State of Diversity 2022 Panel

Office of Diversity and Inclusion Author

10/27/2022 Added

31 Plays

Description

The fourth annual State of Diversity features panelists who are leaders on national and emerging issues in higher education among marginalized and underrepresented communities.

Searchable Transcript

Search:

[00:00:03.648]So I want to introduce our panelists
[00:00:05.880]as we prepare for this next session,
[00:00:09.390]which we'll feature of course our panelists
[00:00:11.340]and our facilitator.
[00:00:13.020]Our facilitator for today's panel is Dr. Jamal Watson,
[00:00:16.530]a long term editor at Diverse Issues in Higher Education.
[00:00:20.340]The nation's oldest publication
[00:00:22.050]committed to reporting on diversity, access and inclusion.
[00:00:26.640]A graduate of Georgetown University.
[00:00:28.830]Dr. Watson earned a bachelor's degree in English
[00:00:31.290]from Georgetown University,
[00:00:32.970]a master's from Columbia University
[00:00:34.920]Graduate School of Journalism,
[00:00:36.570]a master's degree in higher Education
[00:00:38.190]from the University of Delaware
[00:00:39.480]and a master's degree and PhD in African American Studies
[00:00:43.170]from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
[00:00:46.470]An expert on race and media.
[00:00:48.330]Watson is also a graduate school faculty
[00:00:51.120]at Trinity Washington University.
[00:00:54.840]Our panelists, Dr. Antonio Flores, Dr. Carrie Billy,
[00:00:59.580]and Dr. Lynn Pasquerella.
[00:01:02.520]Dr. Antonio Flores, has served as president and CEO
[00:01:06.870]of the Hispanic Association of Colleges
[00:01:09.270]and Universities for 25 years.
[00:01:13.050]Dr. Flores has been a leading advocate
[00:01:14.730]for Hispanic serving institutions or HSIs
[00:01:18.150]and Hispanic higher education success.
[00:01:20.940]Under his leadership,
[00:01:22.440]HSIs have garnered over $5 billion in federal funding
[00:01:26.070]and current appropriations above $400 million annually.
[00:01:30.120]He earned a PhD in higher education administration
[00:01:33.240]from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
[00:01:35.790]a master's in counseling and personnel
[00:01:37.680]from Western Michigan University
[00:01:40.110]and bachelor degrees in business administration
[00:01:42.390]and elementary education from Universidad de Guadalajara
[00:01:46.560]and central normal regional Mexico respectively.
[00:01:51.810]Dr. Carrie Billy, a member of the Navajo Nation,
[00:01:55.200]is president and CEO
[00:01:57.120]of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium.
[00:02:00.540]Through this consortium, the Nation's 37 tribal colleges
[00:02:03.870]and universities or TCUs
[00:02:06.540]worked towards strong sovereign nations
[00:02:08.580]through excellence in tribal higher education.
[00:02:11.550]Dr. Billy has undergraduate degrees
[00:02:13.260]from the University of Arizona and Salish Kootenai College,
[00:02:17.787]and a Jurist doctorate
[00:02:19.050]from Georgetown University Law Center.
[00:02:21.390]She was appointed by former President William J. Clinton
[00:02:24.360]as the inaugural executive director
[00:02:26.250]of the White House Initiative on tribal colleges.
[00:02:29.460]And finally, Dr. Lynn Pasquerella.
[00:02:32.280]She was appointed president
[00:02:33.450]of the American Association of Colleges
[00:02:35.130]and Universities in 2016.
[00:02:37.650]After serving as the 18th president
[00:02:39.630]of Mount Holyoke College,
[00:02:41.550]she has held positions as provost
[00:02:43.290]at the University of Hartford
[00:02:44.850]and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
[00:02:46.950]and the Dean of the graduate school
[00:02:48.540]at the University of Rhode Island,
[00:02:50.340]where she taught for more than two decades,
[00:02:52.680]a philosopher whose work has combined teaching
[00:02:54.990]and scholarship with local and global engagement.
[00:02:57.840]Pasquerella has written extensively on medical ethics,
[00:03:01.260]metaphysics, public policy, and the philosophy of law.
[00:03:05.790]For a full listing of our facilitator and panelist bios,
[00:03:09.510]please visit the state of diversity website
[00:03:11.550]at diversity.unl.edu.
[00:03:13.680]And then finally,
[00:03:14.850]we'd also like for you all to submit questions to the panel.
[00:03:18.210]You'll see that there's a QR code that you can scan
[00:03:21.330]as those come in.
[00:03:22.350]And at that point in time,
[00:03:23.460]we'll read a few of those out.
[00:03:25.050]But if you do wanna submit questions to our panelists,
[00:03:27.540]please scan that QR code
[00:03:29.490]and we will sort those out accordingly.
[00:03:32.160]And I will now pass it over to our panel.
[00:03:36.516](audience applauding)
[00:03:39.450]Thank you so much Dr. Friday,
[00:03:41.550]and let's give a huge round of applause to Dr. Parker
[00:03:45.720]and his team for their extraordinary work
[00:03:48.720]in bringing us all together today.
[00:03:50.490]Let's get you all can do better than that.
[00:03:52.589](audience applauding)
[00:03:53.610]You all can do better than that.
[00:03:56.220]Thank you so much for your leadership and your vision
[00:03:59.580]and for convening us today for this important conversation
[00:04:03.000]that we're going to have looking at national
[00:04:05.040]and emerging issues in higher education.
[00:04:07.140]So happy to moderate this conversation.
[00:04:09.810]I also want to have it to be as conversational as possible.
[00:04:14.040]So again, as Dr. Friday mentioned,
[00:04:16.710]we hope to spend some time answering your questions
[00:04:19.950]and going from there.
[00:04:21.990]So I just wanna hop right into it if we can.
[00:04:24.030]And I wanna ask our panel
[00:04:25.950]to give us a kind of 30,000 foot overview
[00:04:30.840]of what are some of the pressing issues
[00:04:32.790]that you're seeing facing higher education,
[00:04:35.760]particularly as it relates to access,
[00:04:38.610]equity and inclusiveness.
[00:04:41.220]So I wanna start with Dr. Flores
[00:04:43.290]and then we'll work our way around.
[00:04:44.580]Thank you.
[00:04:45.413]Thank you, oh, I'm sorry.
[00:04:47.100]It's okay.
[00:04:48.510]Thank you, can you hear me now?
[00:04:50.220]Okay, thank you for your very kind introduction, Dr. Parker
[00:04:55.920]and of course for inviting us
[00:04:57.420]to be part of this conversation.
[00:05:00.570]And of course Jamal Watson is a good friend,
[00:05:05.280]just came back from San Diego
[00:05:07.260]where we had our national conference,
[00:05:09.780]and he covered that very, very well.
[00:05:14.190]Some of the issues that I see emerging
[00:05:17.340]and some already that are continuing
[00:05:21.690]with respect to access
[00:05:23.340]and educational success for underserved populations
[00:05:27.720]include, of course the impact of the pandemic
[00:05:33.390]because it really brought to bear
[00:05:36.270]in a very, very tangible way that so-called digital divide.
[00:05:42.000]And it brought it to bear both at the institutional level
[00:05:46.260]and at the student level because institutionally,
[00:05:49.800]many of our institutions that enroll the bulk,
[00:05:53.610]the overwhelming the majority of underserved populations,
[00:05:58.855]they have the deep pockets to make the shift
[00:06:01.890]from in person to online education for retooling,
[00:06:08.100]for acquiring the new technology
[00:06:10.230]and retaining faculty, et cetera, et cetera.
[00:06:14.340]And that was very, very impactful on those institutions.
[00:06:20.850]At the other end,
[00:06:22.140]our students really didn't have broadband connectivity,
[00:06:26.730]in many cases, the equipment or the know-how
[00:06:30.060]to use it for educational purposes.
[00:06:32.550]So it was a one two punch right there.
[00:06:35.910]And it also brought to light
[00:06:38.580]the fact that they are under resourced,
[00:06:41.550]severely under resourced.
[00:06:44.130]And that much more needs to be done by not just government,
[00:06:48.600]but also by the philanthropic community
[00:06:51.570]and by the corporate community
[00:06:54.300]because ultimately they are the beneficiaries
[00:06:57.330]of what these institutions do,
[00:06:59.730]which is prepare the workforce of America to be competitive.
[00:07:05.220]So is the continuing inequity
[00:07:11.310]in terms of what resources institutions are able to utilize
[00:07:17.340]the under resourcing of these institutions.
[00:07:20.550]And then obviously the socioeconomic circumstance
[00:07:24.900]of many of the students that we're talking about.
[00:07:27.480]In the case of our community, the Latino community,
[00:07:31.170]most of our students are first generation college students.
[00:07:35.174]And the vast majority of them
[00:07:37.890]come from lower income families.
[00:07:40.530]In addition, many of them are immigrants themselves
[00:07:43.710]or their families.
[00:07:44.700]So they have a lot of things to understand,
[00:07:47.160]to maneuver in order to get going.
[00:07:50.490]And that's part and parcel of what we do as an association
[00:07:54.960]in helping our institutions
[00:07:58.650]also help those students succeed.
[00:08:01.290]So those are some of the issues that I see.
[00:08:04.560]And of course my colleagues
[00:08:06.300]might have a different perspective of that.
