What a difference 40 years makes!

This week’s issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education marks the 40th anniversary of this publication.  It began as a biweekly in 1966.  It was only eight pages long with no advertisements.  It was read by about 5,000 subscribers.

Today The Chronicle is both a weekly publication with almost 80,000 subscribers and online five days per week with hundreds of thousand of Internet readers.  A typical issue is 140 pages long with plenty of advertisements.  Quite frankly, I don’t know any senior administrator in higher education, public or private, who doesn’t read The Chronicle regularly.

There have been extraordinary changes in higher education in the past 40 years.  Many of these changes mirror developments in our country, our culture and our society in general.  The first issue of The Chronicle, for example, headlined the election of Ronald Reagan as governor of California.  Less than 20 years later when Reagan became president, his conservative perspective was largely responsible for the culture wars on college campuses and the debates about political correctness.

But the past 40 years in higher education have also witnessed student protests over the Vietnam War, the draft and civil rights; the technological revolution; affirmative action cases; shifts in values and lifestyle choices, and most recently, the impact of homeland security in the post 9/11 world.

Since I have spent most of the last 40 years in higher education, either as a student, a professor or an administrator, reading about the many changes and the things that have remained relatively the same was interesting.

In 1966 there were 2,329 colleges and universities enrolling 6,390,000 students, 60% of whom were men.  Today, there are 4,216 colleges and universities (almost twice as many), enrolling 17,648,000 students (almost three times as many), 58% of whom are women.  The growth in undergraduate degrees is consistent with the growth in enrollment.  But there has been an even greater increase in master’s degrees earned (603,000 this year compared to 157,726 in 1966).

An interesting and positive set of statistics are some of the changes in student behavior.  In 1966, 17% of male students and 13% of female students reported that they smoked frequently.  In the past 40 years, those percentages have dropped to less than 6% for both men and women.  In 1966, 64.2% of men and 42.2% of women reported that they drank beer occasionally or frequently.  Today, those percentages are 49.1% for male students and 38.8% for female students.  Not all behaviors are better.  More students are late for class today (63.8% of males, 61.0% of women) than 40 years ago (49.9% of males, 46.2% of women).

What hasn’t changed in the past 40 years is the commitment to quality education and the extraordinary people who populate our campuses.  Almost 40 years ago as a student, I sat on a curriculum committee with faculty and administrators debating the same questions and issues that are being discussed today on our campus.  I had model professors and administrators who challenged, encouraged and helped me to reach my potential.  Some of them are still my mentors and advisors today.  I see examples of those same dedicated faculty and administrators on our campus today.  And there are still exceptional students who work hard, take advantage of the special opportunities provided on a college campus, and use their education to do good in the world and to achieve personal success and happiness.  That was true in 1966; it is true in 2006 and will be true forever.

It is hard to imagine what changes will occur in higher education in the next 40 years.  But I look forward to reading the November 2046 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education with great anticipation.

(As always, your comments and opinions are welcome.)