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Expanding Access and Creating Opportunity

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Last week gave me plenty to think about in regard to creating more opportunities for students to pursue a liberal education at the college level. On Tuesday night, I met with the extraordinary group of veterans who will be starting out at Wesleyan in the class of 2018. While they come from a wide variety of backgrounds, their experience in the military has had a powerful impact on all of them as they prepare for the next stage in their education.

The next day I headed to Washington for a gathering of college and university presidents concerned with creating greater access to higher education for students from low-income families. But access isn’t enough. We also discussed how to improve preparation for college work in the K-12 sector, and also how to ensure that those students we do admit will be successful as undergraduates. Michelle Obama told us that education as opportunity was the story of her life, and she movingly described her own path from working class Chicago to Princeton. She also made the important point, echoed by many others, that low-income students had many assets when compared to those who grew up with privilege. These students had already learned from their struggles; they already had overcome obstacles in ways that prepare them for leadership. We needn’t feel sorry for these students, the First Lady emphasized, we just need to understand how to leverage the strengths they were already bringing to the table.

President Obama made the point that economic recovery without social mobility would undermine our society, and that education was a key to social mobility. Only 9% of students from the bottom economic quintile attend college, but 90% of this group that completes college won’t remain at the bottom of the economic ladder. We can do a lot better than 9% in the United States, and we here at Wesleyan will find ways to do our part. Our alumni remind us again and again: education creates opportunity — not just for a higher salary, but for a more meaningful life.

At Wesleyan we will continue to make financial aid our highest fundraising priority. Our THIS IS WHY campaign has raised more than 320 million dollars, and the majority of those funds will go to the endowment, mostly to support scholarships. I know that some question how I can call for greater access to college when I have also said that Wesleyan cannot be fully “need blind” at this time. Here’s the answer: we remain about 90% need blind, and we will strive to do more. But we must have a sustainable financial aid program, one that doesn’t economically undermine the very educational program to which we are creating access. We must not use our financial aid resources “blindly;” we must use them intentionally to create access where it will matter the most.

Of course, I would prefer not to have to worry about how to pay for the Wes educational experience we value so much. But our endowment, substantial as it is, does not grant us that luxury. So we build the endowment now, with financial aid as our highest priority. Through fundraising and smart endowment management, we will be able to afford to be need-blind in the future without resorting to high loans or tuition increases just to preserve the label. We will no longer raise tuition aggressively, nor will we increase loan requirements. We will gratefully raise more money for scholarships so that a decade from now we will be in a position to promote access without undue worry about how much that will cost.

But we don’t have to wait a decade to do more now. We can use our financial aid dollars to meet the full financial need of every student at the university. In addition, hundreds of Wesleyan students and dozens of faculty and staff are already engaged in helping students in the K-12 system enhance their learning. Over the next several weeks I will be meeting with leaders of many groups involved in this effort to see how we might join forces under the banner of college readiness. We can work together to give students in Middletown and surrounding communities more opportunities to be prepared for and have success in higher education. We can do what Wesleyan folks have always done: advance our own learning by doing good in the world.

Ours is not a perfect situation, but it is one that we can build on to expand access and create opportunity.

Welcoming Veterans as Part of Class of 2018

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On Tuesday evening I attended the ceremony honoring the cohort of veterans who have been selected to begin their education at Wesleyan in the fall. With this group, we join with the Posse Foundation and Vassar College in expanding educational opportunities for the men and women who have served in the armed forces since 9/11. We plan on accepting groups of ten veterans through this process each year.

The Posse Foundation’s philosophy is to provide educational opportunities to students from under-represented groups who support and inspire one another in strong cohorts. The 10 Early Decision students have served in Iraq, Afghanistan and here in the United States. They have this in common: a strong desire to support one another as they pursue a broad, engaged liberal education at Wesleyan. Having already gone through a rigorous selection process, they seemed very much ready to join our campus community. I know they will make important contributions to it as they interact with students, faculty and staff.

