Digital Commons Network^™

Generating The Pipeline: Addressing Bias In Recruiting And Hiring, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

In past articles of this column we have reported data that show that women in general find more barriers than their male counterparts in getting into academic careers. Further, female college professors earn on average 10 percent less in salaries than their male colleagues.

If you are a woman in academia and aspire to an administrative job in order to substantially improve your earnings and make them more in par with the males around you, you should think twice.

The Problem Of Sexual Harassment, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

In the last few months, the media have been inundated with news about sexual harassment of women. The cases with the most notoriety have been those of celebrities or associated with the entertaining industry, but they have not been the only ones. This attention to the issue has generated what is called the “Me Too Movement” (or “MeToo”). With sexual harassment and assault occurring in every segment of society, it is important to ask how this issue is seen on college campuses, which have been accused of too much “political correctness” in the past.

A new study published last week …

Iran Deal Will Impact Higher Ed, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

On May 8, President Donald Trump announced that the United States was pulling out of the 2015 deal with Iran and other countries to limit the Iranian nuclear program. This deal was designed to slow anddelay Iran’s efforts to build anuclear weapon by lifting economic sanctions on that country in exchange for a number of actions aimed at shutting downits uranium enrichment e ortsand related programs.

The decision by the Trump Administration seems to have been prompted more by demagoguery and hatred towards anything President Barack Obama did, than by reason. In fact, America’s European allies tried everything in their …

A Catch-22 For Illinois Higher Ed, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

The 1951 novel “Catch-22” byJoseph Heller describes its own title as a situation from which you cannot escape because of contradictory rules, such as “How am I supposed to gain experience to get a job if I’m constantly turned down for not having any experience?” The troubles for public higher edu- cation in Illinois, which have attracted much national atten- tion, seem to be a clear example of a Catch-22 situation. And it seems that the last few weeks have been nothing but full of bad news for Illinois higher ed.

First, we have the case report- ed by “The …

Sports Scandals Cost Higher Education Ed Big, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Last week in this column I summarized some studies showing that most athletic programs at colleges and universities are run at a financial loss. I also addressed how other aspects of some athletic programs have become liabilities in other ways, including the seemingly never-ending scandals that take place around those programs. But do scandals result only in a bad image for the institutions, or are there also financial consequences to them?

In a study just published titled, “Universities Behaving Badly: The Impact of Athletic Malfeasance on Student Applications and Enrollment,” several researchers from Appalachian State University and Seton Hall University …

Lawyers Have Two Approaches To Higher Ed, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

After decades of a culture of social isolationism, we see how colleges and universities have gradu- ally become the battlegrounds of national issues such as race, religion, sexual assault, gun control and free speech. Over the last 50 years more than 120 cases related in one way or another to higher education have been heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. Hundreds of other cases have been filed, only for the justices to deny hearing them.

However, most colleges and universities are not well prepared to deal with litigation. For one thing institutions of higher education have had for decades a …

Civility Needs To Return To Higher Education, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

According to The Institute for Civility in Government, civility is “about more than just polite- ness, although politeness is a necessary first step. It is about disagreeing without disrespect, seeking com- mon ground as a starting point for dialogue about differences, listening past one’s preconceptions, and teaching others to do the same.”

If we go by current events in academia it seems that civility has all but been lost. We see students actively impeding or shouting out at outside speakers just because those guests do not adhere to a particular “party line,” a pure version of a particular ideology, or …

What Changes To Title Ix Mean For Higher Education, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

The fight for civil rights in this country has a long history. It became particularly notable in the 1960s with the passage of The Civil Rights Act of 1964. Yet, such a law did not include any prohibition against gender discrimination in public education and federally assisted programs. After some legislative battles, Indiana Democratic Sen. Birch Bayh proposed in 1971 a provision that would eventually become Title IX within the Higher Education Act of 1965 and was signed into law by President Nixon in 1972. In the words of Bayh, this provision would provide “an equal chance (for women) to …

Race, Gender Play Role In College Graduations, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

One of the best ways to measure the accomplishment of colleges and universities is by assessing the percentage of their undergraduate students who graduate within six years of enrollment. Although most undergraduate degrees are designed to be completed in four years, the norm is to count grad- uation rates in six-year intervals because many students have to work (many of them full-time), while others do not have the adequate preparation from high school to succeed and need more time to overcome their academic shortcomings. There are many factors that can delay time to graduation.

