Confessions of a Community College Dean

Two of the major trends in higher education are on a collision course with each other. But their respective partisans don’t seem to notice.

With the book officially revealed, it’s time to drop the pseudonym. I don’t want the book discredited by the anonymity of its author, and I’m enough of a realist to know that someone would spill the beans quickly anyway, just to prove that they could.

A long-suffering correspondent writes: "I'm an IT manager at a community college. [Several] years ago, my college created a CIO (Chief Information Officer) position and united our technology departments under the new CIO. It was a disaster. The CIO was a longtime administrator at the college who, despite being an experienced educational administrator, wasn't able to be an effective CIO (poor communication and project management). The other administrators were unhappy with the performance of IT under the CIO, but they mostly held their tongues until he retired. Once he left, they let their displeasure be known and started clamoring for the technology departments to be split back up so they can have more control."

Congratulations to the long-suffering California public higher education system, which received a stay of execution from the voters. Proposition 30 raises enough revenue to prevent the next round of cuts, and to actually plan something. Even better, the voters sent enough Democrats to the legislature to achieve the supermajority status that California quixotically mandates for any tax increases. (Tax decreases don’t have the same requirement.)

I love this story, and not only because it’s illustrated with a picture of my old dorm. It’s about a minor trend of some residential colleges designating certain dorms as “quiet housing.” The appeal should be obvious to anyone who remembers trying to sleep while someone in the room next door insisted on blasting the English Beat. If memory serves.

I love this story, and not only because it’s illustrated with a picture of my old dorm. It’s about a minor trend of some residential colleges designating certain dorms as “quiet housing.” The appeal should be obvious to anyone who remembers trying to sleep while someone in the room next door insisted on blasting the English Beat. If memory serves.

This is not about the election, Instead, it’s about next week’s Big Announcement.

I had to smile at this piece in Inside Higher Ed. It recommended a more open-minded attitude towards administrative careers...