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This year we have also decided to increase the number of Questbridge scholars in the class of 2018. Questbridge Scholars add significantly to our diversity as they enliven our classrooms, stages and playing fields. At Wesleyan we don’t have unlimited resources for scholarships, but thanks to generous donors at all levels, we can use our scholarships to make a profound difference in the lives of individual students and in the character of our community. I’m very grateful for the contributions we’ve received that make these and other financial aid initiatives possible at Wesleyan.

This week I will be attending meetings on college access at the White House. I hope to learn about more ways that we can leverage our resources to create new opportunities for low and middle income families.  While we raise money for financial aid endowment, we are already finding ways to offer enhanced scholarships within a sustainable economic model. This will mean keeping our tuition increases in line with inflation, and maintaining financial aid as a fundraising priority. The THIS IS WHY campaign has already raised more than $300 million, the majority of those funds going to the endowment. This will enable the university to become less dependent on tuition, so that we can truly disregard the financial capacity of applicants and meet full demonstrated need without requiring excessive loans.

At the end of the festivities with Posse, our new members of the class of ’18 joined me in a boisterous GO WES!! I can hardly wait to welcome them to campus.

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Athletes Soar During Break

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I just learned that last weekend Kiley Kennedy ’16 set a new Wesleyan record in the pole vault, clearing nine feet, ten inches. The old record stood for more than a decade, but at a meet at Yale Kiley flew right over it! Sierra Livious ’14 was our top finisher of the weekend, as she got the attention of those Division I schools with her prowess at the shot put and weight throw. Kimora Brock ’15 was outstanding in the 800 meters. Congratulations all!!

This coming weekend the track team will be in competition at the first of three consecutive Wesleyan Invitationals. As I stumble around the fitness center, I’ve run into some of our hard working tracksters. They seem more than ready.

Other groups that are more than ready are the basketball and hockey teams. Are you on campus or near Middletown? Tomorrow, Tuesday, January 14 at 7 pm, the men’s basketball team will take on a tough Amherst squad. On Friday, both the men and women hoopsters are at home, as is the men’s ice hockey team. You can see the schedule here.

I’ve got to go back on the road myself, but if you can come out to cheer the Cardinals, the Freeman Athletic Center will be jumping!

 

Winter Studies and Competitions Begin

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Temperatures have dropped over the last couple of days, and we’ve had a few inches of snow here in Middletown. Winter is really here.

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Wesleyan athletes are already back and competing (congrats to women’s ice hockey on a strong win last night), and in a few days our Winter Session pilot program will be underway. Students will be studying foreign policy, statistics, the graphic novel, and computer science, and they will be doing so in a very intensive way. Another group of undergraduates will be working in Fullbridge’s “internship edge” program, while still others will be enrolled in programs through the Wesleyan Career Center. I look forward to hearing their reports on how we can make the best use of these early January weeks.

I am preparing my online and campus classes (having just turned in my grades for the fall semester). In the administration we also use this time to evaluate how we are doing on our annual goals. I’ve read through all the proposals on new ways to energize campus learning, and there are several terrific ideas on which we will be following up early in the semester.

Winter is here, and it’s time to start making 2014 a great year for Wesleyan!

Year-End Thanks

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Dear friends,

This year has been exciting in so many ways, and as it draws to a close I want to express my gratitude to the entire Wesleyan family for their many contributions to making our university the creative, caring and engaged place it is. I think back to the first-Friday MASH (the music festival that began to tap into the amazing vitality of students, faculty and staff), the competitive fire of our athletes, the generosity of our volunteers, the passion of our activists…these were all on display over the course of the year. In this, my seventh year, the student body continues to surprise me with its exuberance, commitment and ardent devotion to pursuing lives of purpose and meaning.

In this season, I like to remind folks to check out the faculty bookshelf. From philosophical considerations of concern and communication, to histories of the Ottoman Empire, from accounts of how we learn from experience at the personal level, to accounts of how we have failed to do so at the policy level, our faculty continue to shape the culture all around us. The scholars who produced this work are also spirited teachers who inspire students every week of the semester.

