Higher ed leaders sound off on affirmative action, the worth of a degree at BBJ event

Massachusetts, known for its numerous colleges, is a national focus point for some of the biggest issues facing higher education, including the Supreme Court review of affirmative action policies, the validity of school rankings and rethinking the worth of a college degree, leaders said Thursday at the Boston Business Journal's Economics of Higher Education event.

Panelists included Michael Hammond, the president of Gordon College, Kenneth W. Henderson, the chancellor of Northeastern University, Suffolk University president Marisa Kelley and Julie Chen, the chancellor of University of Massachusetts Lowell. The discussion was moderated by Business Journal reporter Grant Welker.

Closely watching SCOTUS

Harvard University is at the center of the affirmative action case, but leaders from other local schools are watching closely.

“We are very concerned about this,” said Henderson. “We want to be deliberate in making our class representative of our society,” he added.

Many admissions leaders believe affirmative action is necessary to ensure a diverse student body, although some feel like the impact to their schools will be minimal.

“We don't feel like this is going to change the way that we move forward,” said Michael Hammond, the president of Gordon College. “We’ve had very good success over the last decade in diversifying our campus. A lot of that for us has not been relying on affirmative action to drive that… it’s actually the way that we’ve recruited.”

'Love-hate' relationship with rankings

The panelists also discussed the US News and World Report's rankings of colleges, and how prominent colleges have pulled out of those rankings.

They described a “love-hate relationship,” as Henderson put it, with these rankings. Institutions are aware that prospective students and families are looking at the rankings when deciding where to go to school, but they don’t feel that they capture the institution as a whole, the panelists said.

While the rankings are important, said Marisa Kelly, the president of Suffolk University, the institutions should focus their attention what is really important — the students.

“We exist so our students can be successful while they're with us. And then you want them to be successful over the course of their lives," Kelly said.

The worth of a college degree

The panelists discussed the worth of a college degree as a whole, especially given the context of rising costs in tuition.

“There is no question that college is not right for every student,” Kelly said. “In higher education, we have a responsibility to recognize that.”

Welker also asked panelists to weigh in on Gov. Maura Healey's proposed budget, which includes a proposal that would make tuition and fees flat for in-state students at public campuses and make community college free for those 25 and older.

“If students can’t afford to go to a UMass, we have a problem,” Julie Chen, the chancellor of UMass Lowell, said. “It's very important for us to work with the governor to make sure that those numbers do work for people in the state, as well as for people who we want to attract to the state.

Kelly followed up that not only should public universities be getting funding from the statement, but private institutions as well. 

“There are many different types of institutions across the state that are the right fit for students, including private institutions,” Kelly said. “While the investment that the governor's pushed for, I hope gets in the public system to allow tuition to remain at its current level, it is equally important for the state and I would say the federal government as well, to put that same kind of support, or at least some proportionate element, into following the students to where they want to go.”

About 200 people attended the sold-out event, which was held at the Ritz-Carlton in Boston.

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