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Bill Coplin
Professor and Chair, Public Affairs Department
Syracuse University
June 2008
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Bill Coplin earns his living in an industry that makes him angry. A full-time professor at Syracuse since 1969, he has degrees from Johns Hopkins University and American University. When he's not teaching in the classroom, he advises 150 undergraduates pursuing a unique Syracuse major and mentors thirty of them.
You say you're driven by an anger. What is it?
As are many college students I was victim of bait and switch. I went to college to become prepared for life, and when I got there, they made me read Chaucer.
Is your anger lessening or worsening?
It's lessening on two levels. I've been busy doing something within higher education about it for 45 years. Meanwhile, undergraduate education is getting better at preparing undergraduates for life. We're seeing the early results of a shift toward a more consumer-driven industry. Technology-driven as well. Students are less like serfs, and professors are less like nobility.
Are you for or against faculty tenure?
I'm ambivalent, but more for it than against it. For one thing, without tenure, I may very well have been fired some time ago, because of my unorthodox views and teaching methods. For another, for long-term faculty, tenure prevents the loss of large amounts of time that would be spent on personnel matters and contract renewals. Third, tenure is not preventing the higher education system from adjusting to use adjuncts to gain certain advantages that tenure prevents.
How do you spend your time outside the classroom with students?
My relationship with students is strategic and holistic. I 'm strategic with my time and holistic with their futures. Many students ask me for advice about what major to declare. I always ask them, who do you want to become? Or what career do you want to pursue? It's important to me that they view their major as more than an academic collegiate issue. I've also learned that it's important to develop a mentoring style that does not encourage dependence. Today's undergraduates are often very dependent upon their parents. My role is not to become a surrogate.
College is sold as a way to get ahead in life. What concerns do you have with that sales pitch?
'Double your lifetime earnings' is assumed to be a ubiquitous truth. Repeated over and over again, it's become a powerful myth. It's likely driven up college prices. In fact, the use of the word "college" has oversold four-year enrollments, and it's demeaned two-year enrollments. Worst of all, it's become a prime mover of public policy.
Is there another concern about that sales pitch?
Yes, there are ramifications at the high school level. Today, the college-going rate of a high school's graduates has become a rating measure for that school. Meanwhile, the U.S. college graduate rate is worse than the graduate rate of our worst inner-city high schools.
What classroom technique excites you?
I use undergraduate teaching assistants. An undergraduate who's already been through the course can hold me to the fire and give me great advice on making the course better. He or she can give personal attention to everyone in the class, while being viewed as a mentor, not an instructor.
What online learning technique excites you?
I enjoy communicating with students by e-mail. It's quick and efficient. It's especially useful receiving weekly reports from students who are involved in community service internships.