[00:08:07.720]Well, thank you so much for sending stage.
[00:08:09.540]We'll dig into some of those issues in a little bit.
[00:08:12.420]Dr. Billy.
[00:08:15.765](speaking foreign language)
[00:08:18.150]Is this on?
[00:08:22.200]Yeah, there you go.
[00:08:23.670](speaking foreign language)
[00:08:28.680]I am Carrie Billy, but I'm not a doctor, I'm a lawyer.
[00:08:34.560]Thank you.
[00:08:39.030]Okay, so I think I agree with Antonio
[00:08:44.700]about a particularly about the digital divide
[00:08:47.370]and the impact of COVID.
[00:08:48.390]We know going into the pandemic that tribal colleges
[00:08:51.600]and universities, which serve are primarily located
[00:08:54.510]on American Indian reservations
[00:08:56.130]and there's two here in Nebraska,
[00:08:58.530]had the slowest internet speeds at the highest cost
[00:09:05.820]using the oldest equipment of any group of institutions
[00:09:09.000]of higher education in the country.
[00:09:10.500]So that was a real challenge.
[00:09:13.800]Looking forward, we've kind of tried to dealt with that.
[00:09:16.500]We still have a lot more to do.
[00:09:17.460]But looking forward related to that COVID issue,
[00:09:20.760]one of the biggest challenges we see is education loss
[00:09:24.000]in the K-12 system.
[00:09:25.620]And that was particularly brought home to us by the recent,
[00:09:30.210]I think last month a partial NAEP study came out,
[00:09:34.560]nine year olds and showed overall a loss,
[00:09:38.940]education loss for nine year olds in math and reading,
[00:09:42.870]but particularly evident in for students of color.
[00:09:49.530]I think black students on average in math
[00:09:52.290]dropped 13 percentage points
[00:09:54.630]biggest drop since NAEP has been--
[00:09:56.896]Wow. Been being used.
[00:10:00.480]And for the higher performing students,
[00:10:05.010]a drop was two or 3%.
[00:10:06.570]So huge impact on students of color.
[00:10:09.840]Same with Latinx students.
[00:10:15.390]They didn't disaggregate at all for American Indians yet,
[00:10:18.313]but we're anticipating it's pretty bad.
[00:10:20.940]And so I think that's one of the biggest issues
[00:10:23.460]we're looking at the,
[00:10:24.840]because those students are going to be the students
[00:10:27.540]who are coming into higher education.
[00:10:29.280]Yeah, thank you so much, Dr. Pasquerella.
[00:10:32.490]Thank you.
[00:10:33.900]The biggest challenge facing higher education
[00:10:36.230]is the growing economic and racial segregation
[00:10:38.670]in higher education.
[00:10:40.140]We heard about the expansiveness of the digital divide,
[00:10:44.010]but what COVID-19 unveiled is the food and shelter
[00:10:48.450]and security experience by so many students
[00:10:51.060]at all types of colleges and universities
[00:10:53.040]across the country.
[00:10:55.680]But I think there's a broader challenge
[00:10:57.570]contributing to this divide.
[00:11:00.330]And that is a prevailing national rhetoric
[00:11:03.120]that calls into question
[00:11:04.170]the value of higher education in general
[00:11:06.360]and liberal education in particular.
[00:11:09.540]There is a growing mistrust of higher education
[00:11:12.780]that's fueled by some political rhetoric.
[00:11:16.260]And the assumption is that
[00:11:19.470]higher education is too expensive, too difficult to access,
[00:11:22.620]doesn't teach people 21st century skills,
[00:11:25.620]but worse that college and university campuses
[00:11:27.780]are bastions of liberal progressivism
[00:11:30.060]that are designed to brainwash
[00:11:33.420]the next generation of snowflakes
[00:11:35.010]to melt at the slightest abrasion of their sensibilities.
[00:11:38.790]And what we have seen is that 45% of high school seniors
[00:11:48.390]now say that they're not sure that college is worth
[00:11:52.770]the investment of time and money.
[00:11:56.130]So we need to redress this.
[00:11:57.690]We need to restore public trust
[00:11:59.730]in the promise of higher education
[00:12:02.100]in order to meet our nation's historic mission
[00:12:05.520]of educating for democracy at a time when polarization
[00:12:08.640]and partisanship are greater than they have been
[00:12:12.420]since the Civil War.
[00:12:13.620]We need to find ways to speak across differences.
[00:12:17.400]And of course this has made much more difficult
[00:12:20.520]by the fact that we have 120 bills
[00:12:24.570]that were introduced over the past eight months
[00:12:26.910]in 22 states,
[00:12:29.280]47 of which are aimed explicitly at higher education
[00:12:34.800]to prescribe discussions of so-called divisive concepts,
[00:12:38.400]critical race theory, gender identity, reproductive rights.
[00:12:43.080]This threatens to undermine
[00:12:45.930]the academic enterprise altogether.
[00:12:48.150]And so these are some of the challenges
[00:12:50.280]that are contributing to a lack of belonging
[00:12:55.890]and welcome that's necessary
[00:12:57.900]if we are to truly be committed to diversity,
[00:13:01.020]equity, and inclusion.
[00:13:02.190]So I wanna stay with you if I can,
[00:13:03.720]and that is how do we then shift the narrative?
[00:13:07.590]How do we push back?
[00:13:09.990]'Cause one of the things I want us to leave
[00:13:12.930]this form with is a sense of
[00:13:15.570]what we can do around outcomes, right?
[00:13:18.840]Cause we go to comedians all the time and it's wonderful,
[00:13:21.720]but we wanna know like what's the plan right?
[00:13:24.030]When we leave here today.
[00:13:25.140]So one of the things I want us to think about
[00:13:27.240]is what we can do
[00:13:28.310]to kind of shift that narrative if you can.
[00:13:30.780]Yeah, we certainly need to create an ascendent narrative
[00:13:33.510]that contests accusations of a relevancy
[00:13:35.910]and illegitimacy that are launched against us,
[00:13:38.610]demonstrate the ways
[00:13:39.930]in which we are preparing students for the 21st century
[00:13:42.570]connecting curriculum to career,
[00:13:45.030]ensuring that the education that we're offering
[00:13:47.610]is in the context of the workforce, not apart from it.
[00:13:50.070]So breaking down that false dichotomy
[00:13:52.650]between liberal education
[00:13:56.430]and preparation for work, citizenship and life.
[00:13:59.250]But we've heard and this institution
[00:14:02.760]is a model of excellence in this regard.
[00:14:04.650]We've heard about the ways
[00:14:06.030]that University of Nebraska Lincoln
[00:14:07.710]is serving as an anchor institution
[00:14:09.990]demonstrating that your success
[00:14:12.240]is inextricably linked to the psychological social health,
[00:14:15.270]economic, educational wellbeing of those in the community
[00:14:19.020]in which you're located and those you seek to serve.
[00:14:21.600]This is what every institution
[00:14:23.010]in higher education needs to do if we are to create access
[00:14:26.790]because it doesn't matter how many times
[00:14:28.980]we welcome people onto our campuses
[00:14:32.250]if they don't feel like they deserve a place in the academy
[00:14:35.400]if they don't feel that sense of welcome and belonging.
[00:14:37.890]So being visible in communities,
[00:14:40.800]it extends an invitation in ways
[00:14:43.620]that really help to create access
[00:14:46.200]and a sense of social and cultural capital
[00:14:49.680]that will be necessary for students to thrive
[00:14:51.540]once they're here.
[00:14:52.500]Absolutely.
[00:14:53.460]Dr. Flores, you talked earlier about the COVID pandemic
[00:14:57.000]and the impact that,
[00:14:58.080]that has had on Hispanic serving institutions.
[00:15:01.860]Was wondering, did you see a drop in enrollment?
[00:15:06.810]Because one of the issues that we're all concerned about
[00:15:09.600]is the recruitment retention of students.
[00:15:12.090]And I was wondering, can you speak to any drop
[00:15:14.970]that you saw among institutions as a result of the pandemic?
[00:15:19.410]Yes, actually,
[00:15:21.450]when we look at the data on the drop in enrollment,
[00:15:26.040]we see patterns that differ across types of institutions
[00:15:30.270]very significantly.
[00:15:31.980]In fact, when you look at the graduate enrollment
[00:15:35.280]actually increased during the pandemic.
[00:15:37.800]Interesting.
[00:15:38.820]And yet when you look at community college enrollment,
[00:15:42.690]they went down terribly compared to the other sectors.
[00:15:47.700]Everyone went down in general.
[00:15:49.740]But community colleges just went so far down
[00:15:54.330]roughly 11, 12% nationwide.
[00:15:58.350]And in some individual cases, even twice as far down
[00:16:04.590]and particularly in institutions like the ones we represent.
[00:16:08.040]So the bouncing back from that is gonna take some hard work
[00:16:14.340]over the next few years.
[00:16:16.650]And of course we're seeing that already occurring actually.
[00:16:20.790]We see a recovery emerging,
[00:16:24.960]but we have to do a lot more to restore
[00:16:29.310]not just confidence in higher education,
[00:16:33.600]but also for the types of families that we work with mid.
[00:16:38.580]So primarily working class families,
[00:16:41.220]our institutions and middle class, lower middle class,
[00:16:45.270]they need to understand very,
[00:16:47.370]very clearly the return on investment for what their spend