None of the scholarship and teaching would take place without the thoughtful and dedicated contributions of the Wesleyan staff. They make all these achievements possible. The staff’s determined, inventive efforts—from reading admission files to planning graduation events—are at the heart of all we do.

The Board of Trustees guides this institution with generosity, care and intelligence. Whatever differences we may have about specific policies, we are all dedicated to ensuring that our university remains at the forefront of progressive liberal arts education. I am grateful for being part of this team.

With best wishes for a restful break, a joyful holiday and a very happy new year,

Michael

Paying Attention to Attention

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Yesterday the Washington Post published my review of Daniel Goleman’s Focus. Ever since my student days at Wesleyan, I’ve had a strong interest in psychology, and watching the increasing vitality of neuroscience on campus (and beyond) in recent years has been fascinating. As a teacher, I often think about the conditions that allow students to really get absorbed in material — be it film, philosophy, literature or history. And I also think about the near constant stream of distractions. I was glad the Post asked me to weigh in on Goleman’s popular consideration of attention.

 

In the mid-1990s, Daniel Goleman was able to respond to a real cultural need with his bestseller “Emotional Intelligence.” Drawing on the previous decade’s more restrained research on measuring emotional capacity, he boldly argued that tuning into your own and others’ feelings is even more important than the problem-solving skills measured by IQ tests. For Goleman, lots of stuff fell under the rubric of “emotion” — even such things as trustworthiness and teamwork capabilities. Cultivating emotional intelligence sounded a lot like cultivating goodness; it was hard to be against it.

In “Focus,” Goleman looks at the process through which one “tunes in” — whether to emotions, ideas or complex systems. He has a long-standing interest in meditation, and in this book he is able to combine that concern with new research on emotional intelligence, neuropsychology and learning. Whether alone or with others, in certain forms of meditation you learn to monitor your thoughts, to find focus or let it go. Through the practice of meditation, you become more capable of directing your attention — and that can lead to greater happiness and connection to others.

Goleman rightly worries about the hindrances to this capacity to turn oneself to something or someone, and to stay focused. On the other end of the spectrum from the absorptive practice of meditation lies the incessant itch of social media. Technological changes have increased demands on our attention, bombarding us with reminders that there is information that we might look at, queries we might answer. Goleman quotes the economist Herbert Simon on the tidal wave of data coming at us: “a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” Simon wrote that in 1977.

“Focus” makes the important point that “the power to disengage our attention from one thing and move it to another is essential for well-being.” Excessive stimulation from our devices, and just from the crowds around us, makes it increasingly difficult to become fully absorbed in anything at all. And full absorption, for Goleman, is fundamental to happiness.

Like many other popular psychology writers, Goleman thinks it’s helpful to refer to parts of the brain to lend credibility to his analyses of our behavior, feelings and thoughts. In discussing a crying baby, for example, he writes about an “agitated amygdala,” as if that had more explanatory heft than just talking about an agitated child. He notes the brain’s “executive” function: “Executive attention holds the key to self management.” But that’s the same as writing that self-management is the key to self-management. His “look, this part of the brain is lighting up” approach to explaining human behavior can at times be just crude. It often adds little or no value.

Goleman keeps returning to brain circuits to make the point that we don’t have a natural ability to stay focused on complex systems and long-term problems. That’s why, he says, folks don’t want to think about the effects of climate change or overpopulation. But why is saying “it’s our brains” a better explanation than saying that people don’t often think about the long term because that makes it harder to think about the short term? Anxiety over punishment, Goleman writes, “actually hampers the child’s prefrontal cortex while he is trying to concentrate and learn,” as if it’s the cortex and not the child that is doing the trying. Why not just say that anxiety hampers the child?

Be that as it may, the book has many interesting points to make about the relationships among focus, empathy, learning and even leadership. Goleman writes about cognitive and emotional empathy, the former as seeing things from another person’s perspective, and the latter as a feeling of compassion and attachment for another. He associates the intellectual aspects of empathy with the highly developed parts of the brain, while the emotional aspects are tied to the deep, primitive brain. Whether this localization of functions helps us understand fellow feeling or not, Goleman’s main point is crucial: “Empathy depends on a muscle of attention.” Exercising this muscle requires self-awareness: “We read other people by tuning in to ourselves.”

