Full Description
"This impressive anthology presents the reader with an introduction to a gallery of public intellectuals through the critical eyes of a wide array of contributing writers from various academic fields. Both the latter and the public intellectuals themselves are responding to the state of American higher education. Importantly, most of them (there are a few public intellectuals in the book who cling closer to the status quo) do not separate colleges and universities from the political, economic, and social currents of American society. They attack the realities of growing social inequality, the intractable presence of institutional racism, and the recurrent reliance on the free market as the arbiter of value. Public intellectuals assess the impact of these social factors on the organization and practices of contemporary American higher education. They force the reader to consider serious challenges to the current arrangement of higher learning and, as such, they ask us to assess the efficacy of their respective perspectives. Do they present the reader with insight or idealism, pathways or dead ends? This compendium provides an abundance of ideas for higher education leaders, policy makers, faculty members, trustees and governmental officials as well as social theorists and graduate students interested in higher education careers."—Richard Guarasci, President Emeritus of Wagner CollegeJust as our society is polarized, higher education is no less divided as to its mission and purpose, whether it should be preparing students for employment or for engagement as citizens, whether it should be corporatist and profit-driven or promote intellectual curiosity and independent thinking, and whether it should pursue a neoliberal agenda or promote a liberal education. Whose scholarship, culture and epistemologies should be validated? Should it be a private or a public good? Preserve tenure or erode it? What role should colleges and universities play in addressing economic inequality and systemic racism? The answers to these questions are critical for the future of our society as our universities and colleges are the nurseries of the values and philosophies that shape it.The chapters in this book review the contributions of seventeen public intellectuals who have been at the forefront of these issues and significantly contributed to these debates. Each describes the genesis of each scholar's ideas and presents and critiques his or her core insights and arguments. The seventeen public intellectuals represent a spectrum of opinion, from the conservative to the progressive.At this pivotal moment when much of higher education is in economic crisis, and public trust in it has been eroded, this book offers a robust entry point for considering the options and directions ahead for anyone in a leadership position. The book will also be valuable for higher education courses to stimulate debate about these critical issues and introduce readers to the seminal thinkers in the field.Public Intellectuals PresentedStanley AronowitzMichael BérubéMarc BousquetPatricia Hill CollinsLori Patton DavisWilliam DeresiewiczStanley Fish Marybeth GasmanHenry GirouxSara Goldrick-RabbAmy GutmannRussell JacobyRandall KennedyDavid KirpDavid F. LabareeChristopher NewfieldMichael Roth
Contents
Foreword Richard Guarasci Introduction Joseph L. DeVitis Part One. On Liberal Education One Setting the Stage. The Cultural Work of Russell Jacoby Joseph L. DeVitis & Gregory Seals Two Amy Gutmann's Ethics, Deliberative Democracy, and Challenges in Higher Education Spoma Jovanovic Three Michael Roth and the Liberal Arts. Transforming Society and Selves Daniel P. Liston Four Saving the University from Itself. Stanley Fish and the Future of the Academy Dan Sarofian-Butin Five The Trouble with Elites. William Deresiewicz's Critique of Neoliberal Higher Education in the United States J. Todd Ormsbee Part Two. On Labor and Learning Six Assessing the Academy. David Kirp on Higher Education Kevin Murray Seven Michael Bérubé and the Neoliberal University. Humanities, Academic Freedom, and the Crises in Higher Education Deron Boyles Eight The Wal-Martification of Higher Education. Marc Bousquet's Critical Examination of Contingent Faculty and Academic Labor Practices Dan Bauer & Marshall Martin Nine The Neoliberal Transformation of Higher Education. Stanley Aronowitz and the Rise of the Corporate Knowledge Factory John M. Elmore Ten Newfield as a New Field? The Substance and Subjectivities of a Cross-Disciplinary Voice in the Public Domain Cassie L. Barnhardt Eleven Consumer Demand and the Status-Seeking Society. David F. Labaree on the American Higher Education System Timothy Glander Part Three. On Education and Social Change Twelve #Real College. The Work and Activism of Sara Goldrick-Rabb Carrie Freie Thirteen Lori Patton Davis. Mapping the Landscape of African-American Postsecondary Education Sabrina Ross Fourteen Equity and Advocacy. The Scholarship of Marybeth Gasman Pietro A. Sasso, Adriel A. Hilton, & Cheron H. Davis Fifteen Affirmative Action in Higher Education. The Perspectives of Randall Kennedy William L. Nuckols & Dennis E. Gregory Sixteen Patricia Hill Collins' On Intellectual Activism. The Expansion of Our Field of Perspective Brooke Judie & Stephanie M. McClure Seventeen The Fight for the Public. Henry Giroux, the Neoliberal Project, and the Limits of Critical Pedagogy Dana Morrison Contributors
