Week 4

Elizabeth Chang

Section 1

Week 4

This week’s reading is Fredrik deBoer’s “Why We Should Fear University, Inc”. It focuses on the issue that nowadays, universities are becoming more and more like corporations. Many universities partner up with big companies like Barnes and Noble, Starbucks, etc. to have their stores set up on campus. Here at UC Davis, we can see that it is not an exception from this issue. We have 2 Starbucks on Campus, a Clinique store in our bookstore, and our UC Davis apparel is carried by big sports gear companies like Jansport and Champion. I personally am not opposed to the corporatization of universities as long as it’s “in moderation”. I think it’s okay to have big fast food chain restaurants on campus and to have UC Davis campus stores sell clothes made by other companies since, in a way, it provides guarantee of its product’s quality. However, in my opinion, having a Clinique section in the bookstore that carries name-brand’s products is a little unnecessary. It is true that is very convenient, but it is not an essential for college students. Students do not go to the store in between classes because they urgently need makeup and skin care products. A reason that Clinique has a counter in the UC Davis may be because the rent is lower than to have a store in downtown. Also, UC Davis might be getting a percentage of the earnings, so their main reason of having a Clinique counter is because of profits. The university should be partnering up with companies that offer products that are essential for students, not makeup products that students can get online. 

Question: Without considering the benefits that universities get from having external companies on campus, Is having big company’s products on campus beneficial for students? Is it worth it?

References

DeBoer, F. (2015, September 9). Why We Should Fear University, Inc. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/magazine/why-we-should-fear-university-inc.html

Brownlee, J. (2016, December 07). The role of governments in corporatizing Canadian universities. Academic Matters. Retrieved April 23, 2017, from http://www.academicmatters.ca/2016/01/the-role-of-governments-in-corporatizing-canadian-universities/