Rudy Fichtenbaum

In the last thirty years, many college and university administrations have embraced the corporate model, which is fundamentally transforming higher education and changing the way decisions are made. Administrators are now making decisions unilaterally and in response to external market forces.

In a recent essay in Logos, “The Rise and Demise of the Neo-Liberal University,” David Schultz asserts that there have been two models for higher education since the end of World War II. In the first model, which he terms the Dewey university, public institutions were central, and the education of citizens was seen as an essential function of higher education in a democracy. Schultz argues that this model collapsed in the mid- 1970s and gave rise to the second model, the corporate university.

One of the latest trends in higher education is for rightwing foundations and wealthy individuals to “donate” funds to colleges and universities for hiring conservative faculty members. For example, the Koch Brothers Charitable Foundation has given a total of $14.39 million to Florida State, Auburn, Clemson, West Virginia, Utah State, and other universities to fund faculty positions for right-wing scholars. At almost all of these institutions, the foundation has played a direct role either in making the appointments or in screening the faculty members who are ultimately appointed.

It’s been a little over a year since the Organizing for Change slate was elected to lead the AAUP. In running for office, we noted that higher education in general and the AAUP in particular are at a crossroads. We argued that higher education and our values are under attack, pointing to assaults on collective bargaining rights and shared governance, the continuing abuse of full- and part-time non-tenure-track faculty appointments, and the erosion of academic freedom for both students and the faculty.