Broader Rather Than Narrower

A good friend of mine asked me to advise the daughter of a good friend of his about college and I gladly said yes. I spent 18 months much earlier in my career as the Associate Dean of Advisement and specialized in advising incoming students, both freshman as well as transfer. I recognize what an important difference advisement can make and am always willing to serve as an adviser. The daughter was interested in a very specialized niche area of business and also interested in a tiny college that specialized on that niche area. The young woman was just turning 18; she is not all that interested in higher education but she is very interested and highly motivated in making her mark in her intended field. The school she selected may be somewhat known in that niche area; it is certainly not known outside of that area. I am very familiar with many colleges and universities, especially in this area; her choice was one that I had never heard of.

Now I greatly admire her interest and determination to make her mark. Too few 18 year olds have a strong focus and too few really know what they want to do in their working lives. On the other hand, working in a niche area and being educated in only that area has its limitations. It is hard for me to remember back to when I was 18 but I am certain that I never thought of being an economist at that time and even more certain that I never considered working at a University. What I wanted to do and where I wanted to work evolved over time and by the middle of my doctoral education, I had made up my mind.

In talking to this young woman, her passion for working in the field she has chosen is clear and I spent no time at all questioning her decision. Instead I made two key points. First, keep an open mind toward other fields and other opportunities. Over time there may be another field that interests you and over time, opportunities in the field you have selected may become more robust, may remain as is, or may diminish and even dry up. No one comes with a crystal ball, keeping your options open is the next best thing to do. To keep your options open, a more general education is an important facilitator. Select a college or university that is at least somewhat well known and select a major that has more general applicability plus an internship in the niche area. That major, together with the internship, will serve you well in your niche area; it will also serve you well if interests and times change. By pursuing a more general major, you are often better positioned.

Now I’m not at all sure that my advice will be taken. I think it can be hard to change course when your passion has directed you toward one area and one goal. Passion often trumps practicality, but practicality when all is said and done usually carries the day.

Car Focus

It is the time of year when the new automobile models are being introduced and as usual I find myself looking to read everything I can about the new models.  I have been fascinated by cars since I was a young kid, and only later on did I realize how important the automobile industry was to the American economy.  Now I am not a believer that whatever is good for GM (or Ford of Chrysler) is good for the United States, but I do believe that the American car industry doing well is inextricably interwoven with the American economy doing well.

For many years, the greatest excitement about the new models being introduced was reserved for foreign cars, for the most part those cars imported either from Germany or Japan. And the reality was that I was part of the foreign car bandwagon.  American cars didn’t excite me and more importantly, I just didn’t have a sense that they were as durable or well designed as the German or Japanese cars. Now American cars are at the top of the list in almost every category.  The new Corvette, the new Impala, the new Cadillac CTS, the new Jeep Cherokee, the new Ford Fusion are all the best of breed; tested continuously and praised for all they represent and for all the value they provide.  And because American cars are so good at doing what they should do, it is no longer unusual to see American cars well represented in important foreign cities.  Beijing and Buick is the best example.

In many ways, the higher education industry is in a similar position.  American higher education is respected at home and around the globe. The impact of higher education on the economy – taking into consideration all levels of public and private education– is huge, and here too, the American economy doing well is dependent on higher education continuing to do well.  We need to be relevant, we need to be reasonable, and we need to be a good investment in the future.  Foreign competition continues to grow but in almost every area, our education is still the most sought after.

At times, for the automobile industry, economic incentives have been key to the public’s purchase of automobiles.  No money down, very low interest rates, low leasing rates, and discounts off the sticker price have all made a difference.  Discount rates are key to higher education purchases as well.  Either scholarships or well below cost public tuition provide the same, price cutting, economic incentives.  As the economy improved and as cars improved, the automobile industry was able to reduce the reliance on price incentives.  In higher education, we are still struggling with how to come to grips with price incentives.  And what makes it especially difficult is that public institutions may have exactly the same cost structure but because there is a subsidy from the state where the public institution is located, public institutions do their discounting up front and visible for all to see.  Imagine higher education, if Ford were a public company with a permanent subsidy for all Ford purchasers.  What would GM and Chrysler do?

