It occurred to me, as we near 100 NECHE visits, that it might be time to shake things up a bit. So…this post will not be about a single school visit, but about my attendance at an association of a bundle of schools: the International Association of University Presidents (IAUP.)
With members representing nearly 100 countries, IAUP has a mission to: Promote collaboration across borders and cultures; Strengthen leadership in higher education; Share knowledge, best practices, and strategic insights; & Influence international dialogue on the future of higher education.
IAUP also holds consultative rights with both ECOSOC (The United Nations Economic and Social Council) and UNESCO, ensuring that higher education leaders have a voice on the world stage.
I was invited to speak about the current state of American higher education at IAUP’s semi-annual conference held in Vilnius, Lithuania in late April, and couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Indeed, I found both the location and the event to be tremendously meaningful.
My family roots are in Lithuania and the story of Lithuanian Jews is both fascinating and tragic. By the 19th and 20th century, Vilnius was home to the largest community of Jews in the world, comprising roughly 40% of the city’s population. At the time of the Nazi invasion, of an estimated population of 210,000 Jews, more than 95% were killed before the end of WWII, a more complete destruction than befell any other country in the Holocaust. In fact, the vast majority of Jews were wiped out between June, 1941 (the date of the Nazi invasion) and December – a terrifyingly effective genocide that marked the beginning of Hitler’s Final Solution. As we stood inside the gates of what had been the Jewish ghetto, I recalled my visit to the one remaining synagogue left in Vilnius. Before the Nazi occupation, there were 100.
Despite the horror of this part of Vilnius’s history, today it is a captivating city with a vibrant urban buzz and robust institutions of higher education, including our host institution. Mykolo Romerio Universitetas (MRU) is the largest specialized university for social sciences and humanities in Lithuania and was a wonderful host for the conference. I was particularly intrigued to learn that, upon its founding in 1990, directly after the breakup of the USSR, the university’s first mission was to train lawyers and law enforcement in an entirely new way of operating, outside an authoritarian communist regime.
Three central tenets distinguished the IAUP universities in attendance from all corners of the globe: a commitment to uphold Academic Freedom, Institutional Autonomy, and the Rule of Law. Ironically, my talk on the state of higher education in the United States — a country where these values had always been sacrosanct and admired — felt quite discordant. In prior years, while attendees might have looked to the United States for inspiration, I felt as if so much had changed that a lot of my talk was about respect for what these leaders were accomplishing in their home countries.
In fact, in the Baltic states and Eastern European countries, whose independence from Russia was achieved only decades ago, the institutions of higher education seem to have a particularly passionate attachment to the principles of academic freedom, autonomy, and the rule of law. This is only underscored by the recent Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Clearly, the threat to these values is perceived to be a potent reality, and it made me wonder if we in America have been equally vigilant.
Despite all these concerns, I found that many of the presidents in attendance were deeply committed to building partnerships with American universities and quite interested in NECHE accreditation. I’m looking forward to continuing those conversations and seeing more of this part of the world.
Stay tuned!