Institutional Ethics and Differentiators

Erin Hennessy 

Hi, and welcome to the Trusted Voices Podcast, hosted by Teresa Valerio Parrot and me, Erin Hennessy. This is our take on the latest news and biggest issues facing higher education. We often welcome leaders who are living, studying, and reporting on these challenges and ask them to share their own experiences and perspectives. We also make time for the two of us to discuss what we’re thinking as we engage with higher ed’s trusted voices.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Hi Erin, happy fall. It’s pumpkin spice latte season. I don’t like pumpkin spice lattes.

Erin Hennessy 

Okay.

Teresa Valerio Parrot

But I have a really cute pumpkin spice latte sweatshirt that I just bought with Snoopy, that is really, really cute. Happy fall.

Erin Hennessy 

You just bought a sweatshirt for a beverage you don’t like.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Yes, but I really love Snoopy. So everybody, welcome to October. You were just saying, unfortunately, that you…

Erin Hennessy 

I have my first cold of the fall, of the season.

Teresa Valerio Parrot

It’s because you’ve been traveling so much.

Erin Hennessy

Yes, I was gonna make a really; I’ll have a joke that I’ll make offline just between us. Okay. Yes, I have been traveling.

Teresa Valerio Parrot

Okay, okay. Everybody send us an email to trustedvoices@TVPCommunications.com if you think you know what that joke is. Winner wins a moleskin notebook.

Erin Hennessy

Anyway, I’m home. And I’m home for like three weeks, which I’m very excited about.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Oh nice! Nice. We will see. I should be traveling next week, but we may have a complication in the Parrot household, so you know.

Erin Hennessy 

Yes, well  that life keeps on lifing, does it not? Yeah.

Teresa Valerio Parrot

Life keeps on lifing, yes. And sometimes you learn that you don’t need four legs as a dog to be successful at lifing. There we go.

Erin Hennessy

Well, there you go. Send us an email at trustedvoices@TVPCommunications.com if you think you know what that was about. 

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Oh yeah. Those who know me will know where my heart is and have thoughts. Yes.

Erin Hennessy

Let’s get into it because…

Teresa Valerio Parrot
Let’s talk about the industry.

Erin Hennessy 

…this is a you and me week.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

It is!

Erin Hennessy 

And today we’re recording on the 30th, the very last day of September. This morning, this week, there’s been big news about higher education, and not all of it has been good.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Correct.

Erin Hennessy 

Our next topic includes the discussion of sexual assault. If you or someone you know is in a crisis or in need of assistance, please call 1-800-656-HOPE or text HOPE to 64673 to be connected to RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline. If this topic is triggering, please fast forward to 7:15 into this recording to hear the rest of our conversation.

Erin Hennessy 

We want to acknowledge that there is a lot of news that is happening around a civil lawsuit that was filed this week by Jane Doe, who was a student at Cornell, who alleges that she was sexually assaulted by a number of members of a fraternity after she was given a lot to drink and some drugs as well. And that story has taken up so much oxygen this week. It’s not one that I think you and I want to get into in great detail because this story seems to be changing by the day and by the time this drops next week, it will be, our hot takes will be barely lukewarm at that point.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Right. And I would say instead of changing by the day, it there’s layering on of additional detail by the day.

Erin Hennessy 

Yes, yes. and we definitely have thoughts, but sometimes, sometimes we just keep those thoughts between us. But the one part of this story that I did want to highlight for folks, and it’s a soapbox we get on quite often, is the role of student journalists in both keeping this story alive on their campus, in terms of pushing for accountability from administrators and really driving a news cycle that has gone on for several days and has really sparked a huge conversation across the country in various rooms, my sister brought this story up to me. And so we’ve linked in the show notes to a story that the New York Times did, a really nice story they did about the work of student journalists in bringing this case to greater attention. And I think that’s always worth noting and commending.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Agreed. And it’s been interesting to see the shift in conversation. I have become a Redditor because I’m still looking for my social media home these days. A lurker more than a poster. I don’t know if I posted, I’ve only lurked and responded, but I would say the conversation last week among those who were looking at the Ivies or the near Ivies was very different than the conversation this week. And I think there are some interesting conversations being had, whether it’s parents or students. If you all aren’t on Reddit to see how your institution and our industry are being discussed, this would be a fantastic time for you to take a quick spin. I’m sure that your marketing and communications team would be happy to kind of talk to you about how they’re thinking about Reddit because there are some really important conversations about higher education that are being held in new and different spaces. And for me, this is one of those that I’ve been able to track the sentiment as well as the layering details and the image and reputation that is going on. And most importantly the emotion associated with this has been front and center. So just my heart goes out to Jane Doe.

