This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
CHICAGO • As they select schools for their children, should well-off Americans consider their college decisions a moral act?
Has the race for luxury amenities at top-tier universities made a full-tuition-paying family's decision to send their children to a college with less swanky room and board an act of social justice?
Malcolm Gladwell thinks so.
The star journalist and author of the blockbuster hits "The Tipping Point," "Blink" and "Outliers" has turned his considerable talents at interweaving social sciences with good storytelling to audio. His latest project is a weekly podcast called "Revisionist History," which is about events or issues that have been overlooked, misunderstood or forgotten.
Since premiering the show on June 15, Gladwell has looked into the story of a famous English painting called "The Roll Call"; investigated a top-secret research project the Pentagon ran in an old villa in downtown Saigon during the Vietnam War; and analyzed why smart people sometimes do dumb things.
The episodes have all been marked by Gladwell's trademark deep research, his intelligent and soothing voice and, at times, the deep passion he brings to a topic.
This is especially apparent in a three-part miniseries, currently underway on "Revisionist History," on educational attainment for the neediest in our country. It started with an episode — a moving, infuriating, heartbreaking 40 minutes — titled "Carlos Forgets" that illustrates why, even though so many universities are trying to recruit highly intelligent kids from poor areas, most never make it to colleges appropriate to their talent. The third, yet-to-be-aired piece is about educational philanthropy.
The second, just-released episode, is about the trade-offs that universities have to make as they attempt to recruit both the low-income students they want to educate and the full-freight-paying students who subsidize the grants that make it possible.
The episode, "Food Fight," compares the cafeteria food at Vassar College and Bowdoin College — two small, elite, Northeastern liberal arts colleges — that do vastly different jobs at both providing luxury for the full-freight kids and admitting students on full rides.
According to Gladwell's numbers, 23 percent of Vassar's undergraduate students are low-income, making it "the most open and accessible private school in the land," while Bowdoin has only 13 percent of such students.
The other significant difference?
Vassar spends about $62,000 on each of its low-income students to room, board and educate them — and skimps on fancy dorm rooms and better food in the dining hall. Bowdoin's housing, on the other hand, is ranked second best in the nation. Bowdoin's cafeteria is run like a Michelin-starred restaurant and has been named to various lists of colleges with the best-tasting and healthiest food in the nation.
Again, the problem is that, in effect, students who are used to living in such opulence at home and who demand it when they leave for college help pay for the kids who couldn't afford to attend unless on full scholarship. If Vassar can't entice more full-tuition-paying students to apply, fewer highly talented low-income kids will have the opportunity to study there.
Thus, the decision to eat like a king or a pauper at college dining halls can be seen as a moral question.
Gladwell's answer is: "If you're looking at liberal arts colleges ... don't give your money to Bowdoin or to any other school that serves amazing food in its dining hall. Because every time you support a school that spends its money on amazing food, every time you cast a vote for eggplant parmesan pancakes and lobster bakes and venison during deer season, you're making it harder and harder for someone like [Vassar College President] Catherine Hill to create opportunities for poor kids."
I've not done this quote anywhere near the justice it deserves — it warrants a listen — and, obviously, Bowdoin officials didn't take this well. They posted an angry response on their website suggesting that Gladwell didn't treat them fairly.
Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.
What cannot be ignored is that, even when adjusted for inflation, college is both further out of reach to middle and lower classes than ever before and more crucial to lifetime economic success.
The debate about college access vs. luxury has been an increasing point of contention for the past decade. As America focuses more on the growing gulf between the haves and the have-nots, it's an issue that deserves far more attention and consideration.
Twitter, @estherjcepeda