Sian Leah Beilock, the president of Dartmouth College, has just performed a remarkable public service. I am out of practice praising college presidents, few of whom do much more than wend a path among their numerous adversaries, the obstacles that confront their institutions, and the obstreperous demands of faculty, students, alumni, trustees, legislators, and radicalized interest groups. It is a hard job to helm a university, and turnover is high.
Very few do what President Beilock did. But I recommend that others try.
If you have not yet caught up with this story, here is what Beilock did: She published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, frankly acknowledging the drastic decline in public confidence in American higher education. She allowed that the loss of confidence is warranted.
As a reader of the Chronicle of Higher Education and other megaphones of the liberal establishment, I know that college presidents know Beilock is right, but they also know that it is an unspeakable truth. The best they can do is declare that the loss of confidence is temporary and that when people come to their senses, they will realize that their colleges and universities fully deserve the respect that students, parents, and taxpayers used to have for the nation’s thinkeries.
But the American public is more skeptical than ever before in our nation’s history that college is “worth it” and that judgment will only grow more intense in the years ahead—unless Beilock’s sage advice is heeded.
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