Posts Categorized: Regionalism

This New Age

Every reader of this journal is being affected by the highly exceptional historical phenomenon we are all experiencing: an age of total transformation, of paradigm-shifts in virtually every field of human endeavor. Our own field—postsecondary education and training—is just one among all the others. Younger colleagues, though they may not like it, are experiencing this as a given and generally ...

The Long Road to Educational Equality for Boston Students

Boston has had an extraordinarily long and tumultuous history as a fulcrum of the fight for the equal education of Black people. Black Bostonians began petitioning the Massachusetts Legislature for greater access to the public school system in 1787, when our country was young. In 1835, the Abiel Smith School opened—the first building erected for the sole purpose of housing a Black public ...

My Fond Farewell to NEBHE and NEJHE

In October, I wrote to NEBHE colleagues to let them know I would be retiring from the organization and the editorship of The New England Journal of Higher Education (NEJHE) in early January 2023. While NEBHE has been my job, NEJHE has been my passion. I joined NEBHE in 1988 and, in 1990, became editor of NEJHE (then called Connection: New England’s Journal of Higher Education and Economic Dev...

An Editor’s Memos …

Looking back at New England higher ed and its impact on the economy and quality of life ... From 1990 to 2010, NEJHE Executive Editor John O. Harney wrote quarterly columns on angles in higher education and New England for The New England Journal of Higher Education and its predecessor Connection: The Journal of the New England Board of Higher Education. Here are links to these “Editor’s M...

Lessons in College Presidential Appointments: Dartmouth College to the University of Florida

In April 1981, David McLaughlin was named the 14th president of Dartmouth College. Though separated by four decades, there are striking similarities between Dartmouth’s appointment of McLaughlin and the University of Florida’s selection last week of its next president, Ben Sasse. If the past is prologue, Sasse and Florida are in for a rough ride. McLaughlin was an alumnus of Dartmouth, both...

Reaching the 39 Million: Rethinking What It Means to Be a College for Adults

We all received the “good” news recently that students are gradually returning to college, slowing the loss of 1 million students in postsecondary classrooms over the past two years to a trickle. But just as Covid has exposed many of the cracks in our social framework, so too has it laid bare what an outspoken few have known for years: Higher education isn’t working. Or, to speak more plainl...

For New England Higher Ed, Cybersecurity Signals New Threats … and New Opportunities

Some of the most common cybersecurity threats are malware, ransomware, phishing and spam. For their victims, including higher education institutions (HEIs), cybercrimes range from inconveniences to data breaches to grand heists like the one that struck Cape Cod Community College (CCCC) four years ago. In 2018, CCCC experienced a cybersecurity attack resulting in $800,000 stolen from school bank...

Summertime Snippets: Some Observations from the NEJHE Beat

Choosing economic development? Could the antichoice, forced-birth culture of the U.S. Supreme Court and many U.S. states present an advantage for New England economic boosters? Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker told reporters that he had heard from a lot of companies that the recent Supreme Court decision banning abortion may offer a big opportunity for Massachusetts to attract some employers wh...

Beyond Sensational Anecdotes, Public Needs to Understand Student Debt and Forgiveness Proposals

The issue of student debt is now at the forefront of public discourse and political debate. There is no question that debt, not just student debt, impacts our economy and hinders the economic wellbeing of many Americans. At the same time, the factors that lead to that debt should not be ignored. Not all student debt is the same, and not all individuals burdened by debt are impacted in the same way...

The January 6 Hearings Offer a Higher Education Test Case

The hearings of the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol have two fundamental and distinct tasks and responsibilities: first, to present a true account, based on conclusive evidence and logic; and second, to persuade the American public that this is indeed the only true and conclusive account. The first is epistemological, the second is rhe...