Gary Rhoades

From the General Secretary: Private Models, Public Costs

Presidents, governing boards, and policy makers are preaching the gospel of revenue generation. It is not a new gospel. We have witnessed more than three decades of “academic capitalism” extensively promoted by revision of public law and aggressively pursued by institutions engaging in market-like behaviors. Colleges and universities have been increasingly applying market logic to academic decision making (about faculty productivity, program cuts, and what fields of research to invest in) and seeking to grant and fundraise their way up the rankings to some imagined place in the sun.

From the General Secretary: Countering The Fear

There is a great deal of fear in American higher education today. It stems from an economic environment in which the basic conditions of employment are threatened, from job opportunity and security to retirement and health-care benefits. It stems from a political environment in which the work of professionals is being attacked by political and religious groups that demonize proponents of particular social and scientific perspectives and by policy makers who wish to expand student access even as they work to reduce higher education to workforce development.

From The General Secretary: Going Public

In the academy, we spend far more time communicating within our fields than with the public. Many of our colleagues regard such “popular” communication with disdain. College and university administrators can be deeply uncomfortable with it. As a result, we are too little present in public discussions about us and too little able to counter popular myths about lazy professors with “guaranteed lifetime employment” who care more about their careers than their students.

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