[00:16:52.380]and in terms of time and money.
[00:16:57.000]And I think we have the data to corroborate
[00:16:59.460]that it is a great return on investment
[00:17:01.950]to have a college degree from an economic standpoint,
[00:17:06.330]but also from a social standpoint.
[00:17:08.700]And so that's, I think what we need to really highlight now
[00:17:14.640]to those populations
[00:17:16.920]and obviously to those that are even less attuned
[00:17:22.020]to the collegiate experience,
[00:17:23.850]is that the ways in which they can go about entering
[00:17:28.500]and succeeding in college.
[00:17:30.390]And that requires obviously the types of interventions
[00:17:34.500]that we are putting in place.
[00:17:36.240]For example, we now have a bill before Congress
[00:17:40.050]and Carrie is familiar with that, that we call the HERE Act,
[00:17:44.850]the Hispanic Education Resource and Empowerment Act.
[00:17:49.410]And that bill basically is proposing to invest in our HSIs,
[00:17:55.320]Hispanic seven institutions
[00:17:57.270]so that they can more substantively
[00:18:00.090]reach out to K-12 schools
[00:18:03.510]and engage 'em in a more substantive way
[00:18:06.240]beyond the conventional things that they have been doing
[00:18:09.480]so that they can bring up a critical mass
[00:18:12.270]of graduates from high school,
[00:18:14.130]but also better prepare high school graduates
[00:18:17.250]to enter college.
[00:18:18.840]And I think that those kinds of interventions
[00:18:21.810]can be very, very powerful for coming communities like ours.
[00:18:28.680]Because in our case, HSIs,
[00:18:32.520]I would say are in our time similar to what black churches
[00:18:37.740]have been historically for the African American community,
[00:18:41.040]they are becoming the icon
[00:18:44.190]that they look up to in their communities for help,
[00:18:47.970]for support, for guidance.
[00:18:50.220]And that's no different with COVID.
[00:18:52.290]Our institutions were very much there in those communities
[00:18:55.980]working with students and helping with vaccination campaigns
[00:19:01.380]and other kinds of interventions that we had in place
[00:19:04.500]with that money that we got from the federal government.
[00:19:07.350]So there's a lot to be done,
[00:19:10.800]but I think the best years are just still ahead
[00:19:13.680]for everyone in this country.
[00:19:15.990]And I think those issues of polar recession
[00:19:19.200]and the political side of things are not new,
[00:19:22.950]but maybe they are more acute today that were in years past,
[00:19:27.720]but we'll overcome them.
[00:19:29.370]We'll do it in due time, and I think we'll move on.
[00:19:33.180]I think the issue is that as you look at demographics,
[00:19:36.930]you will see, well, here in Nebraska,
[00:19:39.960]I was looking at the data
[00:19:41.100]from the commission on postsecondary education,
[00:19:44.250]the state of Nebraska,
[00:19:47.280]the white population has been dropping K-12
[00:19:52.470]and other populations have been growing.
[00:19:56.100]So they have to really account for the fact that long term
[00:19:59.970]is not going to slow down that trend.
[00:20:03.480]And if you look at the rest of the country,
[00:20:05.190]is very much the same.
[00:20:07.110]So they need to invest in ways that they have not before.
[00:20:11.880]So that those populations feel not only welcomed
[00:20:17.010]and well supported, but that they really are empowered.
[00:20:23.430]Yeah.
[00:20:24.476]And that's a very different thing,
[00:20:25.309]empowerment of those communities.
[00:20:27.270]Yeah, now, that's a very, very good point.
[00:20:29.550]President Billy, I read an article the other day
[00:20:32.550]about how the impact that COVID had on access to broadband
[00:20:38.430]and of course individuals being students,
[00:20:40.860]being able to access broadband and to do virtual learning.
[00:20:46.650]I was wondering, can you talk about this
[00:20:48.990]and whether or not there's a correlation
[00:20:51.090]between that very issue and enrollment
[00:20:54.450]and data as it relates to many of the institutions
[00:20:58.648]that you are representing?
[00:21:02.250]Right, I think, as I mentioned earlier,
[00:21:04.410]we knew going into the pandemic,
[00:21:05.910]tribal college has had the slowest internet access
[00:21:08.490]at the highest cost, oldest equipment
[00:21:10.260]of any group of institutions.
[00:21:12.630]So far, our institutions of higher education
[00:21:15.330]on our reservations didn't have access
[00:21:17.340]or had very slow access.
[00:21:18.570]You know, that the homes on our reservations
[00:21:21.420]probably had no access and that was the case.
[00:21:23.610]So there was there, I always say,
[00:21:27.240]you know, if you look at those Verizon or Sprint maps,
[00:21:31.170]there's some gaps.
[00:21:32.250]Little areas where there's no pink color or whatever.
[00:21:36.000]That's Indian country,
[00:21:37.740]that those gaps are where Indian country is.
[00:21:40.110]And it's still pretty much the case today,
[00:21:41.910]although it's getting better
[00:21:42.840]and I think it will as Antonio said over time,
[00:21:46.140]get a little better.
[00:21:47.040]But yeah, the tribal colleges that were able to figure out
[00:21:51.840]how to do online learning,
[00:21:55.477]their enrollment doubled, tripled, quadrupled in some cases,
[00:22:00.810]the ones who weren't,
[00:22:01.650]we actually had one institution that shut down completely
[00:22:04.380]because-- Wow.
[00:22:05.213]It had no access at all.
[00:22:07.110]But we look at that as an opportunity
[00:22:09.030]and we've actually been working really hard
[00:22:10.980]to make sure that all tribal colleges have access.
[00:22:13.470]Because the other interesting thing is we know that 70%,
[00:22:15.957]and this is also the case in Nebraska,
[00:22:18.750]70% of American Indians and Alaska natives
[00:22:21.480]live in or near urban areas,
[00:22:25.590]but tribal colleges are located
[00:22:27.210]predominantly on Indian reservations.
[00:22:29.580]So there's a lot of unserved need
[00:22:32.340]among urban American Indians.
[00:22:34.830]And we think we can address that through distance ed.
[00:22:37.830]Yeah, Dr. Pasquerella,
[00:22:39.090]one area where we did see growth
[00:22:41.850]is with historically black colleges and universities,
[00:22:44.580]the enrollment numbers at many HBCUs increased dramatically.
[00:22:49.500]I was talking to the president
[00:22:51.000]of Morgan State University in Baltimore recently.
[00:22:53.280]He said, "We didn't even have space to house students
[00:22:56.347]"because our numbers just exploded."
[00:22:58.830]And when students were interviewed about why they decided to
[00:23:02.400]go to historically black colleges and universities,
[00:23:04.860]to your earlier point,
[00:23:06.330]they said, because of the climate issues,
[00:23:08.430]we feel comfortable at many of these HBCUs.
[00:23:12.630]We see people who look like us.
[00:23:14.520]So I guess the question I have for you is,
[00:23:16.830]how do non HBCU institutions
[00:23:20.310]and especially large historic PWIs
[00:23:23.490]create an environment where indigenous students
[00:23:25.917]and students of color can thrive?
[00:23:28.200]And what mindsets of frameworks might provide a way forward?
[00:23:32.730]Yeah, that's a great question.
[00:23:33.870]And David Wilson at Morgan State really does focus on
[00:23:37.920]creating spaces of welcome and belonging.
[00:23:40.530]My colleague Sieva Sheldon writes on cognitive bandwidth
[00:23:44.460]and the ways in which racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism,
[00:23:48.570]belonging, uncertainty,
[00:23:49.920]steal the capacity of students to learn, which makes sense.
[00:23:54.780]You can't worry about,
[00:23:57.960]you can't study for your next test
[00:23:59.760]if you're worried about where you're gonna sleep
[00:24:01.680]or where you're gonna get food
[00:24:02.880]or dealing with the flurry of news reports
[00:24:08.040]that highlight the new permission structure
[00:24:11.190]that has led to these overt acts of racism,
[00:24:14.250]sexism, homophobia.
[00:24:16.920]And so she talks about ways
[00:24:19.560]that we can restore cognitive bandwidth.
[00:24:22.800]Certainly one way to do that
[00:24:24.750]is to get rid of the traditional approach
[00:24:28.500]to assessing students.
[00:24:30.030]It shouldn't be a matter of ranking
[00:24:31.920]and sorting through high stakes exams,
[00:24:34.530]and particularly not through standardized tests
[00:24:36.660]where we ask students to answer questions
[00:24:39.780]for which we already know the answers.
[00:24:41.550]Instead, we need to regard excellence as a process
[00:24:46.650]and provide a mechanism for continuous improvement
[00:24:51.450]from the first to the final semester.
[00:24:56.520]And the focus should be on peer engagement
[00:24:59.820]rather than peer competition.
[00:25:02.130]We know that the belonging uncertainty
[00:25:04.320]can be addressed through interaction
[00:25:07.650]with faculty members outside of the classroom.
[00:25:11.130]We've known through this Gallop Purdue study
[00:25:14.430]that's been taking place over decades
[00:25:18.480]that students who thrive 10, 20, 30 years
[00:25:21.630]after graduation are those who experience two things.
