How Our Growth-Obsessed Universities Spiraled Out of Control
Preview:
American research universities have expanded into sprawling enterprises combining undergraduate education, hospitals, professional schools, and big-time athletics, with little strategic coherence holding it all together. The casualties of that growth are undergraduate students, who generate tuition revenue but remain a low institutional priority as tenure systems, reward structures, and resource allocation all tilt toward research. Mounting financial pressures from federal cuts, graduate loan caps, and unsustainable athletics spending may force a reduction in scope, but only a deliberate recommitment to teaching will make that contraction meaningful.
Originally published: May 22, 2026
Author: Brian Rosenberg
Position: President Emeritus
Institution: Macalester College
Published by: The Chronicle of Higher Ed