I am thinking specifically of his pithy description of the perfect university education. “The ideal college,” Garfield supposedly said, “is Mark Hopkins on one end of a log and a student on the other.” Garfield graduated from Williams College in the 1850s, when Mark Hopkins was president and professor of philosophy.

This epigram has stuck with me since I first heard it many years ago. I recalled it as I led West Virginia University through our recent “academic transformation,” a process we began in 2016 to plan for the future and make WVU more responsive to what our students told us they wanted. The process culminated in 2023 with changes to 130 academic programs affecting 143 faculty on the main WVU campus in Morgantown.

Before discussing the relevance of Garfield’s quote, I will begin by reiterating something I have said countless times in Faculty Senate meetings, conversations with students and parents, and media interviews as the academic transformation process unfolded. Change is not easy, and seeing colleagues lose their jobs is miserable. We are a community, and when one member is hurt, we all sympathize. No one at WVU involved in making these decisions did so callously.

I also believe in the University experience to my core. In the current moment in our country and world, this experience and what it contributes to our society is as important as ever. We must never lose sight of the fact that central to the university experience is our students. There are certain timeless elements of the university which should be protected always. But we cannot overcharge today and provide limited value tomorrow.

We must ensure that our students graduate not only with purpose but also with the skills to be marketable in the 21st century. Our goal was, is, and always should be to sustain and strengthen the enterprise because there are generations of future students and families depending on WVU to be there for them when they are ready for college. 

 We must ensure that our students graduate not only with purpose but also with the skills to be marketable in the 21st century. 

And so, as we positioned WVU to adapt to the 21st century economy and society, we listened as students “voted with their feet” when they chose majors and selected courses. This became our guiding principle as we undertook difficult decisions, which brings us back to Garfield and Hopkins.

Frederick Rudolph, a leading historian of American higher education, declared, “[N]o one can properly address himself to the question of higher education in the United States without paying homage in some way to the aphorism of the log and to Mark Hopkins.” I agree with Rudolph, even more so in the context of academic transformation.

There are three things I take away from Garfield’s statement that resonate with WVU’s academic transformation: (1) great professors are essential to the college experience; (2) the other trappings of a college, however enjoyable, are insufficient without these great professors; and (3) the student is an equal participant in the educational process, and the choices they make about their studies are crucial to the success of our institutions.

Great Professors

I hope we can all agree that great professors are essential to the college experience. If there is disagreement on this basic premise, I doubt further discussion is productive or even possible. Each of us can remember those professors who ignited our love of learning and guided us as we navigated the academic waters. One of our most important responsibilities as presidents is to ensure current and future students have access to equally memorable and high-quality professors who will teach and mentor them.

In an ideal world, then, every one of our universities and colleges could afford to have great professors in every department or discipline. But we do not live in an ideal world for higher education. Instead, we live in a world of structural budget deficits, rising costs for health insurance and many other necessities, shifting demographics, declining enrollments, a crisis of public confidence, and the lingering effects of the COVID pandemic.

 Another of our most important responsibilities as presidents is to ensure our universities and colleges are accessible and affordable to current and future students so they can have interactions with great professors.   

Another of our most important responsibilities as presidents is to ensure our universities and colleges are accessible and affordable to current and future students so they can have interactions with great professors. Otherwise, the great American experiment in democratizing higher education that began with the Morrill Acts will fail, and the progress we have made over the last 160 years will evaporate. For WVU, a land-grant university dedicated to service to our state, failure was not an option. We could not continue to try to be all things to all people. Changes have to be made to survive the current challenges and prepare for the future

Other Trappings

Sitting on a log is no one’s idea of the epitome of comfort, but Garfield’s statement makes the point that the interaction between professor and student is the true heart of the learning enterprise. Even if that interaction takes place on a log, in the absence of other “creature comforts,” it is enough to generate the ideal college experience.

The converse, however, is not true. A student can have access to luxurious residence halls, delicious food service options, state-of-the-art recreation centers, and immaculate campuses, but those things will not generate the ideal college experience without interactions with great professors.

There has been an “arms race” in higher education to see who can build the nicest campus amenities. A decade ago, there was a lot of talk about whether lazy rivers and climbing walls were driving up the cost of college and whether they were appropriate additions to campuses.

The reality is that such amenities are not significant cost drivers, and our students benefit from the physical and social exercise that well-designed campus amenities provide. But as presidents, we must remind all of our constituents that nothing can take the place of dialogue and mentoring between faculty and students. It has been ever thus.

Students as Equal Participants

In my opinion, this is the most compelling part of Garfield’s aphorism and the one most frequently overlooked. Yes, Mark Hopkins was at one end of that log, but we must always remember a student was at the other end—a student who was interested in what Hopkins had to teach and wanted to be there to learn it.

We must respect what students tell us they want in terms of their academic studies. If enrollment drops and does not rebound in a particular field, students are sending a message. They are sending a message about their interest in the field, their concerns about the field’s relevance to the job market, and/or their doubts about how the field connects to 21st century skills and society.

It is imperative to understand what message the students are sending and why they are sending it, but first and foremost we should acknowledge that students have a seat at the table (or on the log), and we need to take their input into account as we make decisions about our mix of academic programs. Some programs will expand. Others will be modified. Still others will reduce or close. Student choice will be a valuable guide for making those decisions. This is not about disrespecting faculty. It is about respecting students.

Likewise, the hoary model of the “sage on the stage” lecturing from yellowed pages to students slumbering in their seats needs to go—and good riddance to it. Garfield’s epigram suggests a very different dynamic between professor and student. They are seated together on the log, not separated by a great distance where the professor delivers wisdom from on high to a passive audience. Students want more personal interaction, more give-and-take. Hopefully, our faculty want the same thing.

What Would Mark Hopkins Say?

So why did James Garfield admire Mark Hopkins? What was it about Hopkins that made him such a captivating and effective educator? One way to answer those questions is to look at what Hopkins said and wrote during his career as a college president and professor.

In his 1847 book Miscellaneous Essays and Discourses, Hopkins wrote this: “We are to regard the mind, not as a piece of iron to be laid upon the anvil and hammered into any shape, nor as a block of marble in which we are to find the statue by removing the rubbish, nor as a receptacle into which knowledge may be poured; but as a flame that is to be fed, as an active being that must be strengthened to think and to feel—and to dare, to do, and to suffer.”

 Our students are not pieces of iron or blocks of marble or a mere receptacle. They are living beings with interests, dreams, goals, dislikes, fears, and doubts. 

I can see why Garfield revered Hopkins so much. In a single paragraph, Hopkins provides one of the most powerful summations of an educational philosophy I have read. Our students are not pieces of iron or blocks of marble or a mere receptacle. They are living beings with interests, dreams, goals, dislikes, fears, and doubts. If we respect and treat them as such, placing their input at the heart of our decision-making when the time comes to make tough choices about the future of academic programs, we will serve them and our institutions well.

WVU did not plan to be the “point of the spear” on academic transformation. In many ways, WVU has experienced remarkable success, including an 82% increase in research expenditures, from $152 million in 2019 to $275 million in 2024. WVU’s Day of Giving in March 2024 brought in more than 8,500 gifts totaling $30.4 million. WVU Medicine has grown to 24 hospitals and clinics with 30,000 employees. We have, however, also experienced headwinds. The new realities of higher education created an urgent situation that required someone to lead and others to learn from our lessons. I believe WVU has provided that leadership. I also believe WVU continues to evolve as we strategically invest in areas that are important to student success and the future of the state we are honored to serve.