Week 4 - Anna Le, sect. 4

After reading this week's articles, I came to realize how pervasive the UC system is in trying to cover its own tracks, especially UC Davis. In the "A Tale of Two Campuses: Berkeley and Davis respond to Occupy movements" by Alan Markow, the author details the Occupy protests that took place on both campuses and how UCB responded with action, while UCD tried to cover it's own tracks and silence it's protestors. It was upsetting to realize that a seemingly peaceful school would do whatever it takes to upkeep that image of poise and composure and to protect their fat pockets. This realization was further supported through the other reading "Why We Should Fear University, Inc" by Fredrik deBoer. It is becoming clearer to me that Universities only cares about bringing in big money and the actions they need to take to protect big money, whether it means prettying up their campuses, or advertising "inclusivity" all over campus and in their brochures to attract more students. (I make this point because currently, many youths align themselves left politically, thus in order to attract more students, Universities may try to manipulate their "target audience" and conjure an image that reflects leftist ideas and beliefs.) It makes me wonder if Universities are truly catering to their students by saying that they reflect inclusivity and academic freedom, or is it just a slogan to bring in students? This corporatization of academia not only hurts students but also faculty members as well who need to keep up with publications and research to keep tenure.


Lately, I've been thinking hard on what it means to take action and stay passive. After reading, Whistleblower by Amy Block Joy, I realized that choosing to stay passive also leads to consequences. Taking action requires courage and strength and staying passive requires little effort, but taking either action both lead to consequences nonetheless. It encouraged me to want to take action, instead of being quiet and passive. I assumed that being passive meant that I was doing no harm, but sometimes being passive does more harm than good (or neutral). 

Question: How do we begin to address corporatization of academia as students, especially if the elites at the top are seemingly more powerful and sinister against us? 

References: 

• [Man running away from wolves while dropping a whistle]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://governancenow.com/temp/blowing_corruption.jpg
• Joy, A. B. (2010). Whistleblower. Point Richmond, CA: Bay Tree Pub.
• 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?_r=0
• Markow, A. (2011, December 22). A Tale of Two Campuses: Berkeley and Davis respond to Occupy movements. Retrieved from https://ivn.us/2011/12/19/a-tale-of-two-campuses-berkeley-and-davis-respond-to-occupy-movements/