Wrong to blame Hopkins administrative staff for school’s high cost | READER COMMENTARY

As a longtime academic staff member at Johns Hopkins University, I read Matthew Crenson’s comments on administrative bloat with disdain (“Why is college so expensive? One answer: ‘administrative bloat,'” March 3). While I appreciate the concern for the expense of higher education, I am disappointed in the swipe at academic staff administrators as a primary reason for such academic bloat. These staff members provide vital services not only to students, but also to faculty like Crenson, who is a professor emeritus of political science at Johns Hopkins, as well as prospective students and families, alumni and university leadership. I can’t help but wonder how the academic staff in his Crenson’s department feel about this op-ed.

What would happen if we tried to reduce administrative bloat by ending the careers of the academic staff and saving maybe a few million dollars — the equivalent of maybe 100-200 students’ annual tuition at a university that serves over 17,000 full-time students? Who will then manage the hundreds of tasks that must be completed to successfully run the academic departments? Who will be the welcoming face of the department for prospective students when they visit the campus to decide if Hopkins is worth the hundreds of thousands of dollars that they and their families will invest for their college education?

Who will be the academic advisors when some faculty members have too many other duties to add academic advising to the list? When will help students interpret complex academic policy and university rules — often in a language other than their native one? Who will act for students when their requests for necessary services are denied or delayed by another administrative office? Who will do the hiring and payroll for and supervision of students in part-time on-campus jobs that Crenson advocates as part of students’ personal growth? Who will create the communication and the manuals and the websites on which students, faculty and central administration depend to find policy information easily so they can focus on their own academic and research work instead of spending inordinate amounts of time hunting for it?

Oh, and the work required to gather, synthesize, and present the data required for organizations like the US News and World Report and various accreditation processes is voluminous, and much of that responsibility falls on the academic staff. Also, before the university’s career services office became the Life Design office, departmental academic staff often helped students with career services — and sometimes still do.

We do this satisfying work gladly — often working overtime to complete the tasks required of us — as it allows students to focus more on their studies, faculty to focus more on their research and teaching, Hopkins leadership to focus on fulfilling the school’s mission and vision, and prospective families to find a caring and trusting environment for their children to thrive as college students and yes, providing tools to help them launch their careers.

One can cite statistics on ratio of faculty and staff to students, but in my 21 years at Johns Hopkins University, my department’s student body — and the work necessary to serve them well — has almost tripled. Our staff has grown by maybe 50%.

I realize that one department does not a university make, but I posit to Professor Crenson that academic administration has evolved to meet ever-increasing demands for services from students and their families. Of course, Hopkins will always want to find ways to provide services more efficiently and try to stem rising costs, but for it to be competitive to attract new students, we must continue to demonstrate a high level of administrative proficiency to enhance the multifaceted, exciting and rewarding experience of college education.

— Mike Bernard, Parkville

The writer is academic program manager for Johns Hopkins University Department of Mechanical Engineering.

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