So self-awareness helps expand our capacity to be aware of the perspectives, experiences and feelings of others. And this is where Goleman is at his best, describing techniques that expand our comprehension of ourselves and others. Positive reinforcement tends to work better than dire warnings of disaster. For example, there are Web-based apps, such as Handprinter, that emphasize what we can do about climate change, rather than just reminding us how dire the situation is. In schools, there are smart modes of practicing that increase a child’s ability to learn, combining mindfulness and emotional intelligence training with traditional academic subjects. Here the neuroscience does seem to make the presentation more compelling. Goleman explains that games designed to improve attention skills in children enhanced neural scaffolding in measurable ways that benefited emotional and cognitive abilities.

In addition to his work on meditation and emotional intelligence, Goleman has also written for the lucrative business market. Tuning into this opportunity, the penultimate section of this book is titled “the well-focused leader.” Leaders, he tells us, guide the attention of others, and successful leaders “manage” their inner world and their relationships. He offers other bromides, including “we are all leaders in one way or another.” Happily, he says nothing about which parts of a leader’s brain light up when he or she is best inspiring the team.

“Focus” has real moments of insight, strong pages on interesting research and its potential applications. Unfortunately, in trying to be all things to all readers, Goleman’s book fails to consistently sustain and repay our attention.

No Boycott of Israeli Universities!

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This morning the Los Angeles Times published my op-ed rejecting the American Studies Association’s resolution to boycott Israeli Universities. I am sharing it here.

Boycott of Israeli universities: A repugnant attack on academic freedom

Academic institutions should not be declared off-limits because of their national affiliation.

The American Studies Assn. recently passed a resolution that “endorses and … honor[s] the call of Palestinian civil society for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.” The action was taken, the group explained, because “there is no effective or substantive academic freedom for Palestinian students and scholars under conditions of Israeli occupation,” and because “Israeli institutions of higher learning are a party to Israeli state policies that violate human rights and negatively impact the working conditions of Palestinian scholars and students.”

But the boycott is a repugnant attack on academic freedom, declaring academic institutions off-limits because of their national affiliation.

The ASA has not gone on record against the universities in any other country in the world: not against those that enforce laws against homosexuality, not against those that have rejected freedom of speech, not against those that systematically restrict access to higher education by race, religion or gender. No, the ASA listens to civil society only when it speaks against Israel. As its scholarly president declared, “One has to start somewhere.” Not in North Korea, not in Russia or Zimbabwe or China — one has to start with Israel. Really?

The 820-plus ASA members who voted for the resolution are sanctioning universities and their faculties because of their government’s policies. Many Israeli professors, like many other citizens, oppose the policies of the current government. But these schools have now run afoul of the ASA and are subject to boycott.

The ASA makes clear it thinks the United States enables the Israeli policies that it finds most objectionable. Did its leadership consider boycotting American universities too?

Not all those in academia agree with the ASA’s action, of course. Here’s what the American Assn. of University Professors, for example, has to say about the importance of unfettered interaction among scholars:

“Since its founding in 1915, the AAUP has been committed to preserving and advancing the free exchange of ideas among academics irrespective of governmental policies and however unpalatable those policies may be viewed. We reject proposals that curtail the freedom of teachers and researchers to engage in work with academic colleagues, and we reaffirm the paramount importance of the freest possible international movement of scholars and ideas.”

There is plenty of debate among Israeli scholars about the policies of their government, and there is plenty of debate among Israeli, Palestinian and other scholars about a reasonable path forward in the Middle East. As a citizen of the United States, I have supported efforts to develop new approaches to achieving peace in the Middle East. As a Jew, I have argued against the policies of the current Israeli government, many of which I find abhorrent.

