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James M. Glaser explains why one of his university's efforts at transformation was a success--and why another one failed quite definitively.
Bringing transformational leadership to a university is challenging because of the built-in resistance to change. Tenured faculty members, often liberal in their politics, are conservative about their jobs and reflexively opposed to administrative proposals. Alumni remember the old days fondly and become concerned about new directions. Donors who might support change often want control over how their money is spent. Add local neighborhoods, departmental jealousies, governmental requirements, rising costs, and news-media scrutiny, and the job gets tougher.
Formation of a task force is often the starting point for large-scale, comprehensive change. It has great potential in the university environment, as it can generate bottom-up ideas that can better survive the politics of the institution. But not all task-force projects are equally successful. We know so at Tufts University, because we have had two large-scale efforts at transformation. One failed quite definitively, while the other stimulated many successful changes.
In 1997 the Tufts administration began the Higher Education Initiative, a grand effort involving 15 committees and working groups comprising 170 faculty and staff members and almost 90 students. The committees took on the undergraduate curriculum, student life, information technology, faculty governance, graduate education, public-service learning, diversity, and excellence in scholarship and research, among other topics. For two years, the committees met, some putting out reports, identifying problems, and offering recommendations. A few proposals came to fruition, but over all the effort didn't change much. All that many people remember about it are the beautiful glass paperweights that participants received.
Four years later, in 2001, Tufts's new president, Lawrence S. Bacow, convened a group of a dozen administrators, professors, and students and charged them with studying the university's major undergraduate issues. He asked for a series of recommendations, giving the group 18 months to do its work. The Task Force on the Undergraduate Experience sought to promote an improved sense of community, a more coherent educational experience, and a more stimulating intellectual environment. In addition, internal surveys showed that many of our undergraduates appreciated their education in spite of, not because of, the university and the administration. What could be done to create a stronger, more...