Casual observation is an inadequate method to determine the degree of inclusivity within an academic unit because it does not take into account implicit bias, the perspectives of others, or the wealth of data that could indicate room for improvement. On the surface, an academic unit may look inclusive—there may be visible diversity among the faculty—but diversity is not synonymous with inclusivity. Faculty members may seem collegial, but how do faculty from underrepresented groups feel about the climate? Policies and practices may seem fair and unbiased, but are they?
Beyond the Credential Factory: Why Higher Education Must Shift from Management to Flourishing
For decades, higher education leadership has obsessed over “student success” as a purely operational metric. We track retention and graduation rates and postgraduation outcomes with the same linear precision that
Yoshitaka Iwasaki
August 3, 2026
