Higher Education's Train to Nowhere

Paul Stoller

Professor of Anthropology, West Chester University; Author, 'The Power of the Between'

There is an alarming disconnect in contemporary higher education. As I have been saying in this space for more than two years, the university-as-corporation threatens to undermine the foundation of a world-class system of education and diminish the quality of our future social life.

One of the ramifications of university corporatization has been an increasing disregard for the intellectual dimensions of the professorial life. In the name of technological efficiency an increasingly bloated cadre of university technocrats flood our in-boxes with mindless minutia. These institutional requirements -- assessment outcomes, mission statements, five year plans, and so on -- have become so burdensome that there is precious little time for intellectual pursuit. During the academic year it is difficult to find the "leisure" to read current research reports, prepare grant proposals, design new courses, refine lectures, or write an article or a book? In the current environment of institutional reviews and performance assessments, who has time to think?

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