The Executive Order on Modernizing and Reforming the Assessment and Hiring of Federal Job Candidates says that federal agencies can no longer prescribe a minimum educational requirement for jobs, except in cases where such a qualification is legally required by a state or locality. It also calls on federal agencies to use assessments of job candidates that do not rely solely on educational attainment.
While it might be facile to see this order as merely an anti-intellectual, Trumpian gesture, the skills-based hiring movement has support in many quarters, particularly among organizations that see it as an avenue for providing more economic opportunities to millions of Black and Hispanic people lacking a degree. (Indeed the Opportunity Marketplace I described last month is one example of a project designed to help level the field in hiring.)
Considering that the federal government is the largest civilian employer in the country, this move could be a boost to the skills-over-degrees movement at the very time colleges are up against the biggest headwinds in memory.
Meanwhile, other projects emanating from the federal government could also deter students’ interest in going or returning to college right now — including a new program of industry-recognized apprenticeships and a new public-relations campaign, developed for the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board by the Ad Council, featuring careers that don’t require a four-year degree. (For more on these projects, and a preview of some of the ads you may soon see at bus stops and other locations starting this month, see this story in Community College Daily.)
I was a bit surprised the Executive Order didn’t draw much public praise from groups that typically get excited by developments on work-force policy (One commentary I did see called it a “bold” but “not entirely novel” move, since some big companies have already taken similar steps.) That reticence may reflect some groups’ distrust of the Trump administration’s capability or interest in following through on domestic-policy initiatives, a “bad ground game” in connecting with potential allies ahead of time (as one official from a supportive group put it to me), and maybe even a little suspicion that the move could become a Trojan Horse attack on the professionalism of the civil service. So maybe the real impact of this announcement — if any — won’t be known until the details become public in six months.
That anti-Facebook, Stop Hate for Profit campaign is another puzzle to me. I haven’t seen any good estimates on how much colleges spend advertising on Facebook and its Instagram property, but I know it’s become an increasingly important part of many institutions’ student-recruiting efforts. My colleague Mike Vasquez reported on some of the privacy concerns associated with that a few years ago, and a simple internet search this week brought up dozens of posts describing how the sites are still a must for college marketers.
Now, with Facebook facing increasing criticism for failing to block messages that promote hate, bigotry, racism, anti-Semitism, and violence, some of the nation’s biggest corporate advertisers — Starbucks, Ford, and Coca-Cola among them — have responded to a plea from civil-rights groups and hit pause on their Facebook spending to register their objections.
At this point, it appears no colleges have joined that boycott, although the Lumina Foundation did, pointedly saying that “the social network has been rightly criticized for failing to rein in instances of incendiary, race-baiting rhetoric.” Lumina isn’t listed on the campaign page, so it may be that some colleges, too, have decided to join but are not publicly named. (A spokesman for the Anti-Defamation League said he wasn’t aware of any colleges that have formally aligned with the campaign).
Maybe boycotting a service they rely on isn’t colleges’ thing. But given the tenor of the times, I’m surprised I haven’t heard even a little discussion about this topic.
Quote of the week.
“It is unlikely that colleges will be more effective than the Army in enforcing strict social distancing and safety protocols.”
— Susan Dynarski
Dynarski, a professor of education, public policy, and economics at the University of Michigan, writing in The New York Times on the “epidemiological nightmare” colleges could create with their plans to resume on-campus operations this fall.
Updates on virtual forums.
- Our forum on equity in remote learning scheduled for this week was postponed. Several readers raised questions about the diversity of the panel we had assembled, and my editors and I agreed that it would be a richer and more-appropriate discussion with more Black voices in this conversation. I look forward to digging deeply into this topic — with an expanded roster of guests — on Wednesday, July 22, at 2 p.m. Eastern time.We’ll be answering your questions and exploring issues like how colleges should evaluate existing online courses and programs for access and inclusion, and what support systems are needed to help instructors along the way. Sign up here to participate live or watch later on demand.
,
- Think remote teaching was tough? How about doing research from afar? On Tuesday July 7, at 2 p.m., Eastern time, my colleague Francie Diep will be exploring innovative ideas for conducting research and studies remotely, with a panel of guests that includes Cinda Scott, center director with the School for Field Studies; and Simon Atkinson, vice chancellor for research at the University of Kansas. To participate live or watch later on demand, sign up here.
I wish you all a Happy Independence Day weekend, as we celebrate liberty — and also the values of our shared national responsibility to one another. By now, you know what I mean by that: Stay six feet away, keep your socializing to small groups, and please wear that mask: It makes a real difference.
Got a tip you’d like to share or a question you’d like me to answer? Let me know, at goldie@chronicle.com. If you have been forwarded this newsletter and would like to see past issues, or sign up to receive your own copy, you can do so here. If you want to follow me on Twitter, @GoldieStandard is my handle.
