When Administrators Rule...

Universities were once temples of thought, guided by professors who defined knowledge, curiosity, and truth. Today, many professors are subordinates in their own institutions, reporting to administrators who couldn’t pass a doctoral exam but can crunch KPIs like pros.

Students are “customers.” Research is “output.” Teaching is a “service line.” Corporate-style managers demand glossy brochures, dashboards, and measurable ROI. Professors, decades of mastery behind them, are told to chase revenue, market relevance, and industry partnerships instead of truth. Deep research and mentorship? Optional. Branding meetings? Mandatory.

Even worse: professors often report to people who know less than they do about scholarship, yet decide what is “impactful.” Academic freedom shrinks. Knowledge production is repackaged as a product line. Students lose mentors. Professors lose authority. Society loses the disruptive, challenging ideas it desperately needs.

So, who really owns knowledge? Professors, with their slow, messy, rigorous inquiry? Or administrators, armed with quarterly targets and PowerPoint slides? If the latter wins, universities survive, but as corporations. Their soul, the relentless pursuit of truths, is gone. Classrooms will be full of “customers” buying credentials, not thinkers creating knowledge.