No Wonder Higher Ed Is Broken
Columbia got steamrolled. The least they could do is tell us why.
On March 21, I received an email from Columbia University—my alma mater—about the university’s agreement with the federal government, a deal that saved it from losing a staggering $400 million in federal funding.
It came from the Office of Alumni Relations and Development, signed by Interim President Katrina Armstrong.
I clicked, expecting... something. Acknowledgment. Transparency. Leadership.
Instead, I got this:
“This past year has been one of enormous progress, where our community of thoughtful faculty, students, and stakeholders has shaped a principled and methodical approach to meeting the moment’s challenges…”
The entire letter was a medley of university-speak and feel-good flourishes. “Standing together for Columbia,” it ended.
But what it didn’t do? Say anything specific about why the government threatened to cut funding, what the university actually agreed to in order to stop it, or how Columbia leadership plans to communicate this massive moment of reckoning to its community moving forward.
I’ve spent years as a senior communications executive at colleges and universities, large and small. I know the challenges. But I also know what leadership communication looks like.
This wasn’t it.
If Columbia is trying to demonstrate resilience and integrity, this letter didn’t help.
What’s worse is that I truly thought higher ed had learned something during COVID—when presidents were forced to step out of the ivory tower and speak directly to students, parents, alumni, and donors with urgency and honesty. For a moment, it felt like higher ed had finally joined the real world.
But apparently not.
We're back to the old playbook: bland reassurance, lofty abstractions, and avoidance of anything that might resemble candor. And it’s not just a missed opportunity.
It’s a failure of leadership.
Because this is what institutional credibility requires now: naming the hard things. Speaking clearly. Communicating with the people who pay attention—and care.
If universities can’t manage to speak plainly to their own alumni about $400 million in threatened funding and a national political firestorm, then no wonder people don’t trust them.
And no wonder higher ed is broken.
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