If universities are businesses: – education and research are not public goods but a private business opportunity – education and research are not investments in the society’s future but in the future of companies to which services may be outsourced – their objective is to make a profit for stockholders – they should not have … More If universities are businesses
We wrote a long and vague resolution that did not go anywhere, but I would be for making much more frequent, short recommendations, and repeating them. Two possibilities follow. Tuition and fees The rising cost of tuition and fees is untenable. For universities to be a public good, public higher education, like secondary education, must … More Concrete suggestions for improvement
We were no longer citizens, but taxpayers, and now we have been further reduced to consumers, exercising our democratic rights through this megaphone. The consumer is sold things, not necessarily the things they want, and the things are nonetheless needed, and very expensive. Consumers can express their displeasure and be treated with unvarying politeness, but … More Consumer or citizen
This is the key to my article “Language and the entrepreneurial university.” How did we get here without realizing it? I saw the signs of it in the 70s and then 80s, and I felt the change happening in the 90s and early 00s but did not understand it, although I had a couple of … More The neoliberal self
These are two different things and they don’t go together. That is important to note. I was going to write a blog post on that, as applied to the university. 1/ Where are we now? My university is one of the most neoliberalized (I think) although it mixes that with a certain homespun quality. We … More Republican and economic modernity
We don’t know, of course, if anyone believes in the common good, or the public good any more, but here are some fragmentary notes from a conversation we had. 1. We should talk much more about research. In class. College has to become more interesting – we cannot allow it to be further redefined as … More The common good
I am still going through my files and it is shocking – so many quite good and almost finished papers I set aside, or that got swept aside in one storm or another. I have the Racial Order book, which is focused on the U.S. It talks about field theory (Bourdieu). Can race be a … More Des feuilles
Who said it? Market incentives lower the value of college to both individuals and the public. Defunding chips away at both the public good and the private benefits to students. Faculty should unite on the concept of public good, and senior administrators should articulate it. Privatization has a price (and is not an improvement). Axé.
I had almost finished a very good post and it was lost. In it, I had talked about some pieces of LARR 40:3 (2005), a great issue of the journal but that I am going to put in the café bookshelf because not only do I have electronic access to it but also, the wonderful … More Language corruption, “public choice,” and more
I really should have spent all the time I wasted reading Marxist and other Left theory, simply for the sake of mental health — although it would have been good intellectual exercise as well, and a good political education. Here’s an article on Kropotkin, mutual aid and anarchism that is worth reading. Here is a … More Kropotkin and more.
