The (Un)Changing Academy
Deborah E. Hunter
By the time readers are holding this anniversary issue of The Vermont
Connection in their hands, the flower bulbs I planted on this autumn
day may be in full bloom. My hope is to transform a barren piece of
earth into a beautiful landscape rich in color and scent. Whether these
delicate yet hardy bulbs, with all their potential for future glory,
survive the coming Vermont winter is a mystery that won’t be solved
until next spring. Many factors threaten these vulnerable plants: the
rummaging of hungry deer, the scavenging of sightless moles, or the
shifting of earth by frost heaves. These predictable hazards as well as
other unexpected perils are anticipated by gardeners, those optimistic
souls who nonetheless plant and tend their plots with hope in their
hearts that a more bountiful and beautiful day lies ahead.
Those of us who call the Academy our home are similarly alert to the
predictable yet wondrous seasons that signal changes in academic life.
Known to us all are the chills and comforts of the pendulum swings that
mark times of economic plenty, public support, student activism,
curricular reform, and campus unrest. With wisdom born of experience,
we grow accustomed to the painstaking delay in discovering whether or
not our labors each day, semester, or year will bear fruit. Unlike
workers in a factory who can witness the swift manufacture of a product
as it rolls off the assembly line, student affairs professionals, like
gardeners, must wait and wonder whether today’s efforts will reap
desired results. Early in each of our careers we are rudely awakened to
the hazards that impede our efforts: the pitfalls of campus politics,
the complications that accompany student development, and the
injustices that plague our interactions. Further, we are haunted by the
budding realization that many of the social ills we seek to remedy on
our campuses have been tackled before and that those previous efforts
were met with painfully slow, if any, progress.
When I was asked by my Higher Education and Student Affairs
Administration (HESA) faculty colleagues ten years ago to craft a
seminar recounting the history of higher education, I knew that
presenting both the Academy’s past and its potential would be key to
sparking our students’ insights and commitments. Before these new
professionals became jaded by the stubborn ways in which the Academy
resists change, they needed to realize how the Academy has often stood
on the vanguard of social progress. Before their professional
experiences fueled cynicism about the Academy’s commitment to social
justice, they needed to know what had been tried before and what
societal forces united to hinder desired change. Thus was born the idea
for the HESA course EDHI 363: The (Un)Changing Academy, now required
for all of the graduate students in The University of Vermont’s
graduate program in HESA. Central to the course is an examination of
the tension between constancy and change throughout the Academy’s
evolution and how the deficiencies and dissatisfactions of the past are
embodied in our present structure in higher education: multiversities,
public and private liberal arts colleges, technical schools, community
colleges, and cyberspace campuses. Each of these types of institutions
represents the hopeful expression of past discontents with the
traditional college. Alas, many of these tensions continue unresolved.
And so, unanswered questions continue to haunt our campus communities:
For whom does the Academy exist? What work is to be done? What
principles do we hold dear? What is to be the relationship between the
Academy and society?
Each fall I greet eager first-year HESA students enrolled in The
(Un)Changing Academy. These individuals represent the success stories
of the Academy: those who persisted, excelled, graduated, gained
admission to graduate school, and aspired to careers in higher
education. As our semester unfolds and we uncover the Academy’s stories
of the past, these students, often armed only with their own happy
undergraduate experiences to draw from, are painfully awakened to the
ugly human struggles that have historically been manifest on college
campuses nationwide. Yet, the role of the professor is not simply to
inform, but to inspire. Therefore, the message professed in our
classrooms cannot solely be, “this is what you must know,” but also,
“this is where you can make a difference.” Together we can explore what
we most value about social justice, goodness, compassion, and learning.
Armed with an awareness of what makes for effective change, we can be
alerted as to what to expect along the way. Bolstered by a faith in
what is possible, a commitment to uphold our highest principles, and a
trust that together we can make a difference; we can create a brighter
future. Those are the seeds of change that we will help take root.
Deborah E. Hunter is the Coordinator of UVM’s HESA Program and has been
on the faculty since 1985.
She lives in Moretown, Vermont
with her husband, twin eight-year-old sons, and a barnful of farm
animals.