FIRE - The Cost of Growing College Administrations

Here's an interesting thing to consider. How much of the increase in college costs is due to the increased overseeing of "student life" on campuses? From Harvey Silverglate:

Alan Charles Kors and I ... in our book The Shadow University... noted the extraordinary increase in administrative staff on the student life side of colleges and universities. We attributed this in large measure to the vast increase in the university’s control over and interference in students’ non-academic lives, under the rubric of the university’s resurgent in loco parentis role. This development, commencing in the 1980s, coincided with the entrenchment of the notion that students in the newly diversified American university could not learn to get along without administrative micro-management, “sensitivity training,” imposition of forced “civility” with the aid of speech codes, and other such devices...

[snip]

A good part of the problem perceived by Professor Vedder could be solved, it seems to me, by restoring liberty to our campuses and relying more on the good sense and good faith of students to learn how to get along, without parent-substitutes seeking to micro-manage their every interaction. Surely it’s worth a try. Those of us who have substantial interactions with college students will, I think, agree that the average student has a healthier and more robust view of human relationships than the typical student-life administrator.

Full article. Hat tip: PowerBlog

For Barnes & Noble's information on the book referenced in the article, click on the book cover.


The Shadow University: The Betrayal Of Liberty On America's Campuses