Rethinking Faculty as Street-Level Bureaucrats: Exploring the Role of Ethics and Administrative Discretion in Contemporary Higher Education

Abstract

Within the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic and political intervention in higher education has highlighted the need to reconceptualize higher education administration. This work addresses the roles faculty currently serve and how their ethics guide discretion while acting as the engagement point and makes the case that the group should be characterized as street-level bureaucrats. The article uses a theoretical analysis to provide support that faculty’s place as street-level bureaucrats is changing due to political and ethical demands. The article provides evidence for a redefinition of faculty’s role and suggests implications for the change.

Keywords:

• Higher education administration
• administrative discretion
• faculty governance
• street-level bureaucracy

Acknowledgments

This work benefited greatly from colleagues willing to offer revisions and ideas. Thank you to Dr. Elizabeth Bell, Dr. Clare Brock, Dr. Dan Mallinson, and Haley Collins Lovell and the reviewers and editors for their help making this work better.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Within this study, email communication was volunteered by faculty at 27 different institutions through a random social-media notice. The results of the study include a breakdown of the institutions where emails were received as well as a review of the seven individuals who agreed to participate in interviews. Emails were coded and analyzed for misalignments in communication that dealt with empathy, direction, and clarity.