“A fool’s brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education.”

Ahhhhh – the eloquence of George Bernard Shaw!  But what does this mean in 2015?  As one who has instructed students at a two-year institution for 15 years now, I have not only witnessed dramatic transformations among the student population, but within the academy as well.  While fifteen years may not seem like a long time to some of my colleagues who amazingly have forty years in, my meager fifteen is beginning to seem like a lifetime to me.  First and foremost, if it wasn’t for the love I have for my students and for teaching my students – I would have chosen my alternative profession of being a bartender at a beach bar long, long ago!  But with that said, my feelings of demoralization with higher education and the institution in general are beginning to get the best of me.  Why is that, you ask?  Well, my subsequent rants that follow will explain all of that.  Some of these rants will be short, little “blips” and others will be long, exhaustive diatribes about situations that I probably can do nothing about – but, it will be helpful to vent.  So, let’s begin, shall we?

My first post is meant to provoke feedback on the corporatization of higher education (a provocative piece on this topic as well in the Fall 2012 issue of Dissent: ).

The following excerpt is from my doctoral study:

According to Rhoades and Slaughter (2004), “academic capitalism in the new economy” involves colleges and universities engaging in “market and market-like” behaviors (p. 37). In this respect, institutions of higher learning are looking to generate revenue from their core educational and service functions (p. 37). This desire results in a change in practice, one that prioritizes revenue generation over the dissemination of knowledge in academic decision making (p. 38). In addition, as academic managers express the desire for greater control in such decisions, faculty have become more like managed professionals (p. 39). One of the growing shifts presented by academic capitalism includes moving faculty further away from the center of academic decision making and limiting the involvement of faculty in the curriculum (p.47). An organized faculty such as those in the AFT – coupled with a system of shared governance if it exists – can serve as the vehicle which faculty use to retain control of their traditional academic functions but even in the most optimum situations, there are many challenges to overcome.

I believe that when most people think of the notion of corporatization in the academic institution, they immediately think University – and the prestigious ones in particular (see Noam Chomsky’s “Academic Freedom and the Corporatization of Universities”).  But two-year institutions, community colleges, state schools, small liberal arts colleges are impacted as well both directly and indirectly by corporatization. I would like to point out one way that the corporate culture infiltrates and dramatically impacts the academic institution – and that is through the appointment of members of their Boards of Trustees.  Some of you may exclaim, “that’s old news” and it may very well be, indeed.  However, the decisions made by a politically-appointed board with absolutely no understanding of what allows for a productive teaching and learning environment can be detrimental to an academic institution.  These decisions are often motivated by the corporate-minded culture that sees institutions as extremely hierarchal in nature, students as “customers” and not as learners, and faculty as “employees,” not as scholars and certainly not as educators who are invaluable to the institution for their expertise in their respective disciplines.  Boards are often made up of executives from financial institutions, former government officials, lawyers, corporate managers, etc.  Academicians, educators, activists from organized labor and otherwise are visibly absent from most boards and that, of course, is for a very specific reason.  More and more, boards want greater control in the decision making of the institution, thus they too are academic managers.

So what does this mean for the “University education” of the 21st century?  What does this mean for students, for faculty, and for the college community at large?  I will address that in my next post…stay tuned!