Week 4: Annie Deng, A01

Annie Deng
Section A01
Week 4

     Public universities are starting to become more and more like big corporations, "creating systems and procedures that sacrifice the needs of humans to the needs of institutions" (DeBoer, 2015). DeBoer also mentions how administrators in universities are not the appropriate individuals that students should rely on when trying to make an appeal. As corporations and big businesses become more prevalent in the funding of universities, campuses begin to look different as well. Universities undergo constant renovations, trying to advertise and appeal to future students. Money is continuously used to improve buildings and dorms. In Davis, there is current construction on creating more dorms in Tercero and recent construction at the Silo has been completed. The corporatization of higher education has made universities focus on improving the future by making their campuses look more marketable. Universities have started to focus more on the profits they make instead of actually caring about the needs of the actual students. This corporatization has led to financial aid problems for students. Colleges charge tuition fees at an extremely high cost instead of the actual appropriate amount of money it takes to educate students. Financial aid was originally a way to help families with lower incomes. However, it has changed into a competition to see how much money one can receive from universities. Because of the corporatization of higher education, tuition is increasingly becoming higher. Access to education is supposed to be a basic human right, not a luxury or a way to create a business. 

     When reading Amy Block's Whisteblower, I was surprised when I found out that my own university once had a crime case involving embezzlement. However, I was in an utter state of disappointment when I found out about how the faculty members and staff chose to stay silent instead of reporting the incident. It makes me question the existence of authoritative figures in universities. I feel outraged if they are misappropriating university funds because many students have paid thousands of dollars to gain access to higher education and we still end up with debts to pay off. It is like we are being taken advantage of for corporations' own benefits. 

Question: What are some way students can organize together to resist the corporatization of higher education?

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
• Joy, A. B. (2010). Whistleblower. Point Richmond, CA: Bay Tree Pub.
• Smith, J. (2016). Inequality in Higher Education [Digital image]. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-shmuly-yanklowitz/student-debt-crisis-make-college-free_b_8796512.html
• Joy, A. B. (2014, May). Ethics and "Breaking Bad": Developing and Practicing Ethnical Skills. Compliance & Ethics Professional.