I know many of us – especially in the private section– are looking for ways to reduce the increasing reliance in higher education on discounting to attract students.  Since it is no longer unusual for a private institution to approach 50% in the first year discount rate, the pace of discount rate increases by definition will slow down.  But unfortunately, I don’t see a workable solution for phasing out what so many of us have become dependent on.

Ice Breaker

There are many situations where as an administrator or as a not-for-profit board member it is necessary to engage strangers or almost strangers in conversations for the good of the organization.  Often these conversations go well but first there is that awkward introductory phase. I am sure there are many good alternatives but I have one that may be a guaranteed success.  A cute dog is a great ice breaker.

The latest personal example of the effectiveness of a cute dog was yesterday’s homecoming parade at my local school district.  As a board of education member, I march in the parade, which I enjoy doing, but there are always a significant number of parents and students who I don’t know.  Yesterday, for the first time, I brought my dog along and thanks to her, many, many marchers in the parade and many parade watchers came up to me to ask about the dog (who by the way was dressed appropriately in the school colors).  Once the person has played with the dog or you have talked about the dog, it is the perfect opening to a more substantive conversation.  For example one dog-initiated conversation quickly turned to the topic of responsible testing and the conversation was certainly worthwhile.

About a month ago, when my kids were both away, my wife and I decided to spend the weekend in Manhattan and, since it is was easier than making dog sitting arrangements, we decided to take our dog along.  What a difference a dog makes.  The first time I took her for a walk, shortly after we arrived, I found myself in multiple conversations with individuals I would never otherwise have a conversation with.  At one point, later in the weekend, when my wife and I were walking the dog, we sat down on a bench in Battery Park city. The next thing I knew, we were in a conversation with a young woman who was on the other end of the bench and the woman’s terrier was sitting on my lap.  I must admit that my dog was very unhappy at the turn of events but we all had a good conversation, especially once the terrier left my lap and my dog took her rightful position. 

As soon as we returned home, I called one of my friends who is single and offered the dog as a weekend ice breaker if he wanted to spend the weekend in the city.  In my opinion the dog has more potential than many social media sights to bring people together.

I didn’t have a dog when I was growing up.  I had fish and a parakeet.  They were all terrific but with significant limitations and none of them were walking companions and therefore unable to fulfill an ice breaking role.  When my kids wanted a dog, my wife and I resisted feeling we would end up doing most of the work and we were correct in that assumption.  But the dog has been a great addition to the family and we are all thrilled with her.  She is warm, loving, playful, cute and all the good things you could want in a dog.  And as an ice breaker she is awesome.  I am already planning for other opportunities where she will be my lead support in meet and great situations.

Testing Woes

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New York State decided this year that they would substantially raise the standards for passing the elementary and middle school state mandated examinations.  The orientation of the exams was also changed to incorporate the common core learning standards at the same time that the standards were first being implemented.  Not surprisingly, a much larger percentage of students did not pass throughout the state and consequently we now have a major public outcry and backlash against testing.

If the scores required for passing standardized examinations are too low, no one would argue against raising the standards.  But if the standards are being raised dramatically, serious consideration should be given to phasing in the increase. The most important reason for a phase-in is the detrimental impact of dramatically raising standards on the students in our schools state wide.  Instantly dramatically raising standards and instantly dramatically increasing the percentage of students failing seriously undermines the confidence and self-esteem of the students who have gone from comfortably passing to seriously failing.  Since it clearly was the state’s fault that the standards were too low, the state should at the very least build in the time necessary for the adjustment to higher standards.  Instead of one year to totally revise standards, why not three years so that everyone has a chance to adjust over time.

