Why it’s More Important Than Ever for Colleges to Prove Their Timeless Value
With a plethora of global socioeconomic issues, wars, conflicts and overall uncertainty, there may have never been a more challenging time to lead a college or university in the U.S.
The level of civic activism across college campuses over the past year has reached levels we haven’t seen since the Vietnam War, which has led to a reckoning on how these institutions protect the right to free speech engraved in the U.S. Constitution, while ensuring the safety of students, staff and faculty.
But it’s not just protests that are keeping college heads awake at night. According to recent data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, freshman enrollment is down 5% from fall 2023 to fall 2024, and this dip is even more pronounced with those coming straight out of high school. A concern that may be driving this trend is the cost of college tuition, which according to the Education Data Initiative, has more than doubled in the 21st century.
With the college-age population expected to shrink over the next decade – and many young adults opting for vocational alternatives– college administrators are scrambling to find ways to illustrate that their institutions offer the highest level of safety, tolerance and long-term value.
In our most recent Peppercomm Fireside Chat webinar we heard from experts in civic engagement and crisis communications in academia, including Michael Lee of the College of Charleston and Hilary Fussell Sisco, Ph.D., APR, professor of Public Relations at Quinnipiac University. The discussion emphasized how colleges and universities can protect their reputation, while ensuring safety and the right to free speech in their campus communities. Here is a snapshot of the insights.
Define your values and make them known to the world
To ensure that college campuses maintain their position as a place for free and open debate and dialogue, many universities across the U.S. have committed to institutional neutrality. At its core, this concept reinforces the fact that the university as a whole does not take a position on societal issues, instead encouraging students and faculty to share diverse perspectives and viewpoints with each other.
But where is the line between free speech and hate speech? How much guidance should a university give on what will and will not be tolerated? Our panel noted that it’s not an institution’s job to control what is being said in campus forums, because that would limit the free expression of views. For this reason, many colleges and universities are adopting the Chicago Principles, which reinforce the commitment to allow for a range of ideas, even if some may look at them as wrong or offensive. If that’s something your institution is doing, you should make this publicly and widely known across all channels.
What college and university leadership and faculty can and should do is help better equip students on the tenets of productive dialogue. Helping students see that they can discuss different viewpoints and perspectives in a respectful and productive manner, even when it’s uncomfortable, can lead to greater understanding and the opportunity to find common ground. Building this type of emotional resilience is critical to creating tomorrow’s leaders.
Meet your stakeholders where they are
In the aftermath of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, it’s critical to keep reinforcing messages of tolerance and acceptance. There will be activism, concerns and questions across stakeholder groups and institutions need to remind everyone about its policies regarding both safety and accepting different viewpoints.
The first place to do this is in the classroom. In the academic tradition of healthy conflict faculty members can organize panels, debates and speeches involving students, both within and outside the classroom and model constructive dialogue that builds relationships. The ideal is when these efforts are integrated into the curriculum itself, and not just a singular class or speaker series.
In addition, college administrators can consider holding periodic town halls as a venue to better understand and discuss what’s happening in the world. However, they should also take a temperature check across different platforms where their audiences are already having these discussions. Social media can be divisive and volatile but also highly informative about campus sentiment. One commonly overlooked place is parent Facebook groups – which often provide early warning signs of how students feel about their voices being heard.
While institutions should have leaders addressing these stakeholder groups, they should also find ways to create inroads to secure ambassadors, such as resident advisors, parents, tour guides and student government association members, that can help disseminate the school’s position on certain topics. Once these liaisons are identified, the school needs to provide them with training and talking points centered on managing conflict and de-escalation.
Tell your story and showcase your value
Many upcoming high school graduates are wondering if higher education is still the best path towards a career and right for them, especially given the number of schools that have topped the $90,000/year mark. As a result, universities need to do a much better job of storytelling and showcasing their value for the next generation and the overall future of our society.
A key point to lean into is that so much in our society is unpredictable and temporary. But a college education is timeless. This is the place to be challenged, to prepare for the unpredictability and difficulties that invariably lie ahead. It’s where students can engage in sustained debate and gain more knowledge on the subject as a result. They’ll have greater self-efficacy and willingness to express themselves in public, even in contentious environments. It develops greater curiosity and cultivates a keener perspective of the world through other people’s eyes, knowing that issues that seem dichotomous are actually quite gray.
Universities are at their best when they engage in the pedagogical learning and teaching strategies that reinforce stress testing encounters, putting students in difficult positions in terms of research and writing, and then seeing how they do in those challenging environments.
It’s a hard road ahead for institutions of higher learning. Those that focus on consistent and transparent communication, while building mental and emotional resilience for their students to accept different ideas, will be best equipped to demonstrate their value not just for today, but for the entirety of a student’s life.
