Some Presidents Don't Like Their Students

Embarrassed to be a Boilermaker

Last week I wrote about the president of Bluefield State University in West Virginia and how he publicly complained about a group of his faculty. That kind of antagonism from someone so far outside academia seems to be a trend.

If that weren’t bad enough, Monday we were treated to the opinion of former Purdue President Mitch Daniels. Prior to Purdue he’d served as governor of Indiana and Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Daniel’s point: students are entitled, only qualified in social media use, and unwilling to work before 10:30. His source material? A 2017 TicToc parody video.

Asked whether her claimed proficiency in technology includes tools such as Excel or PowerPoint, Amy reveals that no, she meant Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat — “You know, the big ones.” She blithely assures the interviewer she can meet all the company’s research requests by asking Siri.

She is dumbfounded by his announcement that the work day starts at 8 a.m. “I don’t understand. Like, 8 in the morning? That kind of doesn’t work for me,” she says, because she is up texting her boyfriend in Paris until all hours, and doesn’t even get to Starbucks until 10, so 10:45 would be her ideal starting time. When the employer politely tells her that no job offer will be coming, she is shocked at his “hostility,” his lack of “validation” that makes her feel “not very safe,” and demands to see someone from the HR department about taking a “mental health day.”

Daniels does recognize that this isn’t a serious view. And then he, of course, continues with a diatribe of what’s wrong with young people today.

Employers report, he says (without any citations), that graduates lack basic skills of responsibility. Furthermore, businesses wind up training students into the corporate culture, often spending $1,200 per employee on those tasks. Of course, there is simply the assertion that this is new (it isn’t) or that this is an exorbitant cost (while it’s more likely the true cost of on-boarding). He quotes an anonymous Fortune 500 CEO that today’s hires don’t work 40 hours (as if the CEO knows the work habits of new hires!).

Citing a bad book by Charles Murray from 2012, he places the blame on worker’s lack of responsible work ethic. Murray was talking about working class folks on disability, but never mind. Daniels uses this to critique today’s graduates. And Murray’s book was full of working class victim blaming.

Daniels cites a survey saying that graduates felt unprepared for the demands of the workplace and its accompanying relational dynamics. He doesn’t explain how it is, exactly, that universities were supposed to provide such experiences (he’s likely a big fan of co-op programs!).

He concludes his screed as follows:

Surveys of those entering college almost invariably report that the No. 1 reason given for enrolling is to increase their earning potential — in other words, to become prepared for success in the world of work. Though that is clearly happening for many, the coddling culture that has grown up at too many schools might actually be setting some young people back instead of readying them to launch the careers to which they aspire. That won’t produce a workforce built for prosperity — for any of us.

As a proud three-degreed Boilermaker, I’m embarrassed to have such a piece written by our former president. Not simply because it’s trite and filled with conservative shibboleths. Not only because it lacks anything approaching a cogent argument.

I’m upset because he’s demeaning the education of each of the more than 50,000 students who attend Purdue.

I suppose that Mitch Daniels thinks that all college students are trust-fund babies who don’t understand the value of work. In reality, most students are working regular jobs to pay for their schooling.

When they take jobs after graduation, they are adjusting to many new realities: living on their own, managing bills, building a social network, and taking on their responsibilities in their workplace.

I just came off an accreditation visit to a school that prides itself in wrap-around services to support its students. Knowing that many are first generation and/or Pell recipients, there are systems to develop key skills in students throughout their time at the university. This includes a focus on career preparation and internships to aide in current and future employability.

So what is Daniels arguing? Why is it necessary to demonize today’s students as if they are not worthy of comparison to students from prior eras? Why feed into the never ending “is college really worth it” tripe by suggesting universities are failing their students and their communities?

I wonder if Daniels is positioning himself for future political opportunities. Having been a hard-line conservative in his prior life who then became a university president, maybe its required to badmouth higher education given the low regard in which it is held by so many conservative Republicans.

I argued last week that a college president who can’t get along with faculty members, even the obstructive ones, has no business being a college president. A college president who thinks his students are simply spoiled social media influencers has clearly not invested in students and is of no more use.

If you don’t care about students and faculty, you can think about the university as a non-profit business and draw satisfaction from things like buying Kaplan. But if that’s the case, it would be far better if you just ran a for-profit business and not mess with the inner workings of institutions of higher ed.

I would be upset with Daniels’ line of argument from any president that made it. That it came from my alma mater is just embarrassing.