A mandate to change - Editor's Note

University Business, Oct, 2003 by Kathy Grayson

SPEAKING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA RECENTLY, NEW YORK University President John Sexton delivered a lecture entitled, "The Role of Faculty in the Common Enterprise University." Before I go further, I entreat readers to review the address firsthand at www. uottawa.ca/services/markcom/news/2003/030909Sextonfulltext.rtf.

The Lecture is entirely pertinent to our own discussions [Editor's Note, August/September] about the eroding of academic mission as many IHEs (notably research institutions) become more focused on tenured and research faculty need, and Less on undergraduate student need. In Sexton's address are not just the reverberations of this issue, but something more unusual in the world of higher ed: concrete proposals for change. Here are sound bites of his postulations:

* That "... the high station enjoyed by research universities also can be a source of complacency," a disconnect manifested in overuse of part-time faculty to teach undergraduate courses, and a reduction in the senior faculty commitment to teaching. While Sexton carefully notes that professors in research universities work long hours, "nonetheLess," he adds, "there are examples of elite universities of faculty who view themselves simply as independent contractors, and there are too many factors ... that press in the direction of self-indulgent autonomy and Little sense of institutional Loyalty."

* Sexton also points to the sloppy evolution of the roles of non-tenured faculty on campus, and the problems resulting from their loosely defined importance to the university: under-appreciation, undervalue, an imposed "class" society among faculty, and a stifling (by more senior faculty) of important and essential academic contribution that would otherwise come from those ranks.

* He urges understanding of the essence of "The Common Enterprise University"--one in which a "richness at home" is fostered not just for students, but for the ultimate benefit of the scholar as well. And he underlines the "utilitarian ground for the common enterprise university" while the "gulf between public esteem for higher education and public willingness to pay for it is wide and growing wider."

Sexton Lays out an apolitical Line of attack which will no doubt meet with heady resistance within his own NYU community, and surely among research and tenured faculty nationwide. He proposes:

* One. A move to the common enterprise model, wherein faculty demonstrate "a willingness occasionally to sacrifice for the collective good." ("Occasionally" seems a Last minute backpedal of sorts.)

* Two. Every faculty member, says Sexton, "must embrace the importance of knowledge transmission ... The principal responsibility," he stresses, "lies with the tenured faculty," and "research faculty must accept that undergraduate teaching is a vital part of their vocation."

* Three. To reweigh the teaching/research balance, says Sexton, even as freshmen, students will enroll in more than one class with an actively engaged Leader in the field--and by senior year, "a majority of a student's courses ought to be taught by such professors." (All of NYU's university professors have now agreed to teach a freshman seminar, says Sexton, and will be required to, henceforth.)

* Four. Sexton attacks conventional assumptions about seniority, and proposes a complete reversal. "The generation in power must accept that one of their most crucial roles is to hear and heed the voices of the next generation of Leaders. I recognize that this strategy ... may not win ready acceptance from some who have climbed to the pinnacle." But, he insists, "the common enterprise university must resist a hierarchy that suppresses younger faculty and makes them wait their turn."

There is, of course, much more to President Sexton's address than I can outline here. Does he make important points? Some verge on the astonishing. Is he hopelessly idealistic? He is idealistic, but that doesn't render his plan any Less significant or enforceable if there is determination and--more than anything else--sound process behind it. Will he encounter daunting challenges along the way? Doubtless. Even he advises, "We should not underestimate the forces that encourage the independent contractor model," which obviously include fame and fortune, in what Sexton acknowledges as our "celebrity society." In my own opinion, it is this--the moving of our society away from things spiritually and intrinsically satisfying--which poses the greatest challenge to his vision. Next to that is the fact that the American model of career has changed: We no Longer value Length and depth of service to any institution. As a working nation, we are taught to mold individual careers, and today, the institutional relationship is not even a close second to that. But even if President Sexton can ride a new wave of awareness of these issues, "Some may be allergic to this ideal," he readily admits.

Interestingly enough, if he and his university can surmount the odds, the gold ring will not only be "a positive and even irresistibly powerful magnet" for precisely the student NYU will need in order to move into the next--highly challenging--era of higher education. It will also be a magnet for the same Level of faculty who resist Sexton's initiative, head-on, right now.