Week 5 - Joshua Vandermeyde

Joshua Vandermeyde

Section A03 Week 5 - Imperial University

This week’s readings explored how American universities are imperialized, with ideas and expressions of nationalism as well as expansionism being perpetuated by influence on the research done by universities. Looking back, I realize that my education throughout grade school has been very American-centric with not a lot of information about other cultures and what America has done to other nations in the past. We are taught that America is a superior nation that deserved to expand and spread our ideals. This makes sense as a nation to instill loyalty in citizens, so they trust the system that they are a part of. But, I never considered how this influence would affect what the universities were able to do. I always considered places like UC Davis and Berkeley to be more global universities because so many people from around the world attend and are employed by them. But, they are inherently institutions of California and the United States and receive their funding from institutions that are politically driven. The Imperial University reading made me realize that through funding and covert influences, the university can be run by the imperialist nation. Through instances of government sponsored research projects about foreign peoples to help intelligence agencies retain their influence, FBI investigations, and blacklisting, the government keeps a firm grip on the university so they do not get out of hand and keep America at the front of their interests. I did not fully realize the influence our government has on the university and the reading opened my eyes to that.

Question:

With the university being entrenched in the political system of the US, how can we not shy away from speech that “compel unease” as said by Maira?

References:

Manifest destiny. (2017, April 26). Retrieved April 29, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifest_destiny

Chatterjee, P., & Maira, S. (2014). Imperial University: Academic Repression and Scholarly

Dissent. Minneapolis- University of Minnesota Press.