The University in Crisis

Catalog description

In addition to playing leadership roles in the broader society, today's students will be tomorrow's university faculty, administrators, trustees and major donors. They will find many of these institutions in a state of crisis involving their missions, roles in society, and financing, as well as academic freedom, diversity of identity and thought, and their governance. During the past century, American universities have evolved from being largely white, male, and Protestant to being more diverse in many ways. However, some policies that have contributed to this progress are being abandoned or distorted. For example, in 2023 the Supreme Court prohibited race-based affirmative action, a major vehicle for achieving racial diversity. And programs that were originally designed to counter discrimination based on individuals' identities have sometimes increased divisions among people with different identities. The university's missions of seeking truth and engaging in critical inquiry have been undermined by both progressive and conservative actors. Affective polarization has dramatically increased, and civil and critical discourse are in decline. Controversies about the war in Gaza and current directives by the Trump administration have only exacerbated these problems. We will examine the nature and causes of these and related problems, and consider possible solutions. We will also look at the financing of universities; their relations with industry; the professionalization of college athletics; and at higher education's "social contract" with Americans. Because many of the issues are indigenous to the U.S., we will focus on American institutions of higher education. The class will model civil, critical discourse. In the conduct of the class, we will try to model civil, critical discourse. Students who opt to take the course on a pass/fail basis will be assessed based on…