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Toward a More Perfect University
A renowned academic leader identifies the ways America's great universities should evolve in the decades ahead to maintain their global preeminence and enhance their intellectual stature and social mission as higher education confronts the twenty-first-century developments in technology, humanities, culture, and economics.
Jonathan R. Cole, former provost and current University Professor at Columbia University, addresses some of the biggest challenges facing the modern American
developing effective admission policies,
creating the most meaningful examinations,
dealing with rising costs,
making undergraduate education central to the university's mission,
exploring the role of the humanities,
facilitating new discoveries and innovation,
determining the place for professional schools,
developing the research campuses of the future,
assessing the role of sports,
designing leadership and governance,
and combating intellectual and legal threats to academic freedom.
Jonathan R. Cole, former provost and current University Professor at Columbia University, addresses some of the biggest challenges facing the modern American
developing effective admission policies,
creating the most meaningful examinations,
dealing with rising costs,
making undergraduate education central to the university's mission,
exploring the role of the humanities,
facilitating new discoveries and innovation,
determining the place for professional schools,
developing the research campuses of the future,
assessing the role of sports,
designing leadership and governance,
and combating intellectual and legal threats to academic freedom.
- GenresEducationNonfiction
432 pages, Hardcover
First published January 26, 2016
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295 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 9, 2016
Read the first ~30 pages and couldn't stomach the dry, disconnected analysis or the subtle digs towards student support services. Disappointing.
February 9, 2017
Thorough coverage of issues facing the university system, reviewing funding structure to cover-up of prolific and condoned sexual assault, to increases in a guard bureaucracy that insulates the university "village" to regulating budgets for training to stop violence. I think the cover is beautiful.
Brief points:
1. On Durkheim's notion of fundamental trust to societal functioning: Cole misses out on the necessity of what he considers "Level 3" (desirable, but not essential) values towards the fundamental sustainability of trust. One failure of the university is to not foresee the necessity, for example, of supporting an environment that includes positive facilitation of faculty members, students, staff, etc., and the exchanges of power among those of diverse backgrounds--what Cole literally refers to as "diversity in background." The reality is that there will always be at least one subset of a university population that will represent a background that is in the "minority," and will voice their need to be recognized by the university community. For example, the service staff represents a class different from the faculty within the western socioeconomic model, and students in a globalized and modern society will, naturally--even in the most remote and homogenous universities--represent some diversity in background (e.g. in family income, in religion.)
2. There are several other key features of a university that Cole deemphasized, outside of his excerpts on race, gender, and sex, that I think belong in the "Level 2" (essential) category: I would bring up transparency, development of relationships /outside/ of the university village with the surrounding community resources, and a more "vital student community" (Cole's term). These would be normative values that perhaps Cole would agree with in hindsight now that he's done with the book. Particularly, if Cole is advocating for the University to abandon in-house social services (which I disagree with, see 5 and 6,) it is irresponsible of him to advocate for this path without integrating efforts to coordinate, vet, and potentially outsource resources with the greater community (which would also lead the university to greater scrutiny and, perhaps more importantly, an exposed kind of accountability that is distracting to efficacy on all levels. I will not elaborate to keep this brief.)
3. I applaud Cole for his courage to addressing the flaws and issues of the university without rose-colored glasses. Columbia sounds like a cool place to be.
4. The section on "Balancing Teaching and Research Roles" was incredibly short, and I don't think he gave a compelling solution to the very poor salaries offered to adjunct professors and lecturers, who do a bulk of the teaching, while tenured and high profile faculty members enjoy upper class salaries +in addition+ to book and journal sales. I would be more boldly supportive of a more unilateral teaching salary tied to hours taught, and then allowing faculty members to pursue their typical additional compensation for research through sales. This is maybe a naive wish. There is a culture of bidding wars and intellectual ego associated with salary, but a review of the structure for faculty compensation should lead to one that would be more fiscally responsible, enable extra funding in the budget to hire a greater number of faculty to support greater number of students, and inspire greater intellectual collaboration and productivity due to a more egalitarian environment.
5. I think Cole's suggestion regarding Title IX is naive without considering additional suggestions for regulating discrimination on campuses, transparency, and the reality that universities prefer to handle all discriminatory issues in house to reduce "costs" to university brand. If universities were held up to the same standards as other multibillion dollar institutions like Google or Walmart are, they would be highly liable in court. It's much easier, and maybe more ethical, for example, to settle and issue an announcement per the Clery Act after the responsible and appropriate actions are taken (removing any perpetrators from campus if repeat offenders or putting them through serious restorative justice trainings, reparations for victims.) The point is that universities must be responsible, just as any other corporation should be. The Title IX regulations in reality protect both victims and the university in this regard.
It is, ultimately, the law.
6. Trust can be one-sided, and trust is easier to gain for someone in a position of privilege than someone with a background that is marginalized. Cole several times forgets to acknowledge this as he speaks of building and maintaining great universities that create knowledge--the creation of knowledge made most accessible, Cole himself says, to, for, and by (mostly white) men, first--and, in this way, disappoints. At the beginning of every chapter, Cole placed a quote. Of the book's eleven chapters, only one uses a quote by a woman. The pages in which Cole, several times over, discusses that structural changes need to be made over a bed of trust, in order to further the creation of high quality knowledge, are his weakest moments, and also his least pragmatic suggestions. They, as in the Title IX example, discuss the dismantling of regulations due to the costs of maintaining them, not making the connection that these regulations and trainings, even if imperfectly or superficially, allow victims of discrimination to trust the academic institutions that have historically, and continue to, shut them out implicitly and explicitly. Cole does recognize the history of displacing women, Latinos, Hispanics, Blacks, Jews--and, he forgets to add, queer communities, Asian Americans and First Peoples--from great universities, but he does not take this connection of epistemic representation into his background of trust.