The same period of adjustment should be built in for the transition to the common core.  There are benefits inherent in having a common core, which is a common body of knowledge that every person should be exposed to as part of his or her education. If tests aren’t based on the common core, they certainly should be changed.  But once again, it is all a question of how it is done. A test based on the common core should under any conditions follow the full implementation of the core.

My emails during the past week and the most recent meeting of the school board (which are public meetings) dealt overwhelmingly with testing and the overemphasis on test preparation.  The public is clearly concerned and the reaction goes from there should be no testing in schools, to there should be responsible testing, to there should be a continued emphasis on testing.  At the extremes there seem to be rather few people.  No testing is unrealistic and also doesn’t provide the essential assessment mechanisms. Overemphasis on testing takes time away from other educational priorities and also saps the enjoyment out of learning.  The third alternative, the push for responsible testing seems to have broad base support throughout the community and I am in total agreement.   If the state will over time deal with issues they have created, I am certain the public will respond appropriately and positively.

Public School education in many states may need to change.  But we only move ahead if the changes improve learning and comprehension, not if they create dissention and compromise learning in favor of testing.  We very much need responsible testing and we especially need responsible public officials to effectively manage change. 

Conflict or Cooperation

Our Business School is named for Frank Zarb who has had a remarkable career in government and business including service as President Ford's energy czar.  Because Mr. Zarb has had such a distinguished career spanning almost half a century, we have been recording his oral history to include with the Zarb papers and materials we already have in our library.  One video clip contains a conversation between Representative John Dingell and Mr. Zarb and contains an important lesson for today's government leaders. The lesson concerns cooperation between the Democratic and Republican parties to successfully confront, what in their case was the energy crisis.  Cooperation carried the day then; confrontation threatens our economic recovery today.

The fight today is over health care, Obamacare as it is widely known, and instead of cooperation we have escalating confrontation. I remember from when I was growing up, the effort to pass Medicare and the efforts to discredit Medicare as socialized medicine.  I was persuaded in those days that health care support for the elderly, especially the poor elderly was an important responsibility of government in an affluent society.  Time has proven both the need for and the merit in a system of support for the elderly just when they most need access to health care.

The fight against Obamacare has that same tone.  The message is we need to stop Uncle Sam before he takes over our health care system.  But we have so many uninsured individuals and families that need help, that our affluent society has a responsibility to do more.  In addition with our current system we have tremendous unrecovered health care costs and the accompanying loss in productivity.  For these reasons, I support Obamacare but also understand the concern from the critics.

Our economy is in a fragile and halting recovery.  Inflation is still low, the unemployment rate is slowly dropping, the GDP is increasing at a meaningful rate and the stock market has flirted with record highs.  Against this backdrop, government is hitting a debt ceiling and there is an effort to tie any help with the economy to a defunding and destroying of Obamacare. 

We need cooperation and even more we need for government leaders, both Democratic and Republican to remember the pain of the recent recession and the need to continue cultivating the recovery. Combining the health care bill with debt ceiling legislation is a recipe for economic malaise.  Where are the Frank Zarbs and John Dingells of 2013? 

Good Food

Our common reading for all new first year students was  The Good Food Revolution and our featured speaker during Welcome Week was Will Allen one of the book’s co-authors.  Both the book and the presentation were well received and I totally agree that this is an important message for all college students.

Will Allen is an imposing figure.  He still looks like the basketball player he was in college and professionally and everything he says is stated with passion and belief.  When he first started speaking to students, he announced that his PowerPoint presentation was 1054 slides long.  Everyone laughed but 1054 slides later we were all more passionate and more convinced.

In the beginning of his talk, Will Allen talked about the connection between good health and good food. Both are clearly inextricably interwoven and good food is a facilitator of good health. Allen also talked about the importance of fertile soil, that is absent of dangerous chemicals and he talked about the value and importance of urban farming. His comments registered well with the students and registered equally well with me and my colleagues also sitting in the audience.

