LogFAQs > #956808238

There is a disconnect between what various parties want colleges and universities to be.

Administrators want them to be a well-run business that makes them look good to the board of trustees and get them promoted.
Faculty want them to be institutions that advance knowledge through research and scholarship, while also training future researchers and scholars.
Student Affairs personnel want them to be vehicles for social and economic equity among populations, allowing for even the poorest and most-marginalized a shot at rising the economic latter.
Employers want them to be job training centers that pop out employees ready to the specific work they need done and without hand-holding.
Politicians want them to make them look good, therefore matching whatever the current hot topic of the week is at the national scale and changing them to meet their political party's needs.
Donors want them to simply be trophies and vehicles for their own desires, on which to put their names on buildings and benches and give them a fun place to visit and show their friends.
And students want them to serve as the gatekeepers for jobs, basically getting them the job of their dreams no matter how it's done.

When so many different groups have a different idea of what a college or university is supposed to be, then the focus is lost and they try to be everything to all people and fail.

---

Congratulations! Your post was deemed response-worthy.