should Care About It and Why Campus Officials Should Make Sure It Is Protected (Dennis E. Gregory) 10. Free Expression and Political Correctness: Contextualizing the Controversies and Finding a Way Forward (R. Scott Mattingly / J. Bennett Durham / Matthew R. Shupp) Part Six: What Has Higher Education Done About Inclusion and Social Justice? 11. Tokenizing Social Justice in Higher Education (Cristobal Salinas Jr. / Valerie A. Guerrero) 12. Creating Inclusive Classrooms as an Imperative for Historically Underrepresented Groups in Higher Education (Michael Sean Funk) Part Seven: What Should Be the Roles of Faculty? 13. It Is a Balancing Act: Faculty Workload (Isis N. Walton / Nicolle Parsons-Pollard) 14. Faculty Work Life: Beyond the Tipping Point (Sean Robinson) Part Eight: What Should Be the Roleof Faculty in SharedGovernance? 15. Faculty Governance as a Thorny Problem (Michael T. Miller / Everrett A. Smith) 16. The Erosion of Faculty Governance (Dilys Schoorman) Part Nine: How Much Are College Students Learning? 17. Limited by Design? A Critical Sociohistorical Analysis of Postsecondary Learning Outcomes (Ezekiel Kimball / Juan Manuel Ruiz-Hau / Fermin Valle) 18. Are College Students Learning More or Less Than in the Past? (Sergio Ossorio / Kimberly A. Kline) Part Ten: Can Technology and Distance Instruction Save Higher Education? 19. Instructional Technology as Revolutionary Savior of Higher Education Classrooms: An Analysis of Scope, Ethics, and Virtues (David S. Knowlton) 20. Will Technology and Distance Instruction Save Higher Education? (Paul Gordon Brown) Part Eleven: Should Standardized Tests Be Given More or Less Weight in College Admissions? 21. The Importance of Standardized Tests in College Admissions (Martin C. Yu / Nathan R. Kuncel) 22. Why Standardized Testing Is Not Essential in College Admissions (Aaron W. Hughey) Part Twelve: Is College Worth the Cost? 23. Is Higher Education Worth the Cost? (Monica Galloway Burke / Colin Cannonier / Aaron W. Hughey) 24. Is Higher Education Worth the Cost? It Depends (Lindsey M. Burke) Part Thirteen: Are Colleges Spending Too Much on Amenities? 25. The College Arms Race: How It Is Destroying Higher Education in the United States (Matthew Varga / Scott L. Lingrell) 26. The Need for College Amenities and Their Benefit to the Student and Institution’s Success (Steven Tolman / Christopher Trautman) Part Fourteen: Are Today’s College Students Too Entitled? 27. Then and Now: The Relationship Between the College and the Student (Mark Bauman) 28. Are College Students Too Entitled Today? The Role of Customer Service in Meeting Student Needs and Expectations (Denise L. Davidson / Amy A. Paciej-Woodruff) Part Fifteen: Are Fraternities and Sororities Still Relevant in Higher Education? 29. Are Fraternities and Sororities Still Relevant? (Ashley Tull / Kathy Cavins-Tull) 30. Fraternities and Sororities in the Contemporary Era Revisited: A Pendulum of Tolerance (Pietro A. Sasso) Part Sixteen: Can College Athletics and Academics Coexist? 31. Are Collegiate Athletics Necessary in Contemporary Higher Education? (Curtis M. Clock / Thalia M. Mulvihill) 32. Academics and Athletics: Struggles and Strategies in the Pursuit of (A) Grades and (A) Games (Sally Dear-Healey) Contributors