Ted Mitchell, President of the American Council on Education, recently gave a telling insight into how the higher-ed establishment sees the crisis it’s facing.
He recalled telling ACE’s board that his top priority was:
“Addressing the negative narrative about higher education.”
Rather than acknowledge real, long-building concerns about cost, politicization, or institutional arrogance, Mitchell and his allies focused on public perception.
Higher-ed communications “expert” Erin Hennessy joined in:
“The problem was with the receiver of the message, not the substance of ours.”
Mitchell doubled down, suggesting that if higher-ed leaders had just spoken “more slowly” and “more clearly,” the public would have realized how great these institutions really are.
In other words: talk to the public like they’re stupid, and the crisis goes away.
This is exactly why trust in higher-ed continues to erode. Instead of engaging with valid public criticism, these leaders treat it as a misunderstanding to be corrected — not a warning to be heeded.
It’s not a communications issue. It’s a leadership failure. And until the people in charge stop blaming the public and start reforming the system, the “negative narrative” will keep getting worse — because it’s not a narrative. It’s reality.
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