Week 4 - Lauren Velasquez A03

Lauren Velasquez

A03

Week 4

Many critics of the structure of higher education are claiming that American universities are being “corporatized.” Not “corporatized” in the sense that the university is incorporating more brands and sponsorships into their athletic programs and daily life, but in the sense that the university itself has turned into a corporation structure. University jobs have become more of a corporate ladder climb, and less of a collective faculty. Fredrik deBoer describes in his article, Why We Should Fear University, Inc. observes that “colleges now… employ more senior administrators than professor” (deBoer, 2015.) deBoer is describing how university administrators are taking precedence over professors. He acknowledges that, in every university, especially large-scale ones, there are many essential functions that university administrators perform, but “try imagining a high school with more vice principals than teachers” (deBoer, 2015.) deBoer makes this point, because he feels that it is important to have the “ungroomed, the weird or the wild” campus life, and that it adds to a campus personality that he believes is a critical element in universities. When students come to university, learning and studying isn’t the only things they do; students are supposed to gain worldly experiences that will shape their life and create who they are. Compared to the structured learning setting of high school, college is supposed to be able to offer emphasized curriculum, rather than just standardized math, science, and history courses.

The image below describes the differences between a “public university” and a “corporatized university.” Some significant points that stand out that was consistent with deBoer’s message, is the collegial, shared governance vs. top-down managerial hierarchy. Instead of there being a collaborative curriculum with classmates, there is a competitive nature with classmates.

Question: How do we remedy the “corporatized university” when funding for public education is decreasing due to today’s political culture?

ALL CAPS Design. (2015, September 1). Higher Education's Silent Killer [Digital image]. Retrieved April 22, 2017, from https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/higher-educations-silent-killer

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