A newly released book examining the challenges facing colleges and universities across America features an essay by Christendom College President George A. Harne, Ph.D., highlighting both the problems confronting American higher education and the solutions already being implemented at institutions committed to authentic educational renewal.
Published by Encounter Books and The Heritage Foundation, Higher Education in America brings together college presidents, professors, researchers, and policy experts from across the nation to contribute their unique perspectives on the problems facing higher education and to offer solutions.
Among the contributors are Harne, whose essay — written with research fellow John Sailer and education policy expert Jonathan Butcher — examines the growth of bureaucracy in higher education. The essay explores the rise of administrative offices disconnected from the core educational mission of colleges and universities, the lack of institutional vision among college leaders, and the important role alumni can play in helping institutions remain faithful to their founding purposes.
While many institutions of higher education have struggled with fulfilling their founding visions in the 21st century, Christendom College is one of a few schools that have remained faithful to their core principles. Since its founding in 1977, the college has sought to provide an authentically Catholic liberal arts education rooted in the pursuit of truth and the formation of the whole person.
Under Harne’s leadership, Christendom has continued to strengthen this mission while expanding opportunities for students. In recent years, Christendom has launched a Natural Science major, opened new science facilities, established graduate programs in educational leadership and public policy, and strengthened academic initiatives such as its newly launched Honors Program. Each of these developments has been undertaken with the same commitment to faithful Catholic education and intellectual excellence that has marked Christendom since its founding.
As colleges and universities across the country grapple with questions about their purpose and identity, Higher Education in America offers both a diagnosis of the challenges facing higher education and a roadmap for renewal. Through his contribution to the book and his leadership at Christendom College, Harne is joining in this call for authentic educational renewal, advocating for an educational model centered on truth, wisdom, and the formation of students prepared to “restore all things in Christ.”