What Happened to Higher Education?

How Bureaucracy and Ideology Hijacked Our Universities

The university, once a sanctuary of intellectual exploration and debate, has shifted dramatically from its founding purpose as a beacon of learning and discovery. Plato may not have known the term "university," but his Academy, founded in 387 BCE, is often regarded as one of the first. There, he nurtured a space of dialectical inquiry, structured conversations and probing questions to pursue deeper truths. Fast forward to today, and this ideal of learning has all but vanished, replaced by a corporate-style system that prioritizes administrative control over academic freedom. Universities have drifted from their mission, morphing into ideological factories where administrators, rather than educators, set the tone and agenda.

The archaeological site of Plato's academy. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic_Academy

Growing Bloat and Ideological Drift:

Reflecting on my own experiences, growing up in Fresno with parents dedicated to California State University (CSU), becoming a student, and eventually a professor… I see a disturbing shift. Our universities, once centers for research and teaching, have morphed into bureaucracies driven by administrators with agendas that seem far removed from genuine learning. This administrative bloat is not only costly; it stifles intellectual diversity and drives up tuition, turning students and their families into the financial backers of a system that increasingly values conformity over knowledge.

The Numbers Don’t Lie:

The numbers reveal the extent of this administrative takeover. Between 1993 and 2014, senior management at UCLA swelled by 300%, dwarfing the modest 60% increase in faculty and a 33% rise in student enrollment. Current figures are harder to obtain, but a 2021 report underscores that this trend hasn’t just continued—it’s accelerated, with administrative budgets absorbing an ever-larger slice of university resources.

Source: https://scaleatucla.weebly.com/ucla-senior-management-growth-in-comparison-to-faculty-and-students-1993-2014.html

Administrative spending at UCLA surged from 25% of the budget in 2008, when I started my PhD, to 30% by 2023, ballooning from $900 million to nearly $1.95 billion. Meanwhile, the growth in faculty and genuine academic programs has stagnated. Students and faculty alike shoulder the cost of this bloated bureaucracy, with tuition rising as the academic mission falters.

Growing up, I was immersed in the world of higher education through my parents, both dedicated CSU employees who believed in accessible, affordable education. The CSU system vividly illustrates the nationwide trend of administrative growth outpacing academic investment. Over the past three decades, the only real job growth in higher education has been at the top of the pay scale, largely benefiting university and college administrators. In 1993, CSU employed just over 2,000 administrators; by 2018, that number had more than doubled to 4,281. This administrative expansion has translated into budgetary strain: between 2011 and 2016, the CSU Chancellor’s Office budget alone swelled by $10 million, and from 2005 to 2018, the average CSU president's salary rose by 38%, excluding perks like housing and car allowances.

Meanwhile, the growth in tenure-track faculty has stagnated. In contrast, the number of underpaid, temporary faculty has ballooned and now comprises roughly two-thirds of CSU’s teaching staff. This administrative expansion and reliance on temporary faculty have diverted resources away from academic excellence and burdened students and families with rising tuition and fees. In prioritizing top-heavy management over quality faculty investment, CSU, like many public universities, has shifted its focus away from educational priorities toward an unsustainable administrative model.

The rise in administrative bloat is directly linked to skyrocketing tuition, and it’s students and their families who are left footing the bill. Universities have shifted funds away from their core missions of teaching and research to support an ever-expanding bureaucratic class. With more resources diverted to fund non-essential administrative functions, universities justify annual tuition hikes to cover basic educational costs that should already be fully funded. As tuition climbs, students take on greater debt, sacrificing their financial futures while universities continue to expand an administrative apparatus that provides no real educational value.

Administrative Overreach and Ideological Conformity:

These administrators don’t teach, produce research, or contribute to the academic mission in any meaningful way, yet they hold substantial power within the system, with salaries that often outstrip those of professors. Their purpose? To manage diversity agendas, enforce social compliance standards, and monitor adherence to the latest ideological trends.

Today, universities claim to champion diversity, but political diversity is glaringly absent. Studies reveal that university employees overwhelmingly donate to left-leaning candidates—by a margin exceeding 95%.

Percent of Democratic Faculty Members to Republican in 25 Academic Fields. Source:https://www.nas.org/academic-questions/31/2/homogenous_the_political_affiliations_of_elite_liberal_arts_college_faculty

This skewed landscape isn’t fostering open dialogue; it’s enforcing conformity. Instead of supporting the academic mission, administrators now act as ideological gatekeepers, punishing dissent and ensuring adherence to the prevailing orthodoxy.

This distortion is funded in large part by taxpayer dollars funneled through federal grants, earmarked as “overhead”—a portion originally meant for operational costs like facilities. But now, overhead includes expenses for diversity officers, compliance specialists, and entire departments focused on social initiatives that do little to advance education or research. Meanwhile, investment in new faculty and actual educational initiatives has stalled, leaving students and faculty to shoulder the cost of administrative bloat in the form of rising tuition.

As these administrators expand their ranks and influence, they stifle intellectual curiosity and police thought. Academic freedom, once a cornerstone of higher education, is now sacrificed to “safety” and “inclusivity,” buzzwords masking a climate of censorship and ideological control. For those who question the prevailing norms, the university has become a hostile place, where the administrators’ real function is to ensure compliance, maintain groupthink, and quash any challenges to their ideological regime.

We must question what universities are truly for. Are they meant to be spaces for rigorous debate and intellectual exchange? Or are they destined to become echo chambers churning out graduates taught only what to think, not how to think?

Reclaiming the Mission of Higher Education

The current trajectory is unsustainable, but reform is possible. To reclaim higher education from administrative expansion and ideological homogeneity, we must implement targeted reforms that address these systemic issues.