AMERICA, USA, Affirmative Action, Innovation and the Financial Future: A Survey of Presidents

With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to rule (again) on the constitutionality of considering race in college admissions, higher education leaders have been in virtual lockstep -- through legal briefs filed by scores of groups and associations, newspaper op-eds by individual presidents, and the like -- in asserting that curtailing affirmative action would hurt the quality of the education students receive.

"The diversity we seek and the future of the nation do require that colleges and universities continue to be able to reach out and make a conscious effort to build healthy and diverse learning environments that are appropriate for their missions," the board of the American Council on Education, the country's main association of college presidents, asserted in a resolution related to the case last year. "The success of higher education and the strength of our democracy depend on it."

As unified as they have been in their public stances, college leaders do not hold uniformly positive views on affirmative action, especially when it comes to the question at the core of the Fisher v. Texas -- the case before the high court -- Inside Higher Ed's new Survey of College and University Presidents reveals. Only 70 percent of campus leaders agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that consideration of race in admissions has had a "mostly positive effect on higher education generally," and only 58 percent said the use of race in admissions has had "a mostly positive effect on education" at their institutions. (Some of the 42 percent who did not support the latter statement may work at nonselective institutions where race is not an issue in admissions.)

The presidents also expressed relative optimism about the likely outcome of the Fisher case, with a slim majority predicting that the court will impose merely “modest” limits on the use of race in admissions. 
A total of 841 college presidents, 27 percent of those invited to participate, provided their views, with hearty response from across higher education's sectors and segments. The presidents were granted complete anonymity so that they could answer frankly, but their answers were coded by institution type, allowing for analysis of differences by sector. The margin of error is 3.4 percentage points. A report of the survey's results can be downloaded here.

Among other highlights of the survey:

    Presidents remain unpersuaded by, if not skeptical of, MOOC mania. Only 14 percent of presidents strongly agree, and another 28 percent agree, that massive open online courses have “great potential to make a positive impact” on higher education; 31 percent agree or strongly disagree, and the rest are neutral. But another higher ed innovation seems to have captured their attention: a full 60 percent of presidents agree or strongly agree that awarding academic credit based on students’ competency rather than seat time holds “great potential” for higher education.
    The responses provide little evidence that the sky is falling on institutions, as several recent reports have suggested. Seven in 10 presidents said their institutions would face budget shortfalls and increased competition for students this year, in a climate of cutbacks of state and federal aid. But fewer than a third said they expected to take the sort of strong actions – cutting administrative positions, freezing salaries, changing faculty roles or teaching loads – that would suggest deep concern, let alone panic, about their institutions' financial futures.
    In a year in which college leaders have seemed particularly vulnerable to political and trustee intervention -- see last summer’s drama at the University of Virginia and the continuing ferment at the University of Texas at Austin -- fewer than 8 in 10 presidents say they are confident that they will decide when they leave their jobs.
    And perhaps fittingly for a survey released on the day the federal government failed to ward off widespread budget cuts, the presidents expect to receive more in the way of headaches than manna from Washington in the years immediately ahead. Two-thirds of presidents expect cuts to federal research and student aid funds, and 78 percent expect an increase in federal regulation of higher ed. In sum: Fewer than 1 percent of presidents strongly agree the federal government is “likely to provide solutions for key problems facing higher education in this country.”