Higher education unravels.

• Author: Bresler, Robert J.
• Position: STATE OF THE NATION - Essay

I HAVE SPENT MOST OF MY ADULT LIFE in higher education, beginning as an undergraduate in the mid 1950s and ending as Board member of a small liberal arts college. During that time I have witnessed one of the country's finest institutions slide into a deep malaise. Its unraveling has affected every aspect of college and university life--finances, curriculum, intellectual atmosphere, faculty, administrative leadership, and students.

If there were a golden age of American higher education, it was in the two decades following World War II. In the late 1940s, there was the influx of veterans, supported by the GI Bill of Rights, who had seen the face of war and brought a seriousness and maturity to the classroom. By the mid 1950s, a number of them were on the faculty. These men were my teachers--dedicated no-nonsense intellectuals--deeply committed to teaching and the institutions that were putting bread on their table. They were not running popularity contests with the students nor pretending to be chummy. You either measured up or you were gone. Admittedly, like everything else in that era, it was a man's world--hard-nosed and structured.

As baby boomers entered higher education, first as students and later as teachers and administrators, the culture began to shift, and higher education has little resemblance to that bygone era.

Finances. For most middle class families, college at a state institution or a modest liberal arts college once was affordable. I went to a private college on a couple of thousand dollars a year and easily could supplement my parents' support with a summer job. The GI Bill was a straight stipend for veterans and there was no government loan program. Dormitories were modest and some ancient (mine was built in 1912). A full professor was lucky to make $10,000 a year; student centers were no more than a cafeteria; administrators were few; athletic facilities involved a gym, tennis courts, a small basketball court, football and baseball fields, and a track. The beauty of most campuses came from its natural setting, not its architectural wonders.

Today, a private college can cost more than $50,000 a year, which requires many students and parents to go deep in debt. Full professors at many universities can make well over $100,000 a year and are required to teach far fewer courses. Colleges try to outdo each other with dormitories that look like apartments suited for a gated community; lavish student centers featuring dining...