Here We Are… Yet Again
Preview:
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
-- George Santayana
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
-- Albert Einstein
It’s like déjà vu all over again.
-- Yogi Berra
Perhaps only one of these epigrams would have sufficed. But I couldn’t resist. The existential crisis of 2008 revealed a number of financial blunders by our nation’s colleges and universities, including some of the very wealthiest. Today, as higher education institutions face the financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, we will be asked whether we learned our lessons from 2008. We have no excuses for repeating them. The wisdom of the ages was easily available, whether the warning came from the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton or the New York Yankees' clubhouse.
Originally published: March 31, 2020
Author: Nicolas Zeppos
Position: Chancellor Emeritus
Institution: Vanderbilt University
Published by: Inside Higher Ed