[00:25:25.260]First, the capacity to apply knowledge and skills
[00:25:30.270]to real world problems every single semester.
[00:25:33.060]And second are those who feel like they matter to someone,
[00:25:37.140]that someone cares about them.
[00:25:38.850]So how do we demonstrate that?
[00:25:40.830]Well, in order to demonstrate that level of caring,
[00:25:44.280]which we know is going to help students thrive
[00:25:46.830]and will contribute to retention,
[00:25:49.410]we have to free faculty to engage in that kind of work.
[00:25:54.000]For, you know, the tradition in higher education
[00:25:58.140]is to reward faculty based on peer reviewed journal articles
[00:26:02.430]as opposed to humanistic engagement with students
[00:26:06.030]inside and outside of the classroom.
[00:26:07.740]So we need to upend tenure and promotion processes
[00:26:11.010]in significant ways.
[00:26:12.390]And so there are many other things I could say,
[00:26:15.390]but I'll stop there.
[00:26:17.610]Dr. Flores, do you wanna comment at all on that question?
[00:26:23.073]Well, if I remember the question.
[00:26:25.980]Well, the question was again, given what we see
[00:26:29.190]in terms of the increase in enrollment at HBCUs,
[00:26:32.460]and I would even argue at some HSIs as well,
[00:26:35.730]what should PWIs predominantly white institutions
[00:26:38.730]be doing to try to create a climate
[00:26:40.950]to also attract some of those students?
[00:26:43.770]Well, I think it's a very, very pointed question
[00:26:49.130]in the right direction, but I would,
[00:26:51.387]and of course Lynn already alluded
[00:26:53.820]to some of the more individual practices
[00:26:58.200]that faculty and others could develop and put into play.
[00:27:04.320]My sense is that there is a systemic issue here
[00:27:08.880]with all of this that we're discussing
[00:27:10.860]because obviously I alluded to one of those issues,
[00:27:14.520]a systemic issue is that the divorce,
[00:27:17.220]the artificial separation between K-12 and higher ed
[00:27:20.580]that has this existed.
[00:27:22.590]And to me it shouldn't be that way
[00:27:25.020]and it shouldn't be also the case
[00:27:27.450]of this subdivision of higher education
[00:27:31.380]that is so marked in some respects
[00:27:35.490]between community colleges, regional universities,
[00:27:39.660]research 2 and research 1 institutions and so forth.
[00:27:44.040]There has to be more collaboration across levels
[00:27:47.250]and across sectors to create pathways of success
[00:27:52.680]because in our case, 52% of all the Latinos in college,
[00:27:57.120]they are at a community college.
[00:27:59.100]So if we don't do something there
[00:28:01.620]to really move those numbers up as high as possible,
[00:28:05.790]we are not gonna make of much progress.
[00:28:09.030]And when you look at the PhD pipeline, for example,
[00:28:13.830]only 4% of all the PhDs in this country
[00:28:18.870]coming out of graduate schools are Latino.
[00:28:21.750]And so how can you get faculty
[00:28:24.120]that will look like the 20% of the Latinos in college today,
[00:28:28.140]they represent 20% of the higher ed enrollment.
[00:28:31.350]If we are not having the number of PhDs required
[00:28:35.550]and not even the administrators,
[00:28:37.800]you know, like in your case here, Nebraska,
[00:28:40.020]I know that you probably have as 8% or so Latino enrollment
[00:28:45.780]and I don't know if you have that number
[00:28:47.280]of that proportion of faculty or administrators
[00:28:50.190]and you might say, well we can find them
[00:28:52.950]and you probably write in some respects,
[00:28:55.500]but we have to do something about that.
[00:28:58.020]And otherwise 10, 20 years from now
[00:29:01.350]we still be talking about this.
[00:29:03.360]And even in a worst case scenario than today.
[00:29:07.380]In terms of the gaps.
[00:29:09.180]So we need to really make an effort
[00:29:12.360]to create those consortia
[00:29:14.730]where we're in a column like Nebraska could.
[00:29:17.700]I mean there are two community colleges
[00:29:19.350]here in Nebraska that are HSIs,
[00:29:22.170]central and western Nebraska.
[00:29:25.440]Why not create linkages partnerships with them
[00:29:29.730]and even with others that are outside the state
[00:29:32.040]and neighboring states and with universities
[00:29:37.080]and bring more of those students up to your institution
[00:29:41.010]to go into graduate degrees and so forth.
[00:29:44.130]So I think that we have to tackle those systemic
[00:29:48.210]and artificial barriers that are there.
[00:29:50.520]Yeah, yeah.
[00:29:51.600]And at the same time,
[00:29:52.500]there are these kind of national issues
[00:29:54.870]that continue to emerge
[00:29:56.190]in this kind of politically charged environment.
[00:29:58.950]So on Monday, we'll for those of you who've been following,
[00:30:02.040]you all know that the US Supreme Court
[00:30:04.110]will hear a case on affirmative action.
[00:30:07.260]So even as we look to diversify
[00:30:11.670]and look to try to offer remedies,
[00:30:14.550]some of these very same programs are under attack.
[00:30:17.250]And yet we also see this great resignation.
[00:30:20.370]We see more and more folks leaving the discipline,
[00:30:24.750]leaving the field.
[00:30:25.950]So I guess I'm wondering how do we continue to push forward
[00:30:30.810]given the kind of attacks
[00:30:33.090]and the backlash that is happening
[00:30:36.060]in this kind of very politically charged environment
[00:30:38.520]that we're in?
[00:30:40.890]President Billy.
[00:30:42.900]Let me just go back if I could.
[00:30:45.180]Sure.
[00:30:46.235]To actually comments both my colleagues made
[00:30:50.250]that have to do with community and building community.
[00:30:55.530]I wanted to just reiterate that point,
[00:30:58.650]the point that Lynn was making about how do we,
[00:31:01.500]which kind of I think applies to what you just asked,
[00:31:03.990]how do we address the fact that people aren't,
[00:31:06.930]don't feel like higher education is important.
[00:31:09.780]One way to do...
[00:31:10.613]You know what?
[00:31:11.446]Those bills, 120 bills introduced in states
[00:31:14.820]to try to restrict higher education.
[00:31:17.250]Not one bill, not one resolution, not one board motion
[00:31:23.370]or charter introduced in Indian country
[00:31:27.480]for any of the 574 Indian tribes
[00:31:30.240]to restrict higher education or access to higher education.
[00:31:33.660]There's 35 tribal colleges
[00:31:35.460]that are accredit operating 75 sites.
[00:31:38.040]None of those tribes
[00:31:39.210]have done anything to try to restrict the education
[00:31:42.420]that our institutions are offered.
[00:31:44.580]Because we are place-based community centered institutions.
[00:31:49.440]Our institutions are out in the community all the time.
[00:31:52.560]So that's one thing I would urge you all
[00:31:54.000]to make sure you're doing,
[00:31:55.140]get out in that community and be involved.
[00:31:57.600]Service learning should be required for students,
[00:32:01.170]for faculty members,
[00:32:02.220]everyone you should be out in your community
[00:32:04.050]and strengthening the state and the community,
[00:32:06.870]same thing with building these relationships pathways
[00:32:10.440]or community within your institution.
[00:32:12.900]So for tribal colleges, for native students,
[00:32:15.570]it's not bringing in a student one at a time.
[00:32:18.570]It's bringing in communities and cohorts of students.
[00:32:21.330]And if you do that exactly as Antonio said
[00:32:24.450]through the partnerships with community colleges
[00:32:26.580]or in our case with partnerships
[00:32:27.960]with the two tribal colleges that are in Nebraska.
[00:32:32.640]And when you create that community,
[00:32:34.230]that strong sense of community and those pathways,
[00:32:37.020]I think things will really begin to change.
[00:32:39.540]So I guess in a way maybe that answers your question.
[00:32:42.930]No, I appreciate that, yeah.
[00:32:44.560]Yeah. Vote that's the other.
[00:32:46.390]Vote. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:32:48.480]And I think we certainly need to tell our story
[00:32:51.210]in a more compelling way
[00:32:52.410]using whatever vibrant vectors are available to us.
[00:32:56.130]So, you know, Michael Sandell in his book
[00:32:59.970]on the "Tyranny of Merit" talks about
[00:33:03.960]stigmatization of the poorly educated
[00:33:05.790]as the last acceptable prejudice in the United States.
[00:33:08.730]And I think that might be true
[00:33:11.070]that people do view higher education
[00:33:13.800]as existing within an ivory tower
[00:33:15.570]as a willful disconnect from the practical matters
[00:33:17.880]of everyday life.
[00:33:19.320]And those who haven't been privileged
[00:33:20.730]to gain access to higher education
[00:33:23.880]do feel like they're looked down on as lesser
[00:33:26.820]and they even feel that about themselves.
[00:33:28.800]And so we need to talk about
[00:33:32.100]what it is that we're doing in higher education
[00:33:34.110]that matters to people's lives.
[00:33:36.120]You know, I do a daily radio program on NPR
[00:33:39.420]called "The Academic Minute"
[00:33:41.280]and it's 90 seconds 'cause it's an academic minute.
[00:33:44.726](audience laughing)