Erin Hennessy

Yes. Yep. And it’s, I wanna say this carefully because I don’t wanna make it sound like this is the primary concern because it isn’t, but these are things that feed into how people feel about higher education, about our institutions, how they are run, how they take care of students or don’t take care of students, and so I’m sure a lot of people at other institutions are looking at this situation and saying, you know, there but for the grace of God, but you are being touched in some way by this story because this goes to the continuing spiral in terms of lack of trust in our industry and our institutions. So it’s worth keeping in mind even as you watch the layers unfold.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

I agree. Well, and as we’re tasked with putting together statements or approving statements, think about that line that everybody puts in there about how much they care about the well-being of their students and how that is received based on the actions of the institution. So I have been, as someone who studies rhetoric, as do you, looking at language quite carefully from everywhere that it’s coming right now. And it’s just a reminder to all of us that say what you mean and do what you say. I think that’s the safest way to say that.

Erin Hennessy 

Yep.

Erin Hennessy 

A big thank you for listening. You can subscribe to Trusted Voices on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to make sure you never miss an episode. And now, full video episodes are available on YouTube at youtube.com/@TrustedVoicesPodcast.

Erin Hennessy 

So let’s take a real hard left turn into some good news for higher ed this week. 

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Yes. And last week. Yes.

Erin Hennessy 

And last week. It’s been a very, very exciting, I don’t know, I have mixed feelings, which we can get into. 

Teresa Valerio Parrot

Yes.

Erin Hennessy 

But last week, Phil Knight and his wife, the founder of Nike, donated one billion, with a B, dollars… 

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Billion dollars!

Erin Hennessy 

…to the University of Oregon, bringing their total giving to the university to over two billion dollars. thank you. And this morning, Carnegie Mellon University announced that they had received a three billion dollar gift, two billion of which will go to creating a new campus in Miami.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Yes.

Erin Hennessy 

That apparently won’t be organized around schools or colleges or majors or departments, but instead will be aligned around challenges, societal challenges. and I have so many questions about how that’s gonna fly in Florida, but…

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

And also how you live the donor intent of what that is. But that’s okay. Squishy language aside, yes.

Erin Hennessy 

Yes, and the third billion will go to the Pittsburgh campus, half of which is going to the computer science department and I didn’t catch what the second the other $500 million is gonna go to. Fascinating because I watched the Carnegie Mellon announcement unfold live on the Today show this morning. 

Teresa Valerio Parrot

Yes, that was kind of fun.

Erin Hennessy 

It was fun and obviously just, you know, doing what we do. Seeing all of the interviews that were in place and all the B roll that had been shared, some of which was, it was noted, enhanced by AI, which I thought was interesting. And I just had so many thoughts. Like poor University of Oregon, knocked out of…

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

They are happy! I was texting with my colleague Carol this morning. First of all, they announced theirs in the New York Times. So if you think about this, you have New York Times and the Today Show. It’s what everybody wants for their big announcements. 

Erin Hennessy

Very true.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

And as she and I were discussing this morning, she got a week of coverage out of this. 

Erin Hennessy

That’s true.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

They got a week of celebration. And as you and I know, if you get two days, you feel like you just hung the moon. 

Erin Hennessy 

Very true.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

So she was saying we could not be happier. And also congratulations to Carnegie Mellon. And as she noted, they are still the largest public flagship university to have received a billion dollars.

