KINGSTON, R.I. 鈥� Nov. 13, 2025 鈥� Higher education is facing myriad challenges, and fundamental structural changes to colleges and universities are needed to ensure their future success, according to authors Ned Scott Laff and Scott Carlson, who delivered the keynote address at the on Oct. 30.
Questions about the value of education are particularly important for institutions to address. The authors of 鈥淗acking College: Why the Major Doesn’t Matter鈥攁nd What Really Does鈥� say curriculums are too often tied to what鈥檚 expected of a particular major as opposed to aligning with students鈥� professional goals and areas of interest to drive their career within their 鈥渇ield of study,鈥� Carlson and Laff say.
鈥淭he book is called 鈥楬acking College鈥� because it鈥檚 about how you can train students to take this really cumbersome, bureaucratically complicated thing called college, and help them find their way through it, in ways that are empowering,鈥� Carlson said after he and Laff detailed their vision for the future of higher education during their talk on the 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 Kingston Campus. 鈥淗acking is a way people can bend the system, which changes society, often for the good.鈥�
Laff, who spent 35 years in academic affairs at several institutions, and Carlson, a senior writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education, laid out their 鈥淔ield of Study鈥� method before dozens of 溏心vlog免费B站 educators from multiple colleges. The method focuses not on a specific major, but on students鈥� vocational interests, hidden intellectualism, and 鈥渢heir wicked problem鈥濃�攖he personal, complex issue or question that inspires their educational and career ambitions.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 pick a major in life; we pick the issues that drive us,鈥� Laff said. 鈥淚鈥檝e never met an undecided student鈥攋ust an undeclared student. But the college system doesn鈥檛 lend itself to that hidden intellectualism.鈥�
Once a student finds their interests, educators need to leverage those passions to set students on the path of intellectual inquiry, designing an educational plan with courses that complement their interests, said the authors. Students need to explore their varied passions, which can often lead to a different and more fulfilling career than they originally planned.
鈥淵ou can build what you want to build. You can make room for the diversity of pursuits and disciplines that are at an institution,鈥� Carlson said. 鈥淭his is a super important piece of what hacking college is about: We talk about the biodiversity in colleges; whenever you have a situation where the biodiversity is hampered, you threaten the ecology of the whole thing.鈥�
鈥淯ltimately, what we鈥檙e interested is the success of the student,鈥� Carlson continued. That success often hinges on helping students strengthen their social capital, the networks and relationships they build to help them succeed in the job market, Carlson and Laff said. Career advising often focuses on specific industries a degree tends to feed students into, rather than opening those students to the 鈥渉idden job market,鈥� to which faculty and staff members may have access. Institutions should make students more aware of opportunities to expand their social capital through varied experiences outside the norm of the degree program.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not about the major, it鈥檚 about crafting what you do,鈥� Laff said.
The authors鈥� inclusion in the symposium was recommended by 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty members who had read鈥� Hacking College鈥� as part of an on-campus book club, according to Sue Adams, vice provost for academic and faculty initiatives. While some of the authors鈥� recommendations鈥攊ncluding a focus on 鈥渕ajor-less鈥� education鈥攎ay be difficult to implement, faculty members felt the commitment to improving educational priorities and advising, and strengthening connections among students, faculty and staff made the authors鈥� presentation a valuable addition to the symposium鈥檚 context, Adams said.
Carlson and Laff acknowledge it can sometimes be difficult to implement their system at colleges and universities. However, change at the college level is necessary to meet the changing professional world, where increasingly complex issues require multidisciplinary approaches, they say.
鈥淲e realized what we were saying about hacking college was going to be difficult for a lot of institutions to swallow,鈥� Carlson said, noting the book can be a valuable resource for all members of a college community, not just administrators. 鈥淲e wrote the book as a populist manifesto that anyone can read to understand how college works, and how to hack it from the bottom up, while still being something that is aimed at a college professional.鈥�
The ATL Fall Symposium celebrated those at 溏心vlog免费B站 who 鈥渢each outside the box鈥濃�攖he people who help students 鈥渦ncover their love for something new; those who mentor students and help them adjust their path; those who recognize that the most efficient path is not necessarily the straight one,鈥� according to the symposium description. The symposium featured panel discussions and break-out workshops focused on connecting students with career goals, highlighting campus resources to foster student success, and building bridges among the many disciplines on campus.