Brief points:
1. On Durkheim's notion of fundamental trust to societal functioning: Cole misses out on the necessity of what he considers "Level 3" (desirable, but not essential) values towards the fundamental sustainability of trust. One failure of the university is to not foresee the necessity, for example, of supporting an environment that includes positive facilitation of faculty members, students, staff, etc., and the exchanges of power among those of diverse backgrounds--what Cole literally refers to as "diversity in background." The reality is that there will always be at least one subset of a university population that will represent a background that is in the "minority," and will voice their need to be recognized by the university community. For example, the service staff represents a class different from the faculty within the western socioeconomic model, and students in a globalized and modern society will, naturally--even in the most remote and homogenous universities--represent some diversity in background (e.g. in family income, in religion.)
2. There are several other key features of a university that Cole deemphasized, outside of his excerpts on race, gender, and sex, that I think belong in the "Level 2" (essential) category: I would bring up transparency, development of relationships /outside/ of the university village with the surrounding community resources, and a more "vital student community" (Cole's term). These would be normative values that perhaps Cole would agree with in hindsight now that he's done with the book. Particularly, if Cole is advocating for the University to abandon in-house social services (which I disagree with, see 5 and 6,) it is irresponsible of him to advocate for this path without integrating efforts to coordinate, vet, and potentially outsource resources with the greater community (which would also lead the university to greater scrutiny and, perhaps more importantly, an exposed kind of accountability that is distracting to efficacy on all levels. I will not elaborate to keep this brief.)
3. I applaud Cole for his courage to addressing the flaws and issues of the university without rose-colored glasses. Columbia sounds like a cool place to be.
4. The section on "Balancing Teaching and Research Roles" was incredibly short, and I don't think he gave a compelling solution to the very poor salaries offered to adjunct professors and lecturers, who do a bulk of the teaching, while tenured and high profile faculty members enjoy upper class salaries +in addition+ to book and journal sales. I would be more boldly supportive of a more unilateral teaching salary tied to hours taught, and then allowing faculty members to pursue their typical additional compensation for research through sales. This is maybe a naive wish. There is a culture of bidding wars and intellectual ego associated with salary, but a review of the structure for faculty compensation should lead to one that would be more fiscally responsible, enable extra funding in the budget to hire a greater number of faculty to support greater number of students, and inspire greater intellectual collaboration and productivity due to a more egalitarian environment.
5. I think Cole's suggestion regarding Title IX is naive without considering additional suggestions for regulating discrimination on campuses, transparency, and the reality that universities prefer to handle all discriminatory issues in house to reduce "costs" to university brand. If universities were held up to the same standards as other multibillion dollar institutions like Google or Walmart are, they would be highly liable in court. It's much easier, and maybe more ethical, for example, to settle and issue an announcement per the Clery Act after the responsible and appropriate actions are taken (removing any perpetrators from campus if repeat offenders or putting them through serious restorative justice trainings, reparations for victims.) The point is that universities must be responsible, just as any other corporation should be. The Title IX regulations in reality protect both victims and the university in this regard.
It is, ultimately, the law.
6. Trust can be one-sided, and trust is easier to gain for someone in a position of privilege than someone with a background that is marginalized. Cole several times forgets to acknowledge this as he speaks of building and maintaining great universities that create knowledge--the creation of knowledge made most accessible, Cole himself says, to, for, and by (mostly white) men, first--and, in this way, disappoints. At the beginning of every chapter, Cole placed a quote. Of the book's eleven chapters, only one uses a quote by a woman. The pages in which Cole, several times over, discusses that structural changes need to be made over a bed of trust, in order to further the creation of high quality knowledge, are his weakest moments, and also his least pragmatic suggestions. They, as in the Title IX example, discuss the dismantling of regulations due to the costs of maintaining them, not making the connection that these regulations and trainings, even if imperfectly or superficially, allow victims of discrimination to trust the academic institutions that have historically, and continue to, shut them out implicitly and explicitly. Cole does recognize the history of displacing women, Latinos, Hispanics, Blacks, Jews--and, he forgets to add, queer communities, Asian Americans and First Peoples--from great universities, but he does not take this connection of epistemic representation into his background of trust.
February 2, 2023
Thanks to Jonathan for this comprehensive and elaborative book that demonstrates his knowledge about the university governance system. It also outlines his eloquent vision about how universities should evolve
August 28, 2017
Informative about the state of higher education in the United States. Cole gave some insightful and well-thought out suggestions. PH HEIs might learn a thing or two from this book.
January 31, 2016
Coming from a New York City public school and entering as a Freshman at Columbia COLLEGE, he was in awe of his new environment. His older brother was entering his junior year there and his mother had studied there. This book is also about the people who work at Universities today and see what needs to be done. Strategies toward a more perfect University. A must read for Students as well as Parents!!!! THANK YOU GOODREADS FIRSTREADS FOR THIS FREE BOOK!!!!
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January 17, 2017378.73 C6895t 2016
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews