Week 4: Kyrene Giezl Gutierrez - A01

Out of all the readings for Week 4, Fredrik deBoer’s article in The New York Times Magazine, “Why We Should Fear University, Inc.” struck out to me the most. The issue of corporatization of schools, specifically in universities, was one of the first issues discussed during Week 1. The corporatization of universities is so clear and pervasive. There are corporations within our universities, like Peet’s Coffee, Apple, Microsoft, etc. Simple notebooks, pens, pencils are worth x amount of dollars compared to the low prices in stores outside of campus. They are here, because they know universities are profitable. They are here, because they know students will purchase what they need, when they need it. Corporations are profiting from students. One of the many ways is through our high tuition costs. Many can argue that the underlying reason as to why the UC Davis Pepper Spray incident in 2011 occurred was due to the corporatization of universities. Students were protesting against the rising tuition costs. Rather than listening to its students, the university decided to use police force with military-grade pepper spray to clear the students out of the quad. Many of our university’s top administrators are individuals with business degrees or have worked in the corporate world. They do not care for the students or the staff within the university, and they only work for their benefit, which is significant when deBoer states, “Corporate entities serve corporate interests, not those of the individuals within them, and so these efforts are often designed to spare the institutions from legal liability rather than protect the individuals” (deBoer, 2015). The corporate entities running our schools only care about the numbers. The numbers show how much the university is thriving, so that money can keep flowing in. Students are seen as just numbers and statistics. They aren’t sympathetic to students. I firmly believe that if they were, higher education would be attainable and tangible for all. The rising tuition costs make it harder for students to obtain a degree without taking massive loans that they have to pay for once they graduate. If our universities really cared about its students and staff, when will universities be about education and not for profit?

Question: When universities listen to their students regarding construction of new buildings, programs, and initiatives that are beneficial to the students, are they doing it because they care and are listening or because they can see the profit they’ll potentially receive?

References:

An Individual Holding a Sign That States, "My Education Is Not for Sale". 25 Jan. 2013, attackthesystem.com/2013/01/25/the-corporatization-of-higher-education/.

deBoer, F. (2015, September 9). Why We Should Fear University Inc. The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/magazine/why-we-should-fear-university-inc.html