Week 4- A01 Micah Sakado

Micah Sakado

Professor Valverde

ASA 002 A01

15 October 2017

Week 4: Corporatization of the University

Before reading this week's pieces, I always thought that saying that Universities act like corporations, it meant that Universities are a for-profit organization. While this is part of it, it is not the whole story. In fact, as Fredrik DeBoer argues in his piece “Why We Should Fear University, Inc.”, this is only a small part of the bigger picture. There is sights of profit and corporation all over campus, but the heart of this phrase attacks the University as an institution. DeBoer claims that the corporatized University creates “systems and procedures that sacrifice the needs of humans to the needs of institutions.” I find this hard to believe; I am not discrediting the knowledge of DeBoer or other scholars critical of the University. I simply need more information to understand their argument. Colleges are built for students, but what do administrators gain from controlling a group of students? On that note, I do think it is scary that we are all simple pawns in a bigger game of chess. The college makes choices that only benefit the institution rather than the students; in other words, it makes itself look good and may use resources that may otherwise go towards students. I have come to understand that college is often romanticized in American middle class society. The pressure to go to college to get a job is often accompanied with all these great things about college such as the parties, the freedom, great memories, and self-discovery. I do believe that these are all fundamental elements of a prime college experiences, but I thought college was going to drastically change my life. Yet, I’m here, only more confused about my life than I was before I started college. I’ve come to realize that the institution has had an influence on my life even as a child; it drew me in and here I am today. Corporation deals with profits, but it mostly deals with power; it controls more than most think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMJ5R6ib3ps

There is obvious backlash against universities acting more like corporations, but what is actually being done to fight back against it? What are teachers and students doing? In fact, what is there to do?