Erin Hennessy 

Very true. There’s always a distinction. There’s always a way to slice and dice it to get to a distinction.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Yeah.

Erin Hennessy 

And I think this is you know, I remember when all of the anonymous donations started, multi-million dollar anonymous donations and the MacKenzie Scott donations. And it’s really interesting to see these big gifts. And you know, going back to what we were just talking about, these are clear indications from some pretty big deal people who have been very financially successful that higher education still matters, still has value, still produces the workforce that we need, still produces the people that tackle the societal issues. I loved that the Carnegie Mellon gift was focused on, some of it was focused on computer science, but then this societal issues piece feels very social science-y to me, and we’ll see what it actually ends up being. But I also thought it was fascinating that in all of the stories about Carnegie Mellon, it noted that Ken Griffin will get a board seat.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Okay, I missed that part with the AI enhanced B-roll.

Erin Hennessy 

Uh-huh. Yeah.

Teresa Valerio Parrot

That’s interesting.

Erin Hennessy 

Very interesting. We’ll have a link to I think it was New York Times.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Wait a minute. So does that mean that the price of a board seat at Carnegie Mellon is three million dollars?

Erin Hennessy 

Billion.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Billion, I’m so sorry. Billion dollars. Like that, to me, I understand for private institutions that your boards are fundraisers and friendraisers and you look at them for entirely different reasons. But I get nervous if there is the ability to in essence, buy a seat on a board. 

Erin Hennessy 

I also get nervous.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

This blatantly that it’s in the statement, that it’s setting an expectation that now this is one of those things that people will say, how much will it cost for me to have a seat?

Erin Hennessy 

Yes. I also am hopeful that there is a understanding of the role of a board member and that it isn’t to come on the board and micromanage your donations and the projects that are tied to that donation.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

So I was gonna raise the CASE volunteer supportive education report as part of this. So this is a longitudinal study. Institutions choose to participate, it’s voluntary, and they track what kind of alumni, general gift, and also foundation dollars you receive.

Erin Hennessy 

Mm-hmm.

Teresa Valerio Parrot

And they look, they don’t disaggregate the data, so it’s the industry as a whole. And I’m curious to see, with pledged amounts of three in one billion. If they’re gonna have to start pulling some gifts out or listing them separately or how they’re going to account for these mega gifts so that it doesn’t skew the data for everybody else. So that’s one of the things. But the second thing, since we’re talking about CASE, I am, is they also have a donor bill of rights. And that would be one of those things that I would encourage people to look at. That talks about when you give, what should you expect? And for an institution, what should you give back? And it sets expectations that you aren’t buying your own role in shared governance. You aren’t able to micromanage the gift in ways that run either counter to the institution’s wishes or counter to mission. And I think this would be an interesting time to have that conversation about if there is a ceiling for that and above that amount, maybe that donor bill of rights has additional bullet points. Or does it? 

Erin Hennessy 

Maybe. Yeah. I just thought…

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

I would say it shouldn’t, but whew, I missed that important line, Hennessy.

Erin Hennessy 

I thought that was very interesting and I encourage Ken Griffin, who I’m sure is a listener, to reach out to AGB and engage with their resources as you begin your board service.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Or I also would encourage you, he can send an email to trustedvoices@TVPCommunications.com I would be happy to have him on and for the low price of two billion dollars. I’m kidding. We’d be happy to have him for free. Come and talk with.

Erin Hennessy 

Yes, yes. Yes, but I would also take his money. The other thing, and nobody wants to go here, but we’ve seen just in the last couple of weeks, some names being taken off of buildings and programs. And it was just announced today that George Mitchell’s name is coming off of something at University of Maine because of his alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein, and so I really hope and have every expectation that Ken Griffin is a great guy. But I really hope that Carnegie Mellon did their due diligence and said, if we’re going to take this enormous gift, and I assume this gentleman’s name is going to be all over everything, what are we going to do should we at any point be in a circumstance where we need to consider denaming or returning a gift?

