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This resource is available only to Insider members

The Sandbox newsletter is an exclusive benefit of our paid Insider membership. Insiders have access to a unique blend of exclusive data, analysis and emerging best practices. Explore the member benefits here.

March 09, 2024

What Doug Says Behind Closed Doors

Introducing Rent-a-Doug Program

By  Rachel Toor

The Sandbox

Inside Higher Ed Insider
skateboarding prez

From Rachel Toor

A former president accused me of being bossy.

Guilty.

I had given her the same homework I assigned to Doug: watch The Greatest Night in Pop on Netflix.

Doug, at least, does what I say (sometimes).

Here are some of the things I got from this delightful, heart-warming, insightful, suprisingly suspenseful (even though we know how it ends) documentary about the making of “We Are the World.”

  • No matter how much success anyone experiences, we’re all still able to be fans. (Except Frank Shorter, but that’s a different story.)
  • Even in a prescribed form, we each can bring our authentic voices to the task and that’s where the goodies are. 
  • Sometimes we need others to remind us who we are. (Bob Dylan)

And also, Lionel Richie! Huey Lewis! 

Please, watch it. You’re welcome. Write me to tell me what you thought.

Now, on to our regularly scheduled programming.     

At a recent meeting, Doug was asked, as he often is, to give comments to a room full of leaders. He spoke for 30 minutes and then had to dash off to another meeting. (The man is always dashing off.) 

For many weeks, I have been nagging my work wife to share his opinions with the rest of the class, Sandbox-style. That means he has to remove his (plastered-on) news boy hat and, well, spout off in ways that aren't always comfortable for him.

Doug has long been an in-demand giver of keynotes, a host of dinnertime discussions, a dude about town. He will hate me for saying all these things because he's also deeply modest. 

We've decided to lease him out. Yes, you, too, can rent-a-Doug. Need someone to come and tell your board what's what? Or talk to your faculty about the wide world of higher ed outside their campus? For a fee (that goes directly into supporting The Sandbox with memberships for you to gift to your board, cabinet, or faculty friends), we'll send him to you to share his thoughts. 

In the meantime, as promised, we bring you some words from a man who tends, on the page, to be reticent with his own opinions but, who in the spirit of this enterprise—which springs from a place of concern for higher ed—is here to offer some tough love.

Remember that last word. 

The Doug Out

From Doug Lederman

I’m frequently asked if public support for higher ed has indeed declined. Skepticism about the academy isn’t new—think of Bill Bennett’s rampages against colleges as education secretary in the 1980s, the Contract with America in the 1990s, and Scott Walker’s reign (of terror) in Wisconsin in the 2010s, among others. 

But the public dissatisfaction is unfolding on a broader set of issues, coming from a wider set of critics and, while still driven by politicians, has seeped into public attitudes more deeply than before. So yes, you're not crazy—it's worse than I can ever remember. 

As for the critiques themselves, some are deeply exaggerated, some are wrong-headed, and many are politically motivated. That’s unfair, and it can be legitimate to challenge the veracity of the critiques and defend your students, employees and institutions against misguided attacks and true threats.

But—and you probably figured there was a “but” coming—the current crisis of public confidence in higher education will not be resolved mainly by rebuttals or by “telling [your] story better.” (There is a place for both, within reason.)

All you need do is look up from your campus office to see that higher ed’s collective credibility is in question. Colleges are viewed as just another interest group, and their leaders are not seen nearly as much as national “thought leaders” as they once were (though many are still highly respected locally as civic leaders). 

This can be hard to accept; trust me, as a journalist, I know how far one’s star can fall in the public eye. It’s painful.

And as with journalism, for all the exaggeration and politicization behind some if not many of the critiques, there is also truth behind some of them—truth that requires acknowledgement and a commitment to improve. 

We created The Sandbox to provide something different for the higher ed industry. Rachel is concerned about the lives of individuals in leadership roles and how we can support good people who are getting beat up on many fronts.

I am often asked to address groups about what I see as the problems in higher ed. I do this behind closed doors and off the record, in the interest of freely exchanging ideas with higher ed leaders in a safe space. [Note from Rachel: one president referred to Doug as “the confessional.”] 

While it’s not entirely comfortable for me to do this in writing (three decades of journalistic practice are hard to shake), in this space I’ll give you my thoughts about the various critiques. My sense of what’s exaggerated/unfair, what’s real, what’s addressable.

Because we want to keep The Sandbox a quick and lively Saturday morning read, in bites that are, in Rachel’s words, as delicious as they are nutritious, I’ll do this bit by bit, and focus in order from the least to the most credible critique, in my humble opinion.

This week I’ll start with the notion that America's colleges and universities are indoctrinating America's youth.

There is plenty of circumstantial evidence to suggest that higher education is a generally liberal enclave—data on the political affiliations of the faculty, for instance, and individual donations to political campaigns.

And it doesn’t take too many videos of professors going on rants about President Trump to get circulated (and re-circulated) on right-leaning news sites to create the perception that colleges and universities are setting out to build the future of the Democratic (if not the Communist) Party. 

This is by far the most political of the critiques, and the one most likely to come and go with the political tides. I also find this critique to be less broadly credible than the rest, and I think it has the least staying power as a result.

That doesn’t mean college leaders shouldn't take the issue seriously, especially given the political damage it’s causing. Many clearly do: in our 2023 survey of campus leaders, just as many presidents (44 percent) agreed as disagreed that “the perception of colleges as places that are intolerant of conservative views is accurate.”

If there’s a “to do” for leaders in response, I’d focus on the students, who in my view are more likely than faculty members are to try to squelch the perspectives of other students. 

Many students are entering college having been shielded from discomfort and challenge, which means colleges may have more work to do than in generations past. 

Impressing on students the importance of respecting opposing and even offensive points of view, teaching them about the importance of free speech, and training them to engage in hard conversations can’t be left to happenstance.  

Next time: affordability and value.

Email us

Please feel free to forward this issue to anyone you think might be interested in reading The Sandbox and taking advantage of other Insider benefits. Click here to join. 

JOIN NOW

We believe in diversity, equity, and inclusion. We believe in access. We know the field isn’t level but think everyone should get to play—not just those with pedigrees and good breeding but also the scrappier ones who may have had a rougher start in life. This applies to institutions (community colleges as well as research universities), leaders (the Ivy-all-the-ways and those who came from less “traditional” backgrounds), and animal companions (we're not speciest).

truro at doug's feet

Truro Lederman Scharff, the real one who must be obeyed.

The Sandbox

Not your typical weekly newsletter. This is a space where presidents and chancellors can say what they really think without fear. Everyone is welcome to read, but only those who have been in the top job can submit to us. The Sandbox, by Rachel Toor, is an exclusive benefit of our paid Insider membership program.

 

 

The Sandbox Archive

‘President Resigns Abruptly’

May 10, 2025

‘A Council of Sheriffs’ and Other Ideas to Help Save Higher Ed

May 3, 2025

Former Presidents Are Eager to Step Up

April 26, 2025

It’s All About the Benjamins

April 19, 2025

Presidents Get Real About Their Challenges and Fears

April 12, 2025
View All
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