Enrollment growth cannot compensate indefinitely for attrition. Recruiting a new class while losing continuing students creates a cycle of replacement rather than sustainable growth. Leaders must understand how many students are leaving, why they leave, and which barriers the institution can address.
I write this article not as a passive observer, but as someone who has taught and led within higher education and whose scholarship is grounded in higher education studies and the experiences of Black people within the academy.
Artificial intelligence has introduced legitimate questions about how work is created and how contributions should be evaluated. Organizations should establish clear standards. Schools should define expectations. Transparency matters. Yet beneath the debates about technology lies a much older question. How do we decide whose intellect we trust?
