Barrett J. Taylor, a professor of education at the University of North Texas and a frequent contributor to the Chronicle of Higher Education, is a scholar interested in the intersection of politics and higher education policy. His 2022 book, Wrecked: Deinstitutionalization and Partial Defenses in State Higher Education Policy, looks at attacks on higher education in Arizona, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Iowa in the 2010s, and responses to those challenges. Though the study’s scope is limited, Taylor’s arguments extend beyond four states and the time period.
The key agents of change in Wrecked are the Right, identified by Taylor as a political coalition and movement linking together the Republican Party, White anger, and specific policy agendas and campaigns supported by wealthy individuals and groups. He notes how these forces have gained political power, cut funding to higher education, and undermined trust in the broader higher education academic enterprise. Taylor’s formulation in this work is very much the Right attacks and higher education institutions respond, invariably with limited defenses. The attack and less than adequate responses, he stresses, weaken education and related services. Their depleted effectiveness serves as fodder for additional criticism and leads to further attacks. The cycle continues, with ever greater distrust of higher education by the public. Disinvestment and deinstitutionalization render higher education as “wrecked.”
Race is central to Taylor’s argument, primarily through a Black-White lens. Issues of class, or of urban-rural divides, are mentioned but do not take center stage. The key factors and data Taylor looks at are funding schemes and rates. As every state has different structures and practices, Taylor’s work is very helpful in explaining the systems in which policies are debated and implemented. The big picture story, told in terms of dollars, support the book’s largest claim: states lessened their financial support of higher education in the period examined.
Absent from Wrecked are deeper studies of individual actors, such as political leaders, or of the broader political questions affecting each state. Taylor’s construct does not include much analysis of the overall effectiveness of state higher education institutions or systems, or the actions that may have been taken (or missed) that might have led to problems with trust. There is robust scholarship on these problems and appreciation of these factors would have given this book greater nuance.
Moving to the larger political arena, it is important to remember that while higher education funding policy is extraordinarily important to all of us who work in higher education, it is never a top issue for most voters. Vital as we might be, elections are decided by other factors, like economic growth or tax policy. Accordingly, much of what transpired in the states and period investigated by Taylor calls out for more study if we are to make determinative judgments. Taylor, to his credit, readily acknowledges this and other limitations to his work.
What remains in Wrecked, though, is tale of decreased trust and investment with major political forces successfully painting higher education funding as a problematic endeavor. It is critical that all in higher education work to understand the how’s and why’s behind these broader movements.
David Potash