There has recently been a lot of focus on life at college campuses . . . with good reason. The debacle of The Rolling Stone article concerning the now-discredited gang rape at the University of Virginia was only the beginning. Fraternity life in general has come under increased scrutiny, as well it should.
While Sigma Alpha Epsilon is roasting on the spit of public opinion, rest assured that they are not the only guilty ones. Although every national fraternity office would deny it, citing privacy issues of initiation rites, every fraternity on the campus I attended had as part of its credo racist and ethnic restrictions. That was a long time ago, one could rightly say, but if it doesn’t still exist today, I would be amazed.
Part of the problem lies in expecting adult values and behavior from young people who have not attained maturity. Pejorative that may be, but there are scientific data to support that centers of judgment in the brain do not develop fully until somewhere in the mid-twenties.
Anyone who has attended a residential college in the distant past can call up memories that personally produce a shudder. How could we have been so immature, so stupid, and so judgmental? In most cases, serious and permanent harm did not result, but there were deaths from drunken driving, to say nothing of the largely hidden sexual assaults about which we hear so much today.
As sad as the current situation seems, consciousness has been raised, not only among the public, but within the student bodies of colleges and universities. The purpose of attending such institutions is not just to gain knowledge and become educated. It is to learn how to live in a diverse society, one where many values are different from those in which insular family life was the norm. In many colleges and universities there is a subculture of eat, drink, and be merry; left out is the conclusion of that famous phrase, for tomorrow we die.
That famous publication of the last century, Playboy, produced a top ten list of Party Schools. I recall one year while at UVa there was campus consternation that we were not included in the grouping. Upon further reading the article revealed why: The University of Virginia was excluded because, in the words of the author, “they are in a class by themselves.” Everyone chortled with delight. For those who would choose such a school today, it is instructive to know that West Virginia University is the current title holder.
If the social scene of higher education is changing, so is the primary mission of colleges and universities. Fifteen years ago would anyone have predicted the meteoric rise of online education? Although statistics are hard to document, it would not be surprising to find that there are fewer students at residential institutions than online.
Many reputable schools are moving in that direction but, sad to say, many are no more than diploma mills where the degree is guaranteed by the tuition paid. There is no possible way to accurately gauge the academic performance of 100,000 online students; that is the number the Liberty University currently has enrolled. The simple matter of testing relies entirely on the honesty of the remote student and the accuracy with which the computer can grade their test results. While advertising great results from their students, they are profit centers. LU, from a 30 million dollar debt in 2007, they now claim 1.2 billion dollars in cash assets. It’s hard to imagine that kind of growth.
The cost of residential higher education is beyond reach for most families, so something needs to be done. Online education is part of the answer, but quality must be assured.
At the other end of the spectrum there is the sad matter of Sweetbriar College. There is a place for single sex education, but the appeal has all but disappeared in the last half century. In the mid-1950s there were well over 250 colleges for women; today there are only 40 or so and they are closing in droves. Let’s hope for the sake of the faculty, students, and staff Sweetbriar can avoid what seems inevitable.
Higher education, like everything else, must change with the times. It behooves all of us to make sure that attention is paid to those things that should be changed, those things that must be preserved, and that problems be faced with realism and courage.
Hayden Hollingsworth
