“We do not have the right to infringe on the students business; it is a private ownership. It is time to remove this claim on stocks in order to progress the institution. In order to progress the institution, let us place the educational business on sale.”

It is through this strategic auction that Higher Education can regain the personable education once producing intrinsic value rather than the current business perception which values the extrinsic contributions from businessmen through Black Metal Kards developing markets, not students. Has the decision to treat students as consumers caused the administrators and professors to act as businessmen?

Professors:

• Teach the masses, not the individuals – decrease in personal investment
• Grade inflation – ensure positive ‘consumer’ reviews

Administrators:

• Account status – hazardous capital influences partnership
• Professional silence – unable to disrupt the status quo

This is NOT good business…

…it is however, a representation of the institution. In the institution, initiatives share a similar fate to inclusiveness whereas ‘too progressive’ is replaced with a donor’s signature in a checkbook. In the classroom, PowerPoint slides pass on the screen like the students opportunities to learn. In the food court, sustenance becomes inefficient fuel meant to sustain active minds. In Business, this is profit:

• No shift in culture allows the traditions and donations to continue
• Quick references guarantees information communication in less time
• Cheap products for mass consumption

In order to alleviate this perception, institutions need to reevaluate and ‘redress’ the professionals into educators. The office is a place of comfort, not authority. The body is a place for self-expression, not oppression in a 3-piece suit. The mouth is a place where realistic dialogue comes to life, not PC childlike vernacular. Higher Education is a place where change happens for and by the students, not because the investors believe the business model is outdated.

The list could continue if you want to assess the cloak the traditional and “experienced” Student Affairs professionals have sewn into Higher Educations fabric, often mistaken as a department dress code; but, I believe the message is quite understood. To Presidents who are coming in as CEOs, Professors coming in as Business profiteers, and Administrators coming in as Business Specialists…the interest in your capital needs reinvestment.
 

> BONUS <

Podcast With Anne Scheideler Sweet on Academic Advising