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

If I had a billion dollars for every time we have encouraged people to create policies and procedures around exactly this, I would have more than the gift that was announced today. So everybody, this has been a theme across all of our seasons, across all of the advice that we give with major gifts and and a number of different news items. Make sure that your policies are reflecting where we are today.

Erin Hennessy 

Yep. Yep.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

And in the future.

Erin Hennessy 

Yes. The other thing I wanted to point out, and because I just, I think it needs to be said, is, and I was just talking with a bunch of NACUBO fellows last week in Indianapolis and this actual example came up, the Knights made their billion dollar pledge to the university at a time when the university is facing a sixty-five million dollar budget shortfall.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Mm-hmm.

Erin Hennessy

There are employees across the state at public institutions in Oregon, they’ve authorized a strike, which could begin imminently any day. And so it just becomes this balancing act of how you receive a gift of this size and celebrate it appropriately as it should be celebrated when you are still as an institution navigating some very difficult and near universal financial challenges.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Yes.

Erin Hennessy 

And so that is something that I’m sure the folks at the university were thinking about and messaging around. But it’s tough when this great gift comes from the sky and it’s designated to a particular thing when there are always such enormous needs across any institution.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Mm-hmm.

Erin Hennessy 

It can be a challenge to message that.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Well, and I know that was a consideration for them with also the reality within it’s the engineering school.

Erin Hennessy 

Mm-hmm.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

The engineering school now not thinking that they have at their disposal a billion dollars. Both pledged billion and then also an endowed billion, both of those come with very specific realities. That means you don’t just have a billion dollars in a checking account somewhere.

Erin Hennessy

Exactly.

Teresa Valerio Parrot

So setting the expectations across so many different places in doing so with the honor that you want to share and also the grace that you want to give the rest of the institution is really where we see our colleagues working the ultimate tightrope right now.

Erin Hennessy 

Yep. Yep. So who knows what will have happened by the time we get off this podcast today, but those are…

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Somebody will be at what what would be five billion is next? Six?

Erin Hennessy

It’s gonna be me. And you know, I send love and hugs to every institution that is about to announce a historic for them gift that isn’t, that doesn’t start with a B. Those gifts are still transformational and deeply important to your institutions, and we’re celebrating those as well as these ones that capture big, big headlines.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

I was talking to a leadership team recently and they were announcing a billion-dollar campaign. And they were saying, Well, you know, at this point we’re so behind in doing so. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, walk that back. You’re still talking about a billion dollars worth of impact. You are still talking about a billion dollars of trust that is being put towards your institution. Let’s not belittle a billion dollars because there are so many institutions that would love to announce a billion-dollar campaign. And we need to talk about what that really looks like and means, which is why I’m always such a fan of impact reporting rather than just pure dollar reporting.

Erin Hennessy 

Yep. So that’s what I’m thinking about. as well as how far the tissue box is from me. 

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

I’m sorry. 

Erin Hennessy 

That’s okay, I will live.

Teresa Valerio Parrot

Well, I have four topics for us and the first two…

Erin Hennessy 

You always have so many topics!

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

I know because I just sit and read and think and think and think. 

Erin Hennessy 

And I do what?

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Well, you are much more concise. How is that? 

Erin Hennessy 

Ho ho ho ho I’ll take the compliment. Thank you. Carry on.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Right? So the first is a resource that I want to share. I thought this was something that could be helpful to a number of people. I thought it was great. And also the Georgetown Center for Education and the Workforce does tremendous work.

Erin Hennessy 

Yes.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

They just put out a series called Post Secondary Education Value, Why It Matters, Who Is Measuring It, and Where We Go Now. So it’s a three-part series. It’s really, really interesting, especially if you’re thinking about that impact reporting, if you’re thinking about how to talk about value, if you’re thinking about maybe updating or refreshing or starting from scratch on your communications about why higher ed matters. They have some great resources there. So we’ll have a link in our show notes with that. And I have to say, I would also encourage you to set aside just a little bit of time to look around their site because the Georgetown Center just does such a beautiful job breaking down very complex issues and their experts are second to none. So please go look at that about how we’re talking about value, why it matters. And I think there are a number of institutions that could really learn from that, who is measuring it and how we measure. Because you can’t talk about the others if you don’t have the proof. The second is one that I posted about on LinkedIn and I got pretty fired up about. This is an op-ed that was in the Washington Post from Julia Cartwright. She is an economist, and she had a really ground shattering, groundbreaking, all of the things ground, op-ed and thought that colleges can adapt to a shrinking market by differentiating themselves. 

