Week 4 A01 Alice Kuang

Alice Kuang

Section A01

Week 4

Although this week's set of readings may be seemingly unrelated at first glance, they all relate to the increasing corporatism of the university, the questioning of the means (ethics) in doing so, and people’s hesitation to challenging this reality.

In “Why We Should Fear University Inc.," Fredrik deBoer describes the increasing corporatism phenomenon as “university behaving more and more like corporations.” This issue could not be more sound and timely, as this corporatism can be seen across most university campuses, including our own University of California, Davis. In early 2017, the UC Regents approved a 2.5% tuition increase. This action increased instate students’ tuition by $282, and out of state students’ by $1,688, hiking up the tuition of out of state students to almost $60000 annually. UC President Janet Nepolitano says that this increase was inevitable in order to continue providing the same quality of education to students, but yet administrative salaries have been increasing at the expense of students’ (especially those of international students) high tuition. UC Davis’ new chancellor Gary May will have the base salary of $495,000, while our current vice chancellor Adela de la Torre is paid $273,318 annually, who also asked for a $50,000 raise in 2016. Meanwhile, she also made an executive decision to cut funding to the Cross Cultural Center, taking away the International Student and Middle Eastern/South Asian Coordinator positions, which are arguably the most vulnerable communities on campus right now due to recent anti-Muslim hate crimes.

As deBoer describes, “this is the very lifeblood of corporatism: creating systems and

procedures that sacrifice the needs of humans to the needs of institutions.” Instead of listening to current students’ pressing needs, the administration makes executive decisions that save the reputation of the university---slapping students right in the face. When these decisions are actively challenged, whistleblowers are faced with scrutiny and violence, as demonstrated by UC Davis' brutal pepper spray response to the occupy movements against tuition hikes. 

With poor responses like this, I find it understandable why students would prefer to stay quiet and complacent about this issue, and even other social issues. At the same time, UC Berkeley's response to the Occupy Movement (showing their receptivity to the needs of middle class families) shows that when students speak up, change is possible. Even when this change still plays within the the hands of the beast that is corporatism, it addresses the current pressing needs of students. When I think of the students who are afraid---students who are far from home and are discriminated against based on skin color and identities, but yet are having safe spaces in this supposed home away from home taken away from them---I think to myself: we must continue to fight; we must continue to resist.  

Questions: How can we organize for more transparency and accountability of the administration? How can we resist the consequences of increasing corporatism within the university, especially when we're often playing right into it?

References: 

DeBOER, F. (2015, September 09). Why We Should Fear University, Inc. Retrieved April 23, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/magazine/why-we-should-fear-university-inc.html?_r=0

UC regents approve first tuition increase after six-year freeze; some students 'infuriated' (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2017, from http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-uc-regents-tuition-hike-01262017-story.html

Markow, A. (2011, December 22). A Tale of Two Campuses: Berkeley and Davis respond to Occupy movements. Retrieved from https://ivn.us/2011/12/19/a-tale-of-two-campuses-berkeley-and-davis-respond-to-occupy-movements/