Growing up, my diet was rich in fruits and vegetables.  We didn’t have local farmers’ markets but we did have plenty of stores that specialized just in fresh fruits and vegetables.  My diet was also rich (likely over-rich) in meats (especially beef) since my father was a butcher and my parents owned a mom and pop butcher shop just around the corner from where we lived. The best way to illustrate the family philosophy on meat is that my father felt Thanksgiving, given its importance, should be celebrated with a roast beef rather than with a roast turkey. And yes, in many of my early years, the turkey lost out to the beef.  Ultimately we yelled foul (fowl) and my father agreed to change the menu to the more traditional offering.  My diet growing up didn’t include soda, probably included too little sea food, and eating out was not part of the offerings except on a few major holidays a year. Fast foods were also not prevalent when I was growing up.

My kids love most fast foods and would eat chicken nuggets for at least two meals a day if they had the opportunity.  I am appreciative that in our school district there is a vigilant parents committee that reviews menus and promotes healthy eating and we try to reinforce these values in what we serve at home.  And yet given how busy everyone is we do eat out, and eat overly processed foods more than we should.  And I seem to have passed my sweet tooth to my kids.

What is most important about Will Allen’s message is the emphasis on food education and food growing/preparation.  We should all buy into The Good Food Revolution.

Welcome Week 2013 Speech to the Class of 2017

Since in my last blog I talked about what I was going to say to our new first year undergraduate students, my blog for this week will be my actual Welcome Week 2013 speech to the Class of 2017.

Good morning.  I am Herman Berliner, Hofstra’s Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, and I am pleased to add my welcome to Hofstra.  For the last few weeks, I have been thinking about what my message should be when today happens and I have the opportunity to talk with you about your Hofstra experience and your future.  But before we talk about your experience and your future, let’s move quickly into the future and go to year 2154.  What is so special about that year -- other than all of us will be more than 154 years old?

If you have seen Elysium, you will know that the movie takes place at that time.  In fact, it starts by noting that in the year 2154, two classes of people exist, the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium where all disease has been eliminated and people live happily, healthily and affluently ever after; and the rest of the population, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth.  Any effort to move from earth to Elysium is thwarted; illegal immigrants to Elysium are simply killed.

Neill Blomkamp, the writer and producer of Elysium, has not only made a science fiction film; he also actually believes in this scenario.  In an interview with The Guardian,  Blomkamp, who comes from South Africa, stated, “The issues raised by Elysium have been in existence as long as homo sapiens.  You’d literally have to change the human genome to stop wealth discrepancy.”  Neill continues by noting:

We have biological systems built into us that were very advantageous for us, up until we became a functioning civilization 10,000 years ago.  We are literally coded to preserve life, procreate and get food—and that’s not gonna change.  The question is whether you can somehow overpower certain parts of the mammalian DNA and try to… take…away wealth and pour it out for the rest of the planet.

I don’t believe the future will really be this gloomy and I’m not here to convince you to see the movie but I do want you to think about the future—both your future and the future of our planet and humanity itself.