Many states tie funding for their …

College Enrollments Continue National Decline., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

If there is a statistic that all college administrators look at every year it is enrollments, the bread and butter of higher education for multiple reasons. First, all private colleges – and increasingly public ones – depend upon students enrolling in order to main- tain the financial flow to their institutions. Second, many public institutions have their state budget tied to the number of students they enroll. Third, the attractiveness of an institution of higher education is partly based on its enrollment success. No wonder everybody looks at those numbers every year with apprehension.

Enrollment numbers for the spring semester …

Best Practices For Recruiting And Retaining Diverse Faculty For Institutions Of Higher Education., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Research has shown that increasing diversity in organizations and the workplace is not only a matter of social justice. It suggests that including diverse voices and experiences makes groups more knowledgeable, sensitive, efficient, creative, and successful. Examples cited claim that increased diversity (in its broadest sense, i.e., gender, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation, disability, religious and socioeconomic background) affords groups rich opportunities to respond more effectively to the challenges of society that require multiple perspectives and broad approaches to complex problem-solving. Unfortunately, among the faculty represented in higher education, diversity remains an issue. And, the proportion of diverse individuals …

College Staff Continue To Be Unsung Heroes., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

For many of us in higher education, the staff that work at colleges and universities are unsung heroes. After all, most faculty are protected by tenure and academic freedom. Administrators also have a great deal of autonomy and job security. Yet, staff members –whether a department secretary or someone working out of the sight of most people – are usually badly paid, lack many opportunities for advancement and can oftentimes be dismissed rather easily.

Faculty, administrators, and students are all part of the public consciousness, but little is known about staff. Now a new report is shedding some light about …

For Social Justice, We Need To Look In The Mirror., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

One of the most contentious issues in politics in general – and in higher education in particular – is political correctness.

Usually defined as the avoidance of language or actions that are seen as excluding, marginalizing, or insulting groups of people that have been dis- criminated against because of their gender, race, or other identifying factors.

The term is now oftentimes used in a pejorative sense, particularly in conservative circles.

Private Colleges Can Partner To Solve Issues., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

One of the discussions around accessibility, cost, and quality in higher education revolves about private colleges and universities. Are they for rich kids only? Do they graduate students at a higher rate than do public institutions? Are they more efficient at managing their money? Can they save taxpayers money? And, more importantly, is there a place for them in the future of higher education? These and other questions have been around for a while and a study recently published on these issues provides us with some of the answers.

These and other questions are particularly relevant, especially in states that …

College Presidents Worry About Higher Ed’S Future, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

One of the major responsibilities of college and university leaders is to look into the future and act accordingly. They are supposed to see things coming, whether good or bad. That is why they are assumed to be good thermometers about the prospects for higher education.

Now a new survey gives us a glimpse about how they see the present and the future. Published just a few weeks ago, the study, titled “2017Survey of College and University Presidents,” shows the level of concern by U.S. higher education presidents about the future of their institutions. According to the survey, only six …

Does Unconscious Bias Effect Higher Ed Hiring?, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Nobody wants to be called a racist or a misogynist. Most people think that they are not. However, we are constantly making decisions that are influenced by unconscious biases.

Unconscious biases are defined as social stereo- types that are formed about certain groups of people by individuals from outside their own conscious awareness. Psychologists agree that everyone holds unconscious beliefs about various social and identity groups, and that these biases stem from one’s tenden- cy to organize social worlds by categorizing.

Female Administrators Face Discrimination In Ed., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

In past articles of this column we have reported

data that show that women in general find more

barriers than their male counterparts in getting

into academic careers. Further, female college professors

earn on average 10 percent less in salaries

than their male colleagues.

If you are a woman in academia and aspire to

an administrative job in order to substantially

improve your earnings and make them more in

par with the males around you, you should think

twice.

There Is Proof Diversity Makes Colleges Better., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Since the time of the Civil Rights movement the

issue of diversity has been widely discussed in academia.

First it was considered that institutions of

higher education should increase the participation of

minorities of both faculty and students as a matter of

social justice.

Then came the legal aspect of increasing diversity

when the concept of affirmative action was introduced

in the early 1960s. After President John F. Kennedy

issued an executive order in 1961 that required not to

“discriminate against any employee or applicant for

employment because of race, creed, color, or national

origin" and "take affirmative action to …

The Line Between Free Speech And Hate Speech., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

With the rise of incidents of bigotry on U.S. campuses

after the November elections, a question has

come up. How can we differentiate between free

and hate speech and what can we do about the latter?

The answer is complex, but there is a solution

to the problem.

At the federal level – and contrary to popular

belief – free speech is not absolute. The Supreme

Court has ruled many times setting limits on

speech, from child pornography cases, to deceptive

advertisement to specific threats of violence. The

fine line comes when dealing with espousing ideologies,

like the ones held …