[00:33:45.559]But it talks about what's going on at colleges
[00:33:49.230]and universities across the country and around the world
[00:33:51.330]that matters to people.
[00:33:52.680]So research on childhood asthma or on issues of,
[00:33:58.620]I mean there was one recently on Paul Lawrence Dunbar,
[00:34:04.140]African American poet who died
[00:34:07.170]at the beginning of the 20th century.
[00:34:09.000]But his impact on artists and current art and performance,
[00:34:14.700]it's a whole range of issues
[00:34:16.020]that people often don't think about.
[00:34:18.930]I talked to many people who don't realize
[00:34:20.820]that colleges and universities engage in cancer research.
[00:34:24.000]So we're clearly not doing a good job
[00:34:25.950]at talking about what it is that we do
[00:34:27.420]and why it should matter to those outside of the academy.
[00:34:31.020]And I think we need to go back to Anna Deavere Smith.
[00:34:35.730]And in her one woman ethnography,
[00:34:40.050]talk to me, listening between the lines,
[00:34:42.030]She talks about waiting and listening
[00:34:46.560]for the words of others
[00:34:47.940]in order to imagine what it's like to be in the shoes
[00:34:51.030]of those different from ourselves.
[00:34:53.100]And we haven't done that enough.
[00:34:55.260]And we need to demonstrate our capacity
[00:34:57.660]to engage in empathetic imagination
[00:35:00.360]for those who are most critical of higher education
[00:35:03.000]at this moment in time.
[00:35:04.710]Thank you so much.
[00:35:06.150]And of course Dr. Flores,
[00:35:07.050]I know one of the things that your organization does
[00:35:09.720]is you actually have these lobbying days
[00:35:12.000]where you are on Capitol Hill
[00:35:13.830]and you're talking about the connection
[00:35:15.810]between the work you do and again funding.
[00:35:18.630]And I was wondering how important that is
[00:35:21.210]in order to show up and to push legislators
[00:35:24.960]to move in the right direction?
[00:35:27.750]Well, obviously that's one of the most significant things
[00:35:32.370]that we do is central to our mission
[00:35:35.520]because obviously policy makers by and large
[00:35:40.650]are not as well informed of the realities
[00:35:44.310]of the institutions that we represent
[00:35:46.560]and the populations they serve.
[00:35:49.860]You look at Congress itself,
[00:35:52.110]most of them are for Ivy League institutions.
[00:35:55.620]Most of them are lawyers, no pun intended,
[00:35:59.159](audience laughing)
[00:35:59.992]but you know, is who we are talking to,
[00:36:04.890]people who come from a background
[00:36:08.610]that does not connect with the average person
[00:36:12.390]or let alone with a lower income
[00:36:16.020]and for generation college student population and so forth.
[00:36:19.950]So we need to help 'em understand the realities
[00:36:24.270]of these communities,
[00:36:25.860]which are entirely different
[00:36:27.540]from their life experiences that they have had.
[00:36:30.900]And so that's our job to do that
[00:36:34.140]because for better or for worse, they are there
[00:36:38.430]and it is our responsibility to ensure
[00:36:42.000]that they understand how is that what they decide
[00:36:45.990]can make or break the lives of many people
[00:36:49.200]at the community level.
[00:36:51.022]And so for us is a no brainer
[00:36:55.320]that we need to not only continue doing
[00:36:57.510]what we've been doing advocacy wise,
[00:36:59.580]we need to do a lot more and beyond policy makers,
[00:37:04.500]I don't think the American public
[00:37:06.810]as a whole clearly understands
[00:37:09.060]the plight of many of these under several communities.
[00:37:12.390]They don't, that the average person in America probably,
[00:37:17.910]you know, they consume what is put out in social media,
[00:37:23.070]in media and you know the rhetoric that goes on
[00:37:26.850]about immigrants, about people like myself and others.
[00:37:31.020]And so we have to correct all of that misinformation
[00:37:36.720]at all levels, but particularly with policy makers
[00:37:39.510]because what they do
[00:37:41.940]has tremendous consequences for society.
[00:37:45.540]And so we do that every year.
[00:37:48.600]Every year we have a capital forum
[00:37:51.420]and we engage our administrators, faculty leaders,
[00:37:55.380]and even students.
[00:37:56.847]And we put in through a process of learning
[00:38:00.630]not only the messaging that we're gonna take,
[00:38:02.880]but how to present it.
[00:38:04.680]And we arrange for meetings with numerous,
[00:38:07.950]numerous members of congress
[00:38:10.950]and it is very impactful.
[00:38:12.810]And they've been learning, they've been learning.
[00:38:16.320]And that's why we've been not necessarily keeping up
[00:38:20.970]with the growth of our population
[00:38:23.430]and institutions in terms of funding,
[00:38:25.200]but at least reducing the huge gap that is still persist
[00:38:29.640]and resources allocated to those institutions
[00:38:32.550]by the federal government.
[00:38:34.620]And for instance,
[00:38:36.390]this bill that I mentioned just a moment ago
[00:38:38.790]it stands to be passed.
[00:38:40.860]And if it does,
[00:38:42.360]then hopefully the lessons that we will learn
[00:38:44.940]from that activity programmatically nationwide
[00:38:49.020]will serve us a framework for the rest of the nation
[00:38:53.250]that is not really in the best interest of society
[00:38:57.810]to keep that barrier between K-12 and higher.
[00:39:03.206]That we need to fuse them together,
[00:39:05.130]and make a seamless continuum for students
[00:39:08.220]to go as high as they can.
[00:39:10.020]Yeah, thank you.
[00:39:11.190]Before we get to the next question, I wanna remind you all,
[00:39:13.350]if you have a question for the panelists,
[00:39:15.690]please use the QR code
[00:39:17.370]and we'll get to those in a few minutes.
[00:39:20.190]We're here at the University of Nebraska Lincoln,
[00:39:22.770]we've heard of really powerful presentation earlier today
[00:39:26.670]around their data.
[00:39:27.600]And I guess I'm wondering what areas or priorities
[00:39:31.320]have your organization identified as critical
[00:39:34.560]and how might this university support those areas?
[00:39:38.310]So I'll start with President Billy
[00:39:40.560]and that we'll work our way around.
[00:39:43.050]Well, I think in terms of the data that was presented,
[00:39:46.620]well obviously focusing on students,
[00:39:48.600]but the one I would probably focus on
[00:39:51.300]or that we are also working on
[00:39:53.610]is trying to grow more faculty of color
[00:39:58.740]because we know,
[00:39:59.851]you know, one faculty can serve many students of color.
[00:40:03.540]We, at Tribal colleges, almost 50% of our faculty
[00:40:07.860]are American Indian or Alaska native.
[00:40:10.590]So we're doing much better
[00:40:13.740]than other institutions in that area,
[00:40:16.320]but still need to improve.
[00:40:18.690]And I think that's one area that definitely
[00:40:22.830]University of Nebraska should really focus on
[00:40:26.190]in terms of trying to move the needle on its data.
[00:40:30.390]But I wouldn't compare myself to the big 10
[00:40:33.690]or to other institutions of higher education yet,
[00:40:38.640]get a little closer than you can,
[00:40:39.990]but I would focus on looking
[00:40:41.460]like the demographics of your state,
[00:40:44.280]you know, because you want goals that you can,
[00:40:46.350]that are achievable and that really make sense.
[00:40:48.870]So in terms of if you want your student body
[00:40:51.540]to be reflective of your state,
[00:40:53.250]your faculty should be representative of your state.
[00:40:55.710]So I think that might be a little easier to achieve.
[00:40:58.290]And then, and something that if it's easier to achieve,
[00:41:01.170]then maybe you can get there.
[00:41:02.370]And there are a lot of programs available
[00:41:04.980]that we're working on,
[00:41:05.940]and I know others are to build faculty of color,
[00:41:08.880]but getting those, again,
[00:41:09.930]communities of practice together
[00:41:12.210]to grow them and strong mentoring programs
[00:41:14.610]are really, really important.
[00:41:15.900]Yeah, some great advice there.
[00:41:17.040]Dr. Pasquerella.
[00:41:20.160]Well at AAC and U our mission is to advance
[00:41:24.840]the democratic purposes of higher education
[00:41:28.110]by promoting equity, innovation
[00:41:29.790]and excellence in liberal education.
[00:41:32.040]And I think the video we saw before
[00:41:35.160]this panel demonstrates the ways
[00:41:36.990]in which University of Nebraska
[00:41:39.510]is championing our mission in very significant ways.
[00:41:43.380]We have a number of new initiatives at AAC and U.
[00:41:45.780]We have an initiative that's been going on since 2016
[00:41:50.340]around truth, racial healing and transformation
[00:41:53.460]in which we are working with campuses across the country
[00:41:57.600]to partner with communities
[00:41:59.490]to jettison the belief in a hierarchy of human value
[00:42:04.350]and to redress the longstanding legacies of racism
[00:42:08.670]and white supremacy in our nation.
[00:42:11.010]Recognizing the extent to which we've been complicit
[00:42:14.640]and the ways in which colleges and universities
