Job applicants should not be required as a condition of employment to profess their loyalty to partisan statements or beliefs. Yet universities that solicit statements of commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion from job applicants do precisely that. Both practitioners and critics of "diversity, equity, and inclusion" (DEI) know…

Mission statements have become increasingly important for the accreditation of business universities and colleges. Thus, understanding similarities and differences in the content of business school mission statements is especially timely. The mission statement is also the first component of the strategic management process. It provides the…

As with many Volunteer Programs, volunteerism at Filoli began in support of a fledgling organization in 1975. Initially a separate nonprofit, Friends of Filoli was created with the purpose of fundraising and other support, but was dissolved in 1989 as it was not self-sufficient. The leadership structure, however, remained and later merged with the…

University is a remarkable institution which is always expected to change the world through its constantly innovative technology and science advancement and civilization promotion. Academic institution relies on its efficacious leader with vision and implementation to fully accomplish its missions. However, limited attention goes to this crucial…

Academic drift has been a central concept in the study of higher education for the past half-century, with higher education scholarship locating the phenomenon in fieldwide status competition dynamics stemming from the postwar massification and neoliberalization of higher education. In this paper, I explore the origins and evolution of academic…

Policymakers commonly assert that Broad Access Institutions (BAIs) cannot be "all things to all people" when cutting their funding. BAIs were founded with comprehensive missions to generate postsecondary access through low barriers for admission and affordable tuition and promote student-centeredness through institutional foci on…

As improving equity becomes prioritized in higher education, Offices of Institutional Research (OIRs) find themselves in a central position to identify and address educational inequities faced by racially minoritized students. However, their potential to serve as a catalyst for organizational change has yet to be fulfilled. In this study, we…

The Supreme Court is taking up affirmative action at colleges and universities for the sixth time in 50 years. In that litany, an early case was the University of California vs. Bakke. Bakke complained about being denied admission to the university's medical school because seats were guaranteed for minority applicants, thus barring the door to him…

Recent data published by the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) found that campus community impacts student success by 44 percent. Students are more likely to thrive when they have access to people who understand and relate to them and when they can gain support from programs that value their culture and ideology. Including…

This article examines how important an explicit mission and values framework can be for community-based arts education organizations in times of crises. This argument draws on interview data from early and later points in the COVID-19 pandemic with three community-based arts organizations whose work is deeply rooted in creative youth development…

Purpose: This paper aims to provide insight for higher education leaders about how to navigate the immediate needs and long-term needs of an institution. COVID-19 disrupted higher education in unprecedented ways, but the post-pandemic world is proving to be just as challenging--if not more so. Presidents and higher education leaders must be…

In this essay, we explore the consequences of the University of California's policies to address racial disparities and its support for social justice activism as influences on its commitment to academic freedom and other intellectual values. This is a story of the interaction between two essential public university missions -- one civic, the…

A Catholic school is distinguished from a public school through its Catholic identity based on its mission statement which clearly outlines what it means to be Catholic through a theological, evangelical, and ecclesial foundation (Engle et al., 2020). The purpose of this study was to discover the reason for a diminished Catholic identity at St.…

This is the first comprehensive and contemporary history of the largest and most diverse public system of higher education in the United States. Serving over 2 million students annually--approximately one-quarter of the nation's community college undergraduates--California's 116 community colleges play an indispensable role in career and transfer…

In partnership with the Educating All Learners Alliance and the Canopy Project, CLE identified and interviewed school leaders who found innovative ways to provide meaningful inclusion for students with disabilities. This brief shares lessons from school leaders committed to ensuring that students with disabilities are meaningfully included and…