Max Li - Week 2 SS1

    In "Unpacking the Master's Plan: Asian American Women Resisting the Language of Academic Imperialism", Eliza Noh analyzes in depth the discourse used by corporations and administration to justify encroachment upon public and liberal education. "Academic imperialism" itself is an intriguing concept, and is necessary for the introduction of corporatization. The once faculty-dominated university is now filled with administrative staff who make decisions without understanding the functionings of these departments, and often do not speak for the faculty. Rather than focusing on the quality of students' educations, they tend to focus on profitability and neoliberal notions of efficiency. Terms such as "student success", "excellence", and "accountability" are turned on their heads, being used as arbitrary standards for measuring the worth of certain departments. STEM departments have quantifiable success that are often valued more by the administrators, while ethnic studies departments are deemed ineffective as they "have intangible and holistic learning goals that cannot be directly assessed." (Noh 2019) This discourse justifies attacks from the administration, often in the form of defunding and faculty cuts. While universities pride themselves on valuing "diversity", it is ironic that they have turned against the faculty who best embody those notions of equity and justice. Furthermore, these administrative attacks are symptomatic of attacks on "public education's democratizing influence on American society." (Noh 2019) If students cannot be educated about the way their identities shape American politics and vice versa, how can they be informed citizens within a participatory democracy?

    Although they are consistently scrutinized, Asian American women and other faculty within ethnic studies departments are not powerless against corporatization and administrations who threaten their existence. Eliza Noh calls for faculty members to "use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house." (Noh 2019) Discourse co-opted by corporatism, such as "diversity" can be used against its encroachment upon ethnic studies departments. However, though these strategies can be temporarily effective, I believe they are ultimately defensive and ineffective in the long term. The more important acts of resistance must occur from outside of the academy, as said in the original Audre Lorder quote, and as called for by the author at the end of this chapter.

  

Question: How can we as students fight against this corporatization of the university? Or, at the very least, not be complacent in its imperialistic encroachment of our education?

Sources: Noh, E. (2019) Unpacking the Master's Plan: Asian American Women Resisting the                    Language of Academic Imperialism
Image retrieved from: 
1) http://thetalon.ca/gupta-and-the-state-of-transparency-and-democracy-at-ubc/
2) https://philosophersforchange.org/2013/11/12/public-intellectuals-against-the-neoliberal-university/