"Two much-discussed trends in academe --- the adoption of corporate values and the decline in the percentage of faculty jobs that are on the tenure track --- are closely linked and require joint examination. That is the thesis of a new book, /The Last Professors: The Corporate University and the Fate of the Humanities,/ <http://fordhampress.com/detail.html?id=9780823228591> just published by Fordham University Press. Frank Donoghue, the author, is associate professor of English at Ohio State University. Donoghue recently responded to e-mail questions about the themes of his book."
The interview can be found here: http://insidehighered.com/news/2008/06/11/lastprofs I particularly liked this bit (in a rueful kind of way): "For a hundred years, humanists claimed to follow Matthew Arnold's exhortation to promulgate the best that has been thought and said. As universities have more and more come to function as occupational training centers, places where students come for vocational credentials, this charge has been emptied of any real meaning. It's no longer relevant to the mission of most universities. And at those institutions where the liberal arts still flourish, prestige has taken the place of the Arnoldian mottoes. That is, the best universities now steer prospective students /away/ from the content of the curriculum (literature, philosophy, history) and toward the signaling power of the institution itself. /U.S. News & World Report /has, since its annual America's Best Colleges issue debuted in 1983, fixed this new principle by implying that the abstract notion of prestige can be converted into an assortment of rank-ordered lists. As a result, many universities present the narrative of their ambitions as a quest for prestige. It's now one of the principal organizing fictions of American higher education." Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ "Part of respecting another person is taking the time to criticise his or her views." - Melissa Lane, in a /Guardian/ obituary for philosopher Peter Lipton ================================= --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