[00:42:17.310]continue to be white spaces.
[00:42:20.070]We have a similar initiative
[00:42:22.470]in partnership with Interfaith America
[00:42:25.620]on speaking cross religious differences
[00:42:28.770]and that's been exciting
[00:42:29.730]to work with dozens of colleges and universities.
[00:42:32.490]Our office of STEM is partnering,
[00:42:35.460]tomorrow we have an initiative
[00:42:37.530]that we're launching with the White House office
[00:42:40.890]on science and technology policy,
[00:42:44.730]trying to diversify STEM faculty
[00:42:48.000]and our work on the valid assessment of learning
[00:42:50.400]and undergraduate education.
[00:42:52.140]I know you're familiar with learning outcomes and rubrics.
[00:42:55.650]This work is doubling down on the notion
[00:42:59.370]that colleges and universities need to move away
[00:43:01.860]from a deficit perspective to an asset-based one
[00:43:05.700]embracing Carol Dweck's notion of growth mindset
[00:43:12.960]and what that means for colleges and universities
[00:43:15.960]to not look at students
[00:43:19.080]in terms of their readiness for college,
[00:43:21.660]but instead to look at ourselves
[00:43:23.880]as being student ready institutions.
[00:43:27.900]So helping faculty and administrators
[00:43:31.740]engage in pedagogical innovation
[00:43:33.900]that will ensure that all students
[00:43:36.450]are positioned for success once they arrive at college.
[00:43:40.860]And Dr. Flores.
[00:43:42.630]Yes, I will echo the comments
[00:43:45.480]made by my colleagues here at the conversation
[00:43:49.320]and I have something that I think I may be of interest
[00:43:53.370]to the University of Nebraska
[00:43:55.500]and that is to be part of our network of institutions.
[00:44:00.840]We have more than 500 colleges,
[00:44:03.390]universities in our association,
[00:44:06.090]which include obviously about 35% of them
[00:44:10.440]are community colleges, regional universities,
[00:44:13.710]and all the way up to R1s now,
[00:44:16.530]we have about 20 of those research intensive universities.
[00:44:21.600]And why would that be helpful to Nebraska?
[00:44:24.180]Obviously because you come to a community
[00:44:27.960]that provides you with information and contacts.
[00:44:33.750]I mean to me some of the most valuable experiences
[00:44:37.230]that you have in joining any association
[00:44:40.620]or going to any of those programs they provide,
[00:44:43.920]like our national conference is precisely that,
[00:44:46.830]the networking, the connections that you make
[00:44:50.100]in that it can bring about significant improvements
[00:44:54.120]to for your work.
[00:44:55.770]And so I would really urge them in a selfish
[00:44:58.830]but also important way to do that
[00:45:02.910]because you will find value added in what we do
[00:45:07.470]to the points that we're discussing.
[00:45:10.530]In fact, my board is comprised of 18 members,
[00:45:15.030]all of them are presidents of universities
[00:45:18.510]that represent a cross section of our membership.
[00:45:22.380]And in fact you might have heard
[00:45:25.560]of a recent alliance of R1s, HSI ones
[00:45:29.910]that was unveiled in D.C. in June
[00:45:32.580]that came from our board.
[00:45:34.830]We have three board members who are R1 presidents,
[00:45:39.330]Garnet Stocks of University of New Mexico.
[00:45:42.990]Michael Amiredes who used to be in Illinois
[00:45:45.480]is now at South Carolina and Howard Gilman from UC, Irvine.
[00:45:51.450]And those three individuals came to me
[00:45:53.670]when they first joined our board about four years ago
[00:45:57.180]and said, okay, what can we do as R1s
[00:46:00.270]to help increase the number of PhDs?
[00:46:03.780]That was their aim.
[00:46:04.650]And now, so we discussed, so they created this alliance,
[00:46:07.440]okay, and it's great and there are about 20 institutions
[00:46:10.770]now that are R1S, HSIs, that they came together
[00:46:15.060]and decided that they want to double
[00:46:17.370]the number of PhDs, Latinos.
[00:46:20.070]Now, that's a very commendable goal.
[00:46:23.370]They wanna do it by 2030, which is just around the corner.
[00:46:26.970]But if you think about it, it's only 4%.
[00:46:31.500]So they double it to 8%.
[00:46:33.960]The Latino growth in higher ed has been going at a pace
[00:46:38.280]that is now about 20% of the total student enrollment.
[00:46:41.460]By then it will be 30%
[00:46:43.500]if you look at what's coming out from K-12.
[00:46:46.050]So the gap will be wider by then than there is today.
[00:46:50.460]So there has to be a quantum leap,
[00:46:53.310]a critical math to move a map.
[00:46:55.710]And I think you can be part of that.
[00:46:57.720]Now, yesterday, just the day before yesterday,
[00:47:01.170]I had a conversation with another board member
[00:47:03.870]from an R2 who is on my board and said,
[00:47:06.667]"You know, Antonio, that was a great move
[00:47:10.087]"except that of course
[00:47:11.257]"it's not gonna produce the numbers that we want,
[00:47:14.197]"but we wanna do an R2 alliance."
[00:47:18.750]And then, and I said, well let's do it
[00:47:21.540]and then you can come together with the R1
[00:47:24.000]and then engage those below you
[00:47:26.640]and create that consortium, that enterprise.
[00:47:30.450]And I think University of Nebraska
[00:47:33.540]could be part of all of that and more.
[00:47:36.030]And so I'm just suggesting...
[00:47:38.490]I think the conditions are there for universities like this
[00:47:42.900]to really elevate not just their profile
[00:47:47.550]and their demonstration of commitment to diversity
[00:47:52.860]and inclusion, but to really get things done
[00:47:56.310]in a significant way.
[00:47:58.320]And so that has to have a number of elements
[00:48:03.690]and the main one to me is a mindset change,
[00:48:07.860]a paradigm change if you will,
[00:48:10.080]from competition to collaboration.
[00:48:12.690]'Cause see a lot of institutions are competing
[00:48:14.640]for students and all that they need to collaborate
[00:48:18.300]and to create a bigger pie, if you will, of a students
[00:48:22.200]that they can bring to their respective programs
[00:48:26.730]and campuses instead of competing
[00:48:29.401]for those few that make it up.
[00:48:32.070]And so I think all of that is doable,
[00:48:36.240]but it has to be very intentional.
[00:48:38.310]It has to be very well coordinated
[00:48:41.130]that alliance that was created of R1s.
[00:48:44.700]It's a good example of that.
[00:48:46.530]But they need to of course think bigger in terms of numbers
[00:48:50.160]and to do that they need the rest of the system.
[00:48:53.490]Yeah, well thank you so much.
[00:48:55.080]Do we have any questions, Dr. Pasquerella?
[00:48:58.530]This is a real challenge
[00:48:59.790]and Jamal mentioned that on Halloween
[00:49:04.560]that Supreme Court will begin hearing the case
[00:49:06.510]that is likely to,
[00:49:08.340]despite, there is an article I think in the Chronicle today
[00:49:10.680]saying it's not dead, Gruder is not dead,
[00:49:13.170]but I think it probably is dead
[00:49:14.700]and I think race-based admissions will be banned.
[00:49:18.660]So we need to continue
[00:49:21.120]to focus on holistic admission policies.
[00:49:25.230]There are ways to do that.
[00:49:26.340]I think about places like the Oland College of Engineering
[00:49:29.640]where they have a holistic process
[00:49:32.610]where students come on campus,
[00:49:33.780]they give them hands based problem based learning projects
[00:49:39.000]when they come together as teams.
[00:49:40.890]You know, how do you build a ship out of stone
[00:49:44.670]that's gonna float and it demonstrates their capacity
[00:49:48.480]to apply knowledge and skills in a real world setting
[00:49:52.170]with teams, but individually.
[00:49:54.330]And so I think that's what we need to do.
[00:49:58.470]It will require greater investment
[00:50:01.080]in our admission offices,
[00:50:03.060]but I don't see any other way around that
[00:50:04.710]because one of the great strengths
[00:50:07.710]of American higher education
[00:50:09.900]is not only the diversity of institutional types,
[00:50:12.360]but the diversity of student and faculty bodies.
[00:50:15.090]And if we lose our capacity to continue to admit who we want
[00:50:21.150]and to hire who we want,
[00:50:22.830]then we might as well just do away
[00:50:25.080]with the American tradition of liberal education.
[00:50:29.400]President Billie.
[00:50:31.470]Yeah, I think the reason you're not doing it now
[00:50:36.570]is because it's very expensive.
[00:50:38.910]It's an investment to be like a tribal college.
[00:50:44.370]All the tribal colleges except for two,
[00:50:46.800]which ironically are the federal schools
[00:50:49.020]are open admissions institutions.
[00:50:51.660]So they take a student wherever that student is
[00:50:54.450]on the education spectrum and they work with those students
[00:50:59.220]one student at a time.
[00:51:01.230]That's a lot of, I think what Lynn was talking about earlier
[00:51:04.020]about the faculty engagement, faculty nurturing,
[00:51:07.560]feeling like someone cares about you.
[00:51:11.640]That's just a paradigm shift in higher education.
[00:51:15.840]But that's the kind of thing that needs to happen
[00:51:18.030]when there's,