Boycotts don’t serve these debates; they seek to cut them off by declaring certain academic institutions and their faculty off-limits. This tactic, in the words of Richard Slotkin, an emeritus professor here at Wesleyan University, “is wrong in principle, politically impotent, intellectually dishonest and morally obtuse.”

As president of Wesleyan, and as a historian, I deplore this politically retrograde resolution of the American Studies Assn. Under the guise of phony progressivism, the group has initiated an irresponsible attack on academic freedom. Others in academia should reject this call for an academic boycott.

Support WESU!

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The campus has really emptied out, the snow is falling, professors are grading…. And WESU is having a pledge drive.

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Here’s what I received from station manager Ben Michael today:

Last spring, when we decided to pursue a “kinder, gentler” approach to fundraising, despite the inherent risk, it was our most successful pledge drive to date!  Please help WESU stand out as a unique public radio station with an equally unique fundraising model. Unless, of course, you prefer constant interruptions in programming from volunteers trying to convince you the station will die without your support. We prefer to gently remind listeners that we need their support and reach out directly to the listeners, friends, and family we know value the many facets of the service we provide.  2014 Promises to be an amazing year for WESU as we reflect upon 75 years of alternative news, public affairs, and community service. We’ve got a ton of great stuff in the works including special on air programming and live community events as well as virtual and physical exhibits exploring the rich legacy that is WESU. Your donation of any size will go a long way towards sustaining the service we provide and help us prepare for the future.  Donate online HERE.

 

When I am on the road, I often listen to WESU to catch up on news, hear interesting music, or just feel closer to campus. The student and community DJs make the programming happen year in and year out, but they depend on our donations. The happy tradition of adventurous radio continues at Wesleyan, but it does so because we support it. Please give during this holiday season!

Looking for Liberal Education

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Kari and I are taking a couple of days before finals to show Sophie some colleges out in California that still have classes in session. It’s interesting for us to visit other schools and see how they describe their learning goals. Having grown up on the Wesleyan campus, our daughter has some clear ideas about colleges (at least this week). She wants a small liberal arts school, and she wants one where her parents don’t work!

So, we are heading to Claremont to see the great schools there. I started my career at Scripps College and the Graduate University in Claremont in 1983, and I taught there for about 12 years. When I was on the faculty in Claremont my colleagues used to tease that I was constantly talking about Wesleyan. When visiting with Sophie, I’ve been instructed to keep my mouth shut!

Earlier this semester I was at UC Berkeley to participate in a symposium on undergraduate education that was part of the celebrations for the inauguration of Chancellor Nick Dirks (Wesleyan ’72). I hope my comments on liberal learning are as relevant on the East Coast as on the West.

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The Impact of Research

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Yesterday the tenured members of the faculty convened to discuss the changing context for academic research. Our scholar teachers have been shaping the fields in which they work while responding to new methodologies, to blurred disciplinary boundaries, to expanded modes of dissemination, and to reduced expectations for funding in certain fields. There was talk about the rise in co-authored articles and the demise of the monograph in some academic areas.  For some, this altered landscape contains many opportunities for enhanced faculty-student collaborative research and for more integrative work. “Translational” research  work that connects basic inquiry to problems in society or public culture  is increasingly popular  in many fields across the curriculum. Scholars are using blogs, exhibitions, performances and community partnerships to make their work more widely known, and the feedback they receive in turn influences their future scholarship.

One of the great challenges facing academic institutions today is how to assess advanced scholarship and artistic work in this changing landscape. Our faculty have been thoughtful about facilitating work that makes a positive impact on a field through unconventional channels. At Wesleyan scientists routinely cross disciplinary borders to pursue questions, economists work on climate change, literature professors work on history and political scientists work on economics. Artistic production here often involves significant investment in research, and performances stimulate inquiry.

I was encouraged to listen to Wesleyan professors think together about how to deepen their research activity while also expanding its reach. We believe that this scholarship makes for better teachers and more opportunities for students to learn by becoming active practitioners themselves. Together we create new knowledge at Wesleyan, and we also find new ways to maximize the impact of that knowledge. Through all the changes in our cultural landscape, the scholar-teacher model continues to thrive.