Erin Hennessy 

Hm. What now?

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

And my thought was, excuse me, Washington Post, two things. One, I hope all of the leaders that we work with read this piece. And if they need to see it from an economist and they need to see it from an academic, if they need to see it from a different vantage point, that’s great. Because our colleagues and the two of us, part of why maybe you might be losing your voice is because we scream about this all of the time. You can’t just look like everybody. And in a shrinking market, it’s even that much more important to stand out, to be unique, to lean into your culture, to lean into who you are, your mission, and again, that value and what you do.

Erin Hennessy

Yes.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

And I was just so frustrated that the Washington Post, that we pitch amazing pieces to all of the time, would take a piece that, in essence, marketers have been talking about everywhere and pitching pieces to them for years, trying to get this needle to move. So everybody, remember that marketing and communications is a profession. We have background knowledge on this, just like economists. And we have very specific ways that we are thinking about how to stand out and how to make sure that you’re balancing the reputation and the revenue. So this was both reputation and revenue focused, but it felt like this was a brand new idea to bring in some of that core push that we have all been stressing for years.

Erin Hennessy 

Yeah. Well, I want to make two points. One, yes, lean into differentiation, but also pick your head up, look around, and understand what is truly a differentiator. 

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Yes.

Erin Hennessy 

You and I have been to a million campuses where people tell us our differentiator is experiential learning. Our differentiator is faculty who really care and involve students in their research. Our differentiator is study abroad. Our differentiator…

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Our entrepreneurial center.

Erin Hennessy 

Our data analytics major.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

How we care more than anybody else about our students and their success.

Erin Hennessy 

Yeah. Everyone says it, but we really do it. I just please go to conferences, go to meetings, put yourself on the mailing list of other institutions, both peer and aspirational to your own, and put that stuff in front of your presidents and senior leaders who aren’t as engaged in it as the marketing and communications professionals are every day and say, look. This is what is the same between us and every other small liberal arts institution. So we need to figure out something different to differentiate us. The second thing I would say is is Julia Cartwright an economist that works on a campus?

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Correct.

Erin Hennessy 

Okay. I would like to send a coffee to the marketing and communications professionals at that institution. We love faculty, we love what they do, we know they care deeply. We need to find more ways to incentivize them getting involved with marketing and communications so that they understand that this is what we’re working on, that this is what we’re trying to do, that we’ve been trying to do it for decades. And I mean blessings upon them if they pitched that piece for her and had to sort of grin and bear this faculty member who doesn’t understand this is exactly what we do. It’s all we do all day long.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Yes. This is what, this is our focus. I would send them a cupcake though. So let’s go with your coffee. I’ll send them a cupcake to go with that. Because maybe they have broken through and she now is realizing, lightbulb going off, this is what we need to do. And for so many meetings that we’ve been in where we’re trying to explain what differentiation is, where we’re trying to talk about what is it that really is a core value for the institution. What is it that you do better than anybody else? What makes you unique? Maybe she just realized that is how we deal with this enrollment reality that we have as an industry. And if that’s the case, Marcomm team kudos. Let’s give you that cupcake. 

Erin Hennessy 

Yeah. Welcome to the team, Julia.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Yeah, exactly. It was also interesting. I was talking to my dissertation chair about this piece, and she got to hear me talk about it for quite a bit, which she found very entertaining. She wanted me to share and so she said the other thing that we should think about is to look at the work. Brendan Cantwell has done some of this work around academic capitalism as well. And it plays into this too. So she said, if you’re looking for some journal articles that are gonna make you happy, look at that too, because it’s gonna give nice support to what we’re talking about as well.

