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  • Editors’ Introduction
  • Jennifer L. Holberg and Marcy Taylor

State legislators have cut appropriations to the University of South Carolina by nearly a quarter over the past five years. But whatever reason campus officials might point to for those cuts, they can’t say lawmakers aren’t familiar with the university. More than a third of the state’s 170 legislators have earned at least a bachelor’s degree at the flagship campus, which is located just blocks from the State House, in Columbia.

— Eric Kelderman, “For Love of Alma Mater: Does a Degree Influence Decision Making?”

This news from South Carolina could be news from almost anywhere: our former students, now our legislators, think they know us and our institutions. However, what they think they know is not doing much to promote a robust culture of education. Why? Where do these attitudes come from? How can students go through four years of education in our institutions and yet be so willing to defund those same institutions once they get out?

Depressing as it is, by now none of this is surprising, nor is the reality that something must be done in response to the current economic situation. Another recent article in the Chronicle (Fischer 2011) points out that not only are families struggling with education-related expenses—how to pay for a degree—but “more than a third of [college and university] presidents think the industry they lead is heading in the wrong direction.” The study shows that our leaders, our students, and their families are questioning the value of a college education. How are we going to articulate our core missional [End Page 1] identities in the face of this situation? That is less clear. Few compelling arguments have emerged despite the plethora of articles and books that have been piling up recently on the subject. Economic priorities must be informed by a comprehensible sense of what education is supposed to do and for whom it is supposed to do it—rather than simply being guided by “efficiencies.” In other words, we need better rationales for what we do and why we do it. As graduates of several public institutions, we both are unwilling to part with the legacy of a publicly supported system of higher education—one that made possible not only our PhDs but also our bachelors’ and masters’ degrees—for the students who have come behind us. However, we need to do a better job of convincing those very same students of the fundamental worth of their academic experience, helping them see more fully what the work of the academy is.

In these discussions, constituencies do matter—more than we like to acknowledge and as much as we chafe at the opinions of those not involved in the day-to-day work of academia. The era of common belief in the importance of higher education, of a commonly held trust in professors and the importance of their work, is clearly long over. As academics, we are no doubt partly to blame for this situation because we have not generally connected with our communities as fully as we might.

This was made especially evident to us when Jennifer was recently appointed to her college’s presidential search committee, on which the faculty represent a fourth of the membership. The representatives of alumni, trustees, and community folks—all of whom have strongly held views about the future direction and essential identity of the school—need to hear, and need to hear persuasively, from faculty. In turn, faculty need to listen to the concerns of our constituencies and find meaningful ways to engage them.

Talking in moments of transition, as on presidential search committees, is important, but not as important as the ongoing work we do with our students and with the communities around us. Teaching—both in the classroom and publicly—is key to solving some of academia’s most pressing problems. In her commentary in this issue, Teresa Mangum takes up public teaching, something we have long advocated in Pedagogy, and stirringly calls us all to find ways to connect with our neighbors through a range of venues and approaches. Mangum finds persuasive ways to help us...

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