Project Description
We spent part of the spring and summer amassing data about EAB: a private, for-profit consulting organization that the UW system and other higher education pay to help them with various matters. We made public records requests from campuses that employ them and read business journalism coverage of the growth of the company since 1979. During Fall 2023 we will begin writing up the results of our research for various venues, including general and Wisconsin media and more academic publications. Our research demonstrates the impact of for-profit consulting on key areas of university functioning, including: "student success" and related enterprises, student recruitment, and questions of diversity, equity and inclusion. The plan is to have some of the results specifically engage the UW system, while others will speak more generally, using the results of our broad public records searches.
Tasks and Responsibilites
This summer the student has created the EAB timeline and logged the results of our public records requests. He has also begun to look through UW System Board of Regents minutes to see how the governing body of the campus regards its engagement with EAB and to review state legislative documents that may or may not mention this engagement. Going forward, SURF student(s) will continue to provide research support for the writing process. They will also be an early reviewer(s) of our drafts, contributing to the final research deliverables.