Erin Hennessy

There you go. Okay, that was two.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Okay, there we go. There’s two. The next one I want to talk about, we were supposed to record last week, but I had a family emergency. I was gonna share a piece that is in Higher Ed Dive that was talking about College athletics rack up millions in deficits as Senate eyes oversight bill. And so this was last week’s news. and I was gonna talk about how we have this interesting reality where we are looking at really, really significant deficits as institutions try to keep up with the Joneses. And at the same time, we have Congress now deciding that they want to weigh in on what’s going on in intercollegiate athletics. So for years, people have been saying Congress do something and they’ve not but I really appreciated how Ben Unglesbee par paired the two of those. Congress is now caring, and let’s talk about how much debt is being racked up. So they gave these examples. UCLA had a deficit of $241 million after seven straight years of expenses that outpaced revenues. University of Colorado, Go Buffs, have a projected $27 million deficit as it pays for Coach Prime and all of the different expenses in athletics.

Erin Hennessy 

Is this from, is this data from the GAO report? 

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Yes, which we talked about last time. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill racked up 15 million. They also have a new football coach more recently. 

Erin Hennessy 

Thank you, Bill.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

University of Kansas Athletics Board greenlit a $13.2 million budget deficit, which is an improvement, they note, over $15.8 the year before.

Erin Hennessy 

Nice.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

So looking at these numbers and thinking about what this means for other institutions, it was just fascinating. And I had been following the conversation around what was the Save Act and then shifted. And just in the last couple of days, in the middle of the night, we got to see that there was a new bill that was passed. And that was in the Senate. This was a bipartisan bill. It passed with pretty significant support. And what I had been reading about is that Senator Ted Cruz thought that this could be a coalescing issue for the Republicans in the midterm elections. And that’s part of why he wanted it to pass now.

Erin Hennessy

Yes.

Teresa Valerio Parrot

I would say this is something that has been asked for for many, many years. Maybe not this version, because some people don’t like this version, but for Congress to do something because the NCAA was not taking hold of a number of different issues. So here’s what was in that bill. It included a one-time transfer limit or sit-out a year for students, so you can’t change every year and keep playing.

Erin Hennessy

Right. Mm-hmm.

Teresa Valerio Parrot

It’s harder to challenge eligibility rules in court. And when I say it’s harder to challenge this really impacts the student athletes more than the institutions. It limits revenue sharing with athletes. It restrains conference realignment and the formation of a future super league. And I want to be very clear that not everybody is a fan of what this means. There are other details in there as well. Highly encourage reading the piece that was in The Athletic. I really appreciated how they talked about this. Ralph Russo also had some videos embedded in with the article that were great. He also pointed out, he and Justin Williams, the arguments against this. And that is that there’s a restriction on pay without student athlete representation. So a lot of these are the downside for the student athlete, the upside for the conferences and the institutions, which we’ve had for many, many years in NILs, and pay for play started to balance that. Although we’re not supposed to talk about it as pay for play. So pay.

So restrictions on pay without student athlete representation, which was the argument fifteen, twenty years ago that the Knight Commission brought up. And also the Congressional Black Caucus argued against the infringement on voting rights in the states. A number of states have passed something associated with this, and now you have the federal government overlaying what they want this to be on top of what states have done. I would say it also is intended to normalize across the states what can and can’t happen in their athletic areas. But I just wanted to make sure that everybody is looking at that, what’s being called a historic bill to federally regulate college sports. We’ve had many of those by the way. This one really just looks at the finances associated with athletics.

Erin Hennessy 

Yes, and the again, this could change by the time we’re in your ears. The prospect of the House coming back to pass this is, before the midterms, slim to none.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Correct.

Erin Hennessy 

And I think what a lot of folks wanted was because Congress has been so do nothing, they wanted a bipartisan bill that felt very I don’t want to say kitchen tabley, but like very resonant and understandable by lay people. And that brought together Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell, which doesn’t happen often. So it remains to be seen if Speaker Johnson will bring the house back just for this. I would doubt it. 