[00:51:18.900]if you can't say we're gonna try to reflect
[00:51:23.130]the demographics of our state
[00:51:24.930]because that's against the law,
[00:51:27.120]then you have to open your institution
[00:51:28.980]to any student who wants to come to your institution
[00:51:32.040]wherever they are and meet those needs,
[00:51:34.920]really make a commitment to meeting those needs.
[00:51:37.440]And it can be done, tribal colleges are doing it,
[00:51:39.840]other institutions aren't because it is expensive
[00:51:42.390]and very labor intensive.
[00:51:43.830]But if you really care, that's what you have to do.
[00:51:48.780]Thank you.
[00:51:49.913]And again, I think the comments made
[00:51:53.310]on the question I write on target,
[00:51:55.350]and I'll just like to reflect on the court
[00:52:01.710]that was read to us on the establishment
[00:52:06.540]of that strategic goal
[00:52:09.780]of increasing diversity at the university.
[00:52:14.670]To me it involves much more than just admissions.
[00:52:20.220]And obviously one of the first things
[00:52:22.530]that I wonder is if the border regions,
[00:52:25.830]for example, is fully engaged and committed to that.
[00:52:31.200]And if it is,
[00:52:32.790]is that in the mission statement of the university
[00:52:36.330]at the very front of it?
[00:52:39.420]And they will have the obligation to educate
[00:52:43.740]the state legislatures who fund this university
[00:52:46.650]because it's a state funded primarily
[00:52:49.470]about the virtuous of what they are advocating for,
[00:52:54.630]what they are proposing to have as a futuristic mission.
[00:52:59.790]Not at looking at the past,
[00:53:01.260]looking at the future of the university
[00:53:05.391]and looking at demographics.
[00:53:06.780]And yes, the state is obviously the focus
[00:53:09.570]in terms of demographics,
[00:53:11.040]but I think they have to project beyond the state too.
[00:53:15.669]And the other thing is
[00:53:18.240]that the university will have to do a very extensive,
[00:53:22.140]very honest self-assessment of policies across the board.
[00:53:27.540]Not just admissions, financial aid, curriculum development,
[00:53:32.280]the programs that they are putting together.
[00:53:34.020]They really infuse content in any discipline
[00:53:40.410]that reflects the contributions of people of color,
[00:53:46.320]things of that nature
[00:53:47.250]that are really transformational in the canon, if you will.
[00:53:52.320]Because at the end of the day,
[00:53:54.833]it is the academic enterprise at a university
[00:53:58.800]that drives everything else.
[00:54:01.080]And that part of the university has to be on board.
[00:54:04.680]The faculty have to be on board.
[00:54:07.350]And so yeah, let's look at ourselves in the mirror
[00:54:12.990]and see if we are where we really wanna be
[00:54:15.810]and if not, what is it we need to do to get there.
[00:54:19.440]Thank you.
[00:54:20.273]Next question.
[00:54:22.333]I moved to the back.
[00:54:23.250]Can you all hear me?
[00:54:24.270]Okay, so the next question
[00:54:26.580]is actually directly to for Carrie,
[00:54:30.060]what would you say are areas where universities,
[00:54:32.640]and you've kind of spoken toward this,
[00:54:34.020]but what would you say are areas where universities,
[00:54:37.110]especially PWI or settler institutions
[00:54:41.040]go wrong in creating pathways for or engaging native
[00:54:44.460]and indigenous communities and tribes or students?
[00:54:50.820]What are opportunities?
[00:54:54.150]Essentially where universities go wrong
[00:54:56.640]and creating those pathways.
[00:54:58.350]Oh, well they don't create 'em.
[00:55:00.448](audience laughing)
[00:55:01.800]I think that's the number one thing.
[00:55:03.870]They don't exist at all.
[00:55:06.240]And you know, that's where you see that all the time
[00:55:08.280]with states,
[00:55:09.690]where like the state community college system
[00:55:12.630]or the state universities
[00:55:14.130]will go right up to the reservation lines,
[00:55:16.530]but they will never cross them.
[00:55:18.510]People are afraid of that.
[00:55:20.310]So I actually ask,
[00:55:21.300]are the presidents of our institutions here in Nebraska,
[00:55:25.140]what is your relationship like
[00:55:26.700]with the University of Nebraska?
[00:55:28.800]Do you have a good relationship?
[00:55:30.270]How do you work together?
[00:55:32.190]And they said it was good,
[00:55:34.320]so great, you guys are doing a lot better than most.
[00:55:39.210]They did say there are some areas
[00:55:40.650]where there could be improvement,
[00:55:41.970]but one of them is creating those pathways for the students,
[00:55:46.380]you know, just to,
[00:55:47.490]so that students can come in a cohort to your college.
[00:55:52.170]They don't really see that happening.
[00:55:53.880]It's more, you know, one-on-one
[00:55:55.920]making sure that all the credits the students earn
[00:55:58.650]are aligned at the tribal college.
[00:56:01.260]So when the student graduates from a tribal college,
[00:56:04.140]they can transition and save all of their credits.
[00:56:07.140]So getting the admissions to work together
[00:56:09.570]or whoever those people are who work out those
[00:56:12.300]course alignment agreements,
[00:56:13.890]that's where we're doing a lot of work
[00:56:15.840]in Montana for example on that because we see that as a big,
[00:56:20.280]as a roadblock that needs to be eliminated and it's working.
[00:56:23.700]So there's ways you can do that.
[00:56:24.870]That's probably what I would focus on first.
[00:56:27.180]But getting back to that other question
[00:56:28.620]about not being able to use affirmative action,
[00:56:31.440]you know, I think as a land grant institution
[00:56:33.600]and tribal colleges are also land grants.
[00:56:35.370]So they'll join you in this.
[00:56:37.860]Land grant was created because to educate the common man,
[00:56:43.980]woman person in your state, right?
[00:56:47.730]To educate the common person
[00:56:49.680]to bring education to the citizenry.
[00:56:52.020]If you can't use affirmative action,
[00:56:55.320]if you can't make your institution look like your state
[00:57:00.720]because there's a federal law prohibiting you
[00:57:03.540]from doing that, I would challenge that federal law.
[00:57:06.900]I think a land grant institution has good standing for that
[00:57:10.320]because it's prohibiting you if this happens,
[00:57:13.170]it's prohibiting land grants from meeting their mission.
[00:57:17.040]Thank you.
[00:57:18.450]Any other questions?
[00:57:19.860]Yes, we have another,
[00:57:21.210]So there are quite a few questions here.
[00:57:22.710]I'm just gonna do a little bit of consolidating,
[00:57:24.390]A lot of them surround
[00:57:25.440]the questions around legislative action.
[00:57:28.020]But the next question there is a question in the submissions
[00:57:31.530]about the return on investment of DEI efforts
[00:57:34.530]that highlights a neoliberal tension
[00:57:36.960]that often goes overlooked in higher education.
[00:57:39.630]What are your thoughts on the tension
[00:57:41.280]between institutional survival and a competitive economy
[00:57:45.480]drawing from the same funding resources
[00:57:47.790]and the seemingly altruistic goals of creating diverse,
[00:57:50.940]inclusive and equitable outcomes
[00:57:53.220]for underserved communities?
[00:57:56.100]Dr. Pasquerella wanna take that or (indistinct).
[00:58:01.137]Oh, my thoughts are that this is such a challenge.
[00:58:05.550]There was an article in the New York Times
[00:58:08.880]a week and a half ago
[00:58:10.200]about a student who wanted to go to Virginia Tech,
[00:58:13.590]but his father went to Western Governor's University
[00:58:16.080]and got an online education
[00:58:17.370]so he decided he was gonna do that.
[00:58:19.230]So he got his degree within a year
[00:58:22.350]and a bunch of credentials that went along with it
[00:58:24.480]and now he's working in industry.
[00:58:26.580]So this model we have
[00:58:28.050]of at least four years of higher education
[00:58:31.800]when job prospects for college graduates
[00:58:34.140]continue to be uncertain.
[00:58:35.790]And as Tony Canavali pointed out in his recent research
[00:58:38.940]on Tony's at the Georgetown Center for Education
[00:58:41.990]in the workforce that wars in the past,
[00:58:44.730]students were getting good jobs out of college
[00:58:47.970]in their early 20s.
[00:58:49.230]Now it takes them until they're 35 to get good jobs
[00:58:53.490]and by a good job he means earning $35,000 or more
[00:58:58.920]as very few places where that's a gonna sustain you.
[00:59:03.000]But certainly not in in D.C. where, where Georgetown is.
[00:59:07.620]But so I think there's reason to question
[00:59:12.300]the return on investment of a college degree.
[00:59:14.880]You know, Antonio talked about this
[00:59:16.770]over the course of a lifetime,
[00:59:18.420]you're likely to earn close to a million dollars more
[00:59:21.810]than if you just have a high school graduate.
[00:59:23.730]But the graduate degree.
[00:59:26.250]But the fact is that there's actual downward social mobility
[00:59:31.680]among African Americans, among Latinx populations
[00:59:36.000]and even a good percentage of whites have downward mobility.
[00:59:39.930]So there's been a decoupling of higher education
