Current politics, policy debates, and the continued fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic have put an increased amount of pressure on the higher education system. State policies that have been adopted or discussed in places such as Florida have created a different institutional system for colleges and universities to operate in. This new policy and political landscape are causing issues of faculty migration, enrollment shifts, and funding changes that create difficult administrative decisions evidenced by reducing faculty positions and the battles between unions and institutions over fair pay and working conditions. From a faculty perspective, there are concerns regarding their shifting roles and how they can continue to be effective as the system goes through a significant shift. Trust in public figures is a common topic in administration, especially where education and politics are concerned.
As policy feedback has hit a new high with the salience of state policies that inhibit academic freedom rising, higher education administrators and decision-makers are faced with a new set of challenging decisions. With shifts in challenges comes shifts in how administrators approach managing their institutions and how these structures are evolving. This new set of challenges include topics from changes in curriculum to managing faculty positions and power. Morality and ethical shifts have caused changes in higher education and set standards that administrators and faculty have to respond to in order to evolve. Analyzing these morality and ethical shifts, what these challenges are, and the results of them is the subject of this special issue with the overarching objective being to provide a new platform to expand this discussion within higher education.
The main objective of Public Integrity is to expand the discussion of ethics, morality, and administration. This special issue aims to bring together contributions from multiple disciplines and encourages interdisciplinary work that address this focus within higher education. In addition, researchers using a variety of methodologies and approaches (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods) are encouraged to submit their work.
Potential topics and areas of research include but are not limited to:
- How political decision-making is altering ethics in higher education administration and for higher education administrators
- How higher education administrators deal with changes in K-12 content and their restrictions
- How policy feedback is impacting the decisions higher education administrators are having to make
- Are test-optional policies increasing equity post-pandemic?
- How are faculty viewed by the public and what impact does this have on their position and expectations within higher education?
- Are rural institutions falling prey to the morality debate in the rural-urban divide?
- Are faculty and staff being forced to compromise ethics to maintain employment in higher education?
All submissions will be reviewed on their merit.
