From Martha Piper: A Five-Step Program for Change

SCUPers enjoyed Piper's plenary address at SCUP–43. A lot of what she had to say there is now covered in this new article from University Affairs:

Let me start with a quote by James Duderstadt, from the book A University for the 21st Century: “We must take care not simply to extrapolate from the past, but rather to examine the full range of possibilities for the future.”

But there’s a problem with that quote as far as I’m concerned – it doesn’t resonate particularly well in universities.

Why do I say that? Because universities relish the past. They’re built on the history of centuries. They pride themselves on not changing. Scholars are taught by scholars who were taught by scholars. Teaching methods and cultural values have been handed down from generation to generation to generation. They actually resist change because they believe they’ve done it right, and the traditions are so ingrained in the culture.