Higher Education
Open for Business
Contributions by Elizabeth G. Miller, Catherine O'Neill, Fredrick Chilson, David Rutledge Tomiyasu Professor of Engineering, Caltech, Michael Malec, Juliet B. Schor Boston College, Eve Spangler Edited by Christian Gilde
Publication date:
15 June 2007Length of book:
196 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksDimensions:
238x161mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9780739118474
Higher Education: Open for Business addresses a problem in higher learning, which is newly recognized in the academic spotlight: the overcommercialization of higher education. The book asks that you, the reader, think about the following: Did you go to a Coke or Pepsi school? Do your children attend a Nike or Adidas school? Is the college in your town a Dell or Gateway campus? These questions should not be a primary concern for students, parents or faculty in an environment that has to allow students to freely focus on learning. But in a time of fiscal uncertainty, can higher education ignore the benefits of commercial ventures? It may seem foolish to do so. However, commercialism has gotten too close to certain aspects of academia such as the campus environment, classroom activities, academic research, and college sports. This disturbing encroachment of academic ground is addressed in Higher Education: Open for Business by a diverse host of authors who are closely involved in higher learning.
In the 1960s, two significant events occurred. In 1963, Clark Kerr, president of the University of California, invented the concept of the multiversity in his book The Uses of the University. By that concept, Kerr meant an institution that was becoming increasingly indistinguishable from any other business enterprise in our industrial society, 'a mechanism held together by administrative rules and powered by money.' Second, in 1966, Ronald Reagan ran for governor on a platform that included 'cleaning up the mess in Berkeley.' When Reagan became president of the United States in the 1980s, a movement began to privatize and corporatize functions and institutions previously thought of as public, fueled by the questionable belief that the for-profit sector could do it less expensively and more efficiently. The chapters found in Higher Education explore the negative consequences of these trends upon colleges and universities and highlight important issues that have largely been ignored.