[00:59:42.480]from the American dream and that's not without reason.
[00:59:45.300]And we need to pay attention to those factors
[00:59:47.940]and change the rhetoric that we've relied on
[00:59:50.760]for so many years 'cause it just doesn't match the reality.
[00:59:55.350]Yeah, and you know, there is a clear tendency
[01:00:00.360]to think about how can we make higher education cheaper?
[01:00:06.510]How can we make it faster to get a degree?
[01:00:11.250]And of course the pandemic has accelerated some of that
[01:00:16.830]because it forced institutions to go online almost entirely.
[01:00:23.400]And so now we're left with the same question
[01:00:28.740]but in a more acute way.
[01:00:31.410]And in my mind,
[01:00:32.940]especially for the under sur populations that we represent
[01:00:38.952]in some of our associations, that's not a good thing.
[01:00:45.150]And lemme tell you why, because to me, higher education
[01:00:48.720]is not just about getting skill sets
[01:00:53.040]and knowledge that will lead you to a good paying job.
[01:00:58.290]It is about full citizenship and society
[01:01:02.910]and it is about creating social capital as you go through.
[01:01:08.940]And unfortunately, many of our young people
[01:01:11.220]who are first generation college students, low income,
[01:01:13.950]don't have social capital.
[01:01:16.200]They don't have it.
[01:01:18.030]And so that's why those who go to Ivy League institutions
[01:01:21.300]come out, you know, shining like stars
[01:01:25.410]because they have all this social capital
[01:01:27.360]even before they go in.
[01:01:29.370]And so it is part and parcel of higher education
[01:01:33.360]is a creation of social networks of social capital
[01:01:37.800]that will sustain you for life
[01:01:40.980]and that you will sustain reciprocating in that sense.
[01:01:46.620]So I think we have to be mindful of the fact
[01:01:51.228]that is not just about getting a job,
[01:01:56.310]it is about being a productive
[01:01:59.820]and responsible member of society, a full citizen.
[01:02:04.950]And so, and but the fact remains
[01:02:09.420]that there will be that push for especially policy makers
[01:02:14.940]were talking, oh, it costs too much.
[01:02:17.280]Well, you know, try ignorance and see what it will cost you.
[01:02:22.800]And so I agree that we have to find ways
[01:02:28.500]to supplement if you will,
[01:02:30.930]or to even complement the academic campus community
[01:02:38.250]with online opportunities where appropriate
[01:02:42.930]but not to replace that experience
[01:02:46.140]because I mean,
[01:02:46.973]if you are isolated somewhere learning on your own,
[01:02:51.600]well, you are on your own,
[01:02:53.490]you are not building social capital.
[01:02:56.460]Yeah, and so to me that's why
[01:02:59.370]I feel very strongly about that.
[01:03:01.380]Yeah, I just wanna build on what Antonio said
[01:03:04.260]and that shift away from the notion of higher education
[01:03:06.960]as a public good to viewing it as a private commodity
[01:03:09.750]has coincided with a disinvestment,
[01:03:12.090]especially in public higher education from 2008 to 2017,
[01:03:16.890]44 out of 49 states that were studied
[01:03:21.120]had a decrease in their investment in higher education.
[01:03:23.727]And that has taken a real and lasting toll.
[01:03:27.656]Yeah, do we have time for one more question
[01:03:30.390]or, okay.
[01:03:33.210]The final question we have,
[01:03:34.470]we have quite a few, but I'll just do this one.
[01:03:37.020]What can colleges and universities do
[01:03:38.880]to attract people with disabilities?
[01:03:40.710]This includes students, faculty, and staff.
[01:03:47.880]President Billy.
[01:03:49.830]Well, I think first look at the data.
[01:03:53.760]So I thought that was great
[01:03:55.170]because I don't think most institutions have,
[01:04:00.690]or at least report or talk about the level of detail
[01:04:03.480]on disabled students that you all talked about.
[01:04:05.970]So I thought that was a very positive thing
[01:04:08.850]to look at the data.
[01:04:10.050]And again, it's create that sense of community.
[01:04:13.920]You have to be open to bringing in students
[01:04:17.670]and creating not just one disabled student,
[01:04:21.180]not just to a community.
[01:04:23.370]So they feel comfortable and they have the support they need
[01:04:27.390]and it's not, you know, it's that holistic support.
[01:04:30.030]So I think I'd urge you to look at tribal colleges
[01:04:32.370]and the way they provide holistic student support,
[01:04:35.070]but it's meeting all of their needs in a very holistic way.
[01:04:39.090]Not just their academic needs and making sure they can,
[01:04:42.570]you know, access the curriculum,
[01:04:44.370]but it's supporting to make sure
[01:04:45.750]they have a wheelchair that works
[01:04:48.450]to make sure the sidewalks are accessible,
[01:04:50.550]to make sure there's another way to get in this building
[01:04:52.740]other than those stairs,
[01:04:53.880]which you probably do that,
[01:04:56.220]but maybe not going all the way to helping them
[01:05:00.090]get the wheelchair they need
[01:05:01.770]or those kinds of personal services
[01:05:04.980]I think are really important
[01:05:06.630]to engage the students with disabilities.
[01:05:09.960]Yeah, I agree completely.
[01:05:11.520]And would just add that, you know,
[01:05:14.550]focus on the fact that not all disabilities are seen.
[01:05:17.820]We did a survey recently of college presidents
[01:05:21.510]and we have 1000 member institutions.
[01:05:24.240]Their number one concern is the mental
[01:05:28.380]and emotional distress that college students
[01:05:31.170]are experiencing today along with their faculty and staff.
[01:05:34.140]There was 110% increase in students reports
[01:05:38.250]of mental health issues, primarily anxiety and depression.
[01:05:42.120]And yet there was a 19% decline
[01:05:44.610]in students reaching out to seek support services.
[01:05:47.880]So we need to be mindful of the ways
[01:05:50.070]in which we're addressing those issues
[01:05:53.460]and recognizing that not all disabilities are visible to us.
[01:05:59.047]The only point that I will add
[01:06:00.230]to what my colleagues have already expressed
[01:06:02.970]is that I think the students and faculty,
[01:06:11.970]employees across the board with college or university
[01:06:15.780]that kept some type of disability, not only do they need
[01:06:22.620]to be provided with all the necessary resources
[01:06:25.470]and services to be able to do what they need to do,
[01:06:29.640]whether it's learning or working, whatever,
[01:06:34.230]but I think they added value
[01:06:36.270]of having individuals with disabilities in any setting
[01:06:40.410]is that they also help us,
[01:06:43.350]those of us who may not be in their condition
[01:06:47.040]to develop empathy, empathy in the best sense of the world.
[01:06:52.140]And it's something that we all need
[01:06:54.060]to cultivate every single day.
[01:06:57.060]And I think that is something
[01:06:58.590]that has obviously not tangible value, but it is invaluable.
[01:07:05.430]Didn't you all enjoyed this panel,
[01:07:06.990]let's give them a really, really big hand.
[01:07:10.020](audience applauding)
[01:07:10.853]I certainly learned so much from all of you.
[01:07:16.680]And wanna thank you again for your leadership
[01:07:19.380]and your vision and for being here with us today.
[01:07:21.600]Thank you all.
[01:07:23.738](audience applauding)
[01:07:27.706](indistinct)
[01:07:33.210]As our panel are returning to there seats,
[01:07:36.540]I just wanted to bring a few things to highlight
[01:07:38.790]before we end today.
[01:07:41.190]One is absolutely just phenomenal panel.
[01:07:44.220]I mean this was sort of an expert class in higher education.
[01:07:47.280]For those of you as someone who has studied higher ed,
[01:07:51.420]I'm a bit of a nerd about it.
[01:07:52.800]And so I just really appreciate all of the rich information
[01:07:58.380]and points of view that they provided to us.
[01:08:01.680]And thinking about the digital divide,
[01:08:04.470]For me, my biggest takeaway was really thinking about right,
[01:08:08.850]like we are at a time that I think we assume
[01:08:12.390]that there has been more access given
[01:08:14.730]in the pathway to higher education,
[01:08:17.520]where there are still many, many, many both visible
[01:08:22.230]and hidden stumbling blocks on the path to higher education
[01:08:26.460]that is worth universities certainly doing,
[01:08:28.950]having greater partnerships with K-12
[01:08:31.650]and community agencies in reservations
[01:08:34.410]and other community leaders
[01:08:36.480]on how we remove those roadblocks
[01:08:38.670]and do this collectively together,
[01:08:40.740]I think is certainly is a major takeaway.
[01:08:45.240]As always, please go forth, do well, be well,
[01:08:50.190]and let's go big red
[01:08:51.540]and do the work of inclusive excellence.
[01:08:53.280]Have a good day.
[01:08:54.371](audience applauding).

The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!

You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.

Comments

0 Comments

State of Diversity 2022 Panel

Description

Searchable Transcript

Comments icon comment

Related Channels

Comments