#2019caoi topos to pathos to ethos. We need to teach students how to turn data into narrative, and then how to move that narrative into ethical agency.

#2019caoi AI & Humanity: Grand Challenges course—How do AI (and other technologies) change who we are as human beings?

# 2019caoi Jaschik explains why he disagrees with Clay Christensen, who overestimates the financial challenges and ignores the fact that when one college closes, others benefit...

#2019caoi Jaschik predicts as many as 75 colleges may close in the next 5 years.

#2019caoi Why are colleges closing? Not because they were offering bad education. When national enrollment is down, small colleges hurt most. “When Penn State is down 100 students, nobody cares.”

#2019caoi Low enrollment, small endowment doesn’t necessarily lead to failure. Important to realize that. But it is challenging.

#2019caoi Discount rates are too high: typical for freshman just under 50%. Harvard has a high discount rate, but it’s “paying real money” for that discount.

#2019caoi 3rd major problem: the general economy. Instances where a major donor is paying the structural deficit year after year. Not sustainable.

#2019caoi 4th problem: the general denigration of the liberal arts. The “philosophy major working at Starbuck’s” is a myth: less than 1% of grads working in food service.

“2019caoi Public higher education has advantages over the private sector in many ways. Sticker price. Broader range than liberal arts. Need a better strategy, not fighting with the publics.

#2019caoi Location a problem for many CIC schools. Students prefer urban and suburban to rural areas.

#2019caoi Hampshire and Bennett struggling mightily. Hampshire was missing it enrollment every year AND increasing the discount rate. As with Green Mountain, Hampshire had a niche. That wasn’t enough.

#2019caoi how to prevent college closures and thrive. 1) Honesty about your situation. If not transparent, legislatures will step in (As in MA).

#2019caoi 2) Defend the liberalarts Need to capture what la education actually provides. speak out about the importance of the liberal arts.

#2019caoi 3) consider mergers. Most interesting: Wheelock & BU. Wheelock issued an RFP for a partner. Unusual in that this merger was not between similar institutions.

#2019caoi Consider merger of middlebury and Monterey Institute in CA. There’s no one way for mergers to work.

#2019caoi be realistic about aspirational peers vs. real peers. Important to consider in light of niche. If you look just like a lot of other colleges...that’s not good.

#2019caoi Is there a distinction between niche and brand? Jaschik: “Niche is real.”

#2019caoi many liberal arts colleges remain largely white. That’s a problem for their survival. And it’s related to geographical location.

#2019caoi Definition of “meaningful endowment”: if the endowment plays a significant role in the budget. Probably more than $100M