1st Edition
Interrupting Class Inequality in Higher Education Leadership for an Equitable Future
Interrupting Class Inequality in Higher Education explores why socioeconomic inequality persists in higher education despite widespread knowledge of the problem. Through a critical analysis of the current leadership practices and policy narratives that perpetuate socioeconomic inequality, this book outlines the trends that negatively impact low- and middle-income students and offers effective tools for creating a more equitable future for higher education. By taking a solution-focused approach, this book will help higher education students, leaders, and policy makers move from despair and inertia to hope and action.
CONTENTS
Part One: Understanding the Problems
1. The Perpetuation of Class Inequity Through Policy
2. The Consequences of Unexamined Practices on Class Inequality
3. The Role of Diminished Public Funding in Class Inequality
4. Class Inequality as a Higher Education Leadership Problem
Part Two: Forging the Solutions
5. Leading Collaboratively
6. Telling a Better Story
7. Gaining the Public Trust
8. Charting a More Equitable Course
Biography
Laura M. Harrison is Associate Professor of Counseling and Higher Education at Ohio University, USA.
Monica Hatfield Price is an Adjunct Professor of Communication Studies at Ohio University-Chillicothe, and has more than a decade of corporate training and consulting experience.
"At one time, accessible and affordable colleges reduced economic inequality and built a large middle class. Today, colleges increase class inequality rather than reduce it. Harrison and Hatfield Price have identified a key problem in higher education and, in their concise book, offer a range of straightforward, practical solutions. I am inspired by their view that when colleges again increase economic equity, they will again have the public’s trust."
-Christopher Newfield, Professor, Literature & American Studies, University of California"Over the past 30 years, state fiscal investment in higher education has dropped, while corporate profits soar and the wealth gap widens. Harrison and Hatfield Price expertly illuminate the policies and generally unexamined practices that threaten public higher education and have resulted in greater socioeconomic inequality. Their solution-focused approach offers readers agency to address the barriers to equity and a critical analysis that outlines specific strategies for change. Everyone who is troubled by the increase in tuition and other associated costs of a college degree should read this book."
- Tracy Davis, College Student Personnel Program Coordinator and Professor, Western Illinois University
