Search | The EDU Ledger

Welcome to The EDU Ledger.com! We’ve moved from Diverse.

Welcome to The EDU Ledger! We’ve moved from Diverse: Issues In Higher Education.

Section: Opinion

Can We Fix How We Judge and Pay for College?

You can get a rating on everything — from an Uber driver to a fast food place. But for a recent college graduate like me, finding out things that matter to us about where to go to school and how to pay for it is getting harder, not easier.

September 23, 2019

Huffman’s Wrist Tap Should Be Harder; Think of Crystal Mason

Many people are upset about the sentencing of Felicity Huffman, the prime time star in the Operation Varsity Blues scandal. Fourteen days? That’s it?Immediately, stories of people of color like Crystal Mason surfaced.

September 22, 2019

African-American

On Why I Can’t “Take it Slowly” with My Son

My son is 12 years old and in 7th grade. Nothing special there. He’s a quiet kid who is polite, perhaps even overly polite, if there’s such a thing. He’s also Black.

September 17, 2019

Recruitment & Retention

The Economic Impact on Higher Education

For many public and private institutions alike, enrollment is a key factor that affects operating budgets year-to-year and ultimately will influence where colleges and universities decide to invest – and simultaneously – cut spending. In the case of a recession, enrollment can either be an opportunity or a challenge for institutions.

September 16, 2019

primary_photo_-_cropped_-_cobretti_williams

African-American

Dear Academia. . .

This is year-two on tenure track. I am already behind in meeting writing goals, lesson plans for my courses, professional applications, and getting that next grant out. You reminded me earlier this week that you have very high expectations and with those expectations come yearly cycles of rejection.

September 16, 2019

African-American

My Failure to Call Out Bias

I am compelled to confess my complicity in bias. As much as I might suspect that I have been affected by prejudice in my career, even among academics who pride themselves as enlightened, I know that I have failed to act when I could have, in the face of inappropriate decision-making.

September 13, 2019

Faculty & Staff

Access as Model: How Students with Intellectual Disabilities Can Improve Higher Education

If higher education programs for people with intellectual disabilities are to work to the fullest extent, students should not be merely included. Higher education should change to mark their valued presence.

September 13, 2019

Stetler headshot1

Stepping Away from the Brink

Leadership at all levels of a college/university is critical to its effectiveness and success. While the President and his/her leadership team are in the driver seat of working with key constituents to set the strategic vision and plan for the institution and its implementation, Board of Trustees and Governors are a critical piece of the institution’s governance.

September 12, 2019

It’s Time to Hack the Gates in College Admissions Systems

Research has found that admissions officers are more likely to recommend low-income students for admission when they have access to more student background and context information for holistic review processes.

September 11, 2019

boston-university-93888_1280

Effectively Mentoring Women of Color on the College Campus: A Holistic and Intersectional Ecology (HIE) Model

Many women of color (WOC) students have been silently suffering at Predominantly White Institutions (PWI’s) across the country. A deeper examination suggests these students are doing well academically, but struggling to maintain positive wellbeing in campus environments that may feel unwelcoming and at times hostile.

September 10, 2019

I Was Raised by Black Educators. We Think Biden Disappoints

At the intersection of race and inequality, I see unique and impressive strengths in several of the candidate’s education agendas and I find myself particularly excited about Senator Kamala Harris’ more ambitious goals of raising teacher pay by an average of 13.5k and investing over 60 billion in infrastructure, scholarship and curriculum funding at HBCUs.

September 9, 2019

Diversity, Thy Name is…Canada? And R.I.P. Adversity Scores—Was it Such a Bad Idea?

The SAT folks took the easy way out on the so called “Adversity Score” proposal. After announcing the plan to come up with a simple tool to help evaluate admissions candidates, the College Board caved to criticism and dropped the idea.

September 6, 2019

Bringing HBCUs to the (Round) Table

Repeatedly in the HBCU research literature and through anecdotal accounts, we have learned that school officials, specifically counselors but also teachers, are not aware of HBCUs and fail to present these schools as options for college-bound high school students.

September 5, 2019

Asian American Pacific Islander

American Minorities and Our Foreign Cousins

Racial nationalists, who equate ethnicity with belonging, can co-exist with each other. Their acceptance may be begrudging, but they can be sympathetic to one another’s sense of who should be where. They will avoid conflict if they stay in the appropriate place and don’t claim the same territory. It is those whose race and nationality do not correspond, or who are cosmopolitan, who threaten an order deemed natural

September 3, 2019

Guilt, Fear, and Anger: The Juxtaposition of Being a Mexican Immigrant Professor

As an assistant professor at a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in Texas, I feel a moral obligation to foster a supportive and safe learning environment for all my students – especially the targeted and most vulnerable populations. I want them to know that in my classroom, they should expect to feel safe and validated regardless of what is happening in society. Yet, I have been advised by many mentors to never talk politics and to always remain neutral. But this is not about neutrality.

September 3, 2019

African-American

Blackness in the Academy: Who Owns the Truth?

Blackness, who owns it? Perhaps a better question to ponder is, can Blackness be owned? As I reflect on this complex question, I am very aware that my positionality as a Black male is always going to be an intersecting identity vector that I will never be able to erase.

August 30, 2019

072814_Fred_Bonner

Athletics is Educational, Theory Says So

Many faculty and administrators in the academy view athletics as a distraction to the mission of higher education, and athletes as second-tier students. However, the majority of college athletes not only earn their college education in their lectures and labs, but also earn it on the field, in the pool or on the court.

August 29, 2019

MollyHarryfeatured

What I Remember About Orientation as a Low-Income, First-Generation Student

You are poor. You are lucky. You are going to struggle. Among all the important, relevant information I needed about life in college, those were the three lasting impressions I got from orientation. All the exciting and fun activities do not come to mind.

August 27, 2019

Martinez_Headshot