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Yeah, I agree. 

Erin Hennessy 

So it will probably be after midterms, and who knows if anybody’s gonna care by then.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

I agree. And also, all of the articles that I read said that they will be curious to see how this looks once it goes through the House as well.

Erin Hennessy 

Yes.

Teresa Valerio Parrot

Will they pick it up? Is it an issue that they care about? Obviously, Ted Cruz thought this was a big deal. He has been on a number of cable programs talking about this. I would say that I think we had inequity in how student athletes were heard and treated. In some ways, right or wrong, that leveled up to a different level. And now we’re taking it back down to a place where student athletes don’t have the voice that perhaps they should have, and that maybe some institutions and some programs don’t want them to have. So it’s just fascinating to see where this goes, what happens next. And if anybody wants to chat with me about it, send me an email at you know where trustedvoices@tvcommunications.com because I’m really, really curious about where this goes and if this makes anything any better or did we already lose the opportunity years ago to do what should have been done?

Erin Hennessy 

Yeah, well and any better for whom?

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

That’s the key. That is exactly the key for whom? Especially as we talk about these deficits. And that’s why I loved the fact that Higher Ed Dive paired the two. Here’s what’s going on with this bill. And here are the deficits that are being run. Because it does not take very much time or effort to link the two of those together.

Erin Hennessy 

Yep. All right, bring us home.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Here is my last item that I am talking about, and I think it actually ties into something that you were discussing earlier, tied to three billion dollars.

Erin Hennessy 

What?

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

There was an AI-edited Stanford ad that was found to have violated campus policy. So we have seen this many times, many, many times, from the Photoshop days to now the AI days. Please, everybody, do not AI enhance your ads to your students. And don’t take out specific students and add in other students so that you think it looks a little bit more like a Benetton ad. Please, which I just dated myself. There’s a whole bunch of people who have no idea what a Benetton ad is, but make sure that when you use a photo, you aren’t disrespecting those who are in the photo and you’re not also disrespecting the intelligence and the trust of those who are looking at the ad to see what you’ve done and that you may be misrepresenting your own institution and its best interests with what you think will look spiffier.

Erin Hennessy 

Yes. Yep. There’s nothing else to say on that one. It, those stories happen so regularly. 

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

All of the time. Yes. 

Erin Hennessy 

You know, put right up there with oops, we sent admissions to a bunch of people we meant to decline or…

Teresa Valerio Parrot

But that happens. I can see accidentally hitting the wrong, like getting the spreadsheet, uploading the wrong one. 

Erin Hennessy 

Yes. This is intentional. 

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Yes, you have to think this through, process it, go and find the student that you want to swap in and out. All of these things. 

Erin Hennessy 

Oh I know.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

There are many checkpoints where you can say, is this the ethical thing to do? And Johanna Alonso at Inside Higher Ed did a great job of bringing up some of those other pieces and examples over time. They go all the way back to billboards, everybody.

Erin Hennessy 

Yes. Yep.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

And her last name is Alonso. 

Erin Hennessy 

Alonso.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Yes. That is how you know I’m looking at my secondary screen and my bifocals did not pick it up.

Erin Hennessy 

Whoops.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Sorry, Johanna.

Erin Hennessy 

Okay. Our first live correction, right?

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Yes, yes.

Erin Hennessy

Well, what a week.

Teresa Valerio Parrot

What a week. I’m very excited. I have signed up to be a poll watcher on a couple of Saturdays. 

Erin Hennessy 

Very good. That’s great.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

So I’m excited to participate in our democratic process this year.

Erin Hennessy

Well, that’s great. I have signed up to attend, I haven’t even told you about this, I am breaking news right now and I’m scrolling so I can find the right thing, the right name. I’m going to be spending a little bit of time at Penn in a couple weeks.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Are you going to Karen Weaver’s thing?

Erin Hennessy 

I’m going to Karen Weaver’s program, which is called, wait, ugh. Why can’t I find anything easily? But it’s about athletics,

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Yes!

