Week 4 - Arthur Orola

Arthur Orola

AO3

Fredrik deBoer's article "Why We Should Fear University, Inc" sheds light on the rampant corporatization of universities. In many regards, universities and their administrations are now reminiscent of the same business models that large corporations follow. This whole business of the university isn't seen in all the university apparel or the Peet's Coffee stores that we have on campus, but more so comes to life behind the scenes, in the operation plans or in the administration. As deBoer stated in the article, "It’s not unheard-of for colleges now to employ more senior administrators than professors." This quote is alarming and raises the question as to where each and every dollar of our tuition is going. Are we paying this tuition so that professors, faculty, and other essential staff are able to properly carry out their functions and duties or are we paying for the fat paychecks of some outside administrative staff that looks at our education as some marketable commodity? The administration that we believe are in place to serve and uphold the interests of the students are taking advantage of them, seeing us as cash cows, looking to make a buck off of each student that has worked tirelessly to attain admittance to their institutions. Just like a corporation works to appease shareholders, universities are at work to draw the interests of prospective students, such as how in the article, deBoer brings up how universities "quietly cultivate their reputations as party havens, knowing how essential such a reputation can be to attracting potential students." It seems as though that those of us who are here are already being forgotten once our tuition has been paid and that the university is already thinking about how to coax the new wave of students to enroll in their university.

Question - As students, how can we fight against the corporatization of the university? It seems so hopeless on many fronts. We're often here because we view education as the key to the our future and trying fight against the system seems like it would interfere with the goals that we came with initially. Furthermore, the duration of our stays here aren't especially long, 4-6 years usually, but in a time frame like that, it feels like it's hard to be able to accomplish much. 

Also, does this sort of corporatization occur community colleges? 

Sources
1) DeBoer, F. (2015, September 09). Why We Should Fear University, Inc. Retrieved October 15, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/magazine/why-we-should-fear-university-inc.html

      2) (n.d.). Retrieved October 15, 2017, from https://cpress.org/leftnews/losing-control-of-the-university-corporatization