Let’s start by talking about being at a University, either as a student or as a faculty member, staff member, or administrator.  Universities are great places to be and Hofstra is a particularly great University.  I’m an economist by training; quoting a friend of mine, “an economist is someone who would have been an accountant but didn’t have the personality.”  Please think about that.  Meanwhile, in addition to being an economist, I’m also interested in politics, education, the environment, a little bit of basketball, cars and theater.  I have been to almost every Broadway musical so I know from first-hand experience that when our students put on a production of Gypsy this fall it will certainly be professional quality.  Please go to see it.  Overall, no matter what your interests are, the range and quality of what we offer on campus translates into outstanding experiences.  You can major in pre-med; you can major in economics; you can major in education; or in history or almost 140 other choices, but you can actually do so much more.  Think about taking a course in another area outside your major, take a minor, pursue a dual major—go to events on campus or volunteer through our Center for Civic Engagement.  Attend a lecture from our Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency.  Listen to a Pulitzer Prize winner as part of our Great Writers Great Readings series.  Participate in our fall festival.  In the past, we have had Jimmy Fallon headline the fall festival comedy show and had performances by Cobra Starship, Taking Back Sunday, Big Sean and Snoop Dogg as well as Rick Ross.  I don’t know who these groups or performers are (other than Jimmy Fallon) but I may be the only provost who’s taken his younger daughter to a One Direction concert and his older daughter to the Jonas Brothers.  In both cases my hearing did come back within 48 hours.  Getting back to what we offer:  Make use of our fitness center, attend an athletic event, swim in our pool.  I’m a regular in the pool but I claim no resemblance to Michael Phelps.  Actually, in sports I’m more like Mike Wazowski from Monsters University. We have so many things happening that no one is able to go to everything that happens on a 24/7 University campus. Don’t overdo it, but do take advantage of what we offer.  Many of my interests developed when I was a college student.  Take a chance.  Try something new even if it isn’t in your comfort zone.  Open your mind.  You won’t regret it and it can help you secure a successful future.

Let’s go back to Elysium for a moment. If I were alive in 2154, I doubt that I would be part of the wealthy or privileged few who live in this outer space paradise.  More likely I would be living on earth.  Most of you might be in the same situation.  There is still time to avoid such an Elysium scenario but the responsibility will rest with you and your contemporaries to confront the issues that my generation has not and is not fully confronting.  Issues that must be confronted if the earth is to become a better place to live rather than a more “overpopulated” and “ruined planet.”  We can clearly do so much better than a world with a few haves and too many have nots.

Your Hofstra education will help you deal with those problems and confront the issues that must be resolved. 

One more immediate issue that all universities are dealing with is how to best promote, protect and uphold academic integrity.  To that end, we have implemented an Honor Code which all of us are being asked to sign.  I am steadfast in my commitment to the Honor Code.  Let me be very clear.

Plagiarism and other forms of cheating do not represent your quest for knowledge.  Instead, plagiarism is simply cheating and constitutes presenting someone else’s work as your own.

One of my favorite stories regarding academic dishonesty features two students in a history course who emailed a faculty member a few hours after an exam was given in class indicating they had a flat tire on the way to campus, and therefore could not take the exam at that time.  The faculty member asked them both to come in to take a make-up, placed each of them in a separate room, and gave them their make-up exams.  First question on each of their multiple choice exams was “The location of the tire that went flat was a) driver’s side front, b) driver’s side rear, c) passenger side front; d) passenger side rear.”  The results of the exam and the rest of this story really are history: each student came up with a different answer to that question.

As diverse as we are, we must all unite in stating it is simply unacceptable to cheat.  Respect for integrity is inextricably interwoven and essential to your success as a Hofstra student.  So is respect for diversity.  We are a diverse population at Hofstra but we are also a microcosm of the planet. 

Our University celebrates and encourages diversity.  As indicated in our Diversity Mission Statement:

The University believes that institutions of learning have a responsibility to provide and sustain multiple cultures, to encourage scholarship and knowledge production incorporating multiple perspectives and to demonstrate commitment to fair and equal access to higher education.

Diversity includes the recognition and incorporation of a multiplicity of voices and perspectives in thought and action, in policy and practice, in all spheres of the academic enterprise.  It involves recognizing the value of “difference” and the inclusion of members of groups that experience discrimination or under representations.

Join with us in embracing diversity.

Above all, view your education as an opportunity, as a way of enhancing and fast- forwarding your future success and as a time to enjoy.

Give it your best shot.  We will be your partners.  

I look forward to seeing you on campus.  And please stay in touch.  Welcome again to Hofstra University, Class of 2017. Thanks and continued success.