Erin Hennessy 

And leadership and governance. And I am super excited and very grateful that Karen has let me attend. So I’m gonna be there with some really smart people and I’m just gonna sit in the back and hope I don’t embarrass myself. 

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

You’re gonna do great.

Erin Hennessy 

But athletics is something I don’t know nearly enough about and so this is me trying to fix that and get a little certificate while I’m at it. So I’m very excited about that. 

Teresa Valerio Parrot

That’s fantastic! 

Erin Hennessy 

Yeah, thank you.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

I saw her post about it on LinkedIn and I meant to send it to you, but had some stuff going on. But I thought to myself, whoever gets to go is gonna be so lucky. She put together a fantastic slate of speakers. She herself is an amazing expert on this. And you’re gonna have to give us an update when you get back.

Erin Hennessy 

Yes, and I get a copy of her book. And one of the speakers is a actual friend of the show, a fen a friend of the program. Father Malachi Van Tassel…

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Father Malachi is speaking there?!

Erin Hennessy 

…is speaking. So I will get to listen to him tell me how much he loves you. And that alone is worth the cost of admission.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

I just think he is the gold standard for just grace and amazingness. I’m so jealous. 

Erin Hennessy 

Yes. Yeah, I’m excited.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Well, I’ll give you an update of what I did last night. Kevin Parrot and I went to, I’m still on the politics thing because October to me feels like the beginning of voting. And our ballots just got mailed out. We just got our text and email notifications this week. 

Erin Hennessy

I have already returned my ballot. I’m very, very diligent this year.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Look at you go! I haven’t received mine yet, but it’s on its way, I hear.

Erin Hennessy 

Mm-hmm.

Teresa Valerio Parrot

We went to a town hall with one of our gubernatorial candidates in Greeley, Colorado, which is about an hour away from where we live last night. It was televised on our local NBC affiliate. And so I made sure that my hair looked great and I was ready. And my mom watched and she said Kevin Parrot was on screen quite a bit, and just my hair made it in. She wanted to let me know my hair looked cute.

Erin Hennessy 

Had Kevin done his hair?

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Kevin always does his hair. Kevin has perfect hair at all times. That is true. That is true. But I want to just encourage everybody, no matter how you’re thinking about the season, please make sure you’re registered. Please vote. Please get involved in whatever way makes sense for you. I’m not gonna say do it a red or a blue way. I’m just gonna say do it your way, because this is a really important election at the local level, state level, and for a number of people who are getting elected to Congress. So go out there, vote, make me proud. and we can’t wait to hear about Erin’s adventures at Penn.

Erin Hennessy 

Yeah, it’s as close as I’m gonna get to elite higher education.

Teresa Valerio 

I was gonna say, look at you, Ivy leaguing it.

Erin Hennessy 

I know, all the way across the river. I can buy a sweatshirt, right?

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Nice. I’m gonna send you a frame for that certificate.

Erin Hennessy 

Thank you. I am gonna buy a sweatshirt.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

You should.

Erin Hennessy 

Why wouldn’t I?

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

You should and then write-in in Sharpie underneath, alumni.

Erin Hennessy 

And on that potentially fraudulent note, we are gonna… 

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

As we talked about trust and value.

Erin Hennessy 

Right, exactly. We’re gonna wrap this one up. Have a great weekend, Teresa.

Teresa Valerio Parrot 

Have a fantastic weekend, Erin. I hope you feel better. Get some rest and some fluids. 

Erin Hennessy 

Thank you. 

Teresa Valerio Parrot

Bye, everybody.

Erin Hennessy 

Thank you. Bye.

Thank you for joining us for this episode. Links and transcripts are available at TVPcommunications.com. You can contact us with your feedback or guest suggestions at TrustedVoices@TVPCommunications.com. Follow Trusted Voices wherever you get your podcasts, and until next time, thanks to Teresa Valerio Parrot, DJ Hauschild, and Savannah Parrot for a great episode. And thank you for listening.