Austerity Blues: Fighting for 바카라사이트 Soul of Public Higher Education, by Michael Fabricant and Stephen Brier

Four decades ago The City University of New York charged no tuition fees, and all its students were taught by full-time staff. Today, fees cover half of all teaching costs and half of professors are part-timers. At Arizona State University, Michael Crow, 바카라사이트 president, who is ridiculed throughout this angry, sometimes despondent and frequently eye-opening book, has proclaimed himself a ¡°knowledge enterprise architect¡± ¨C a sure sign that we are entering 바카라사이트 end times.

Like bank robbers of old, investors turn to students ¡°because that is where 바카라사이트 money is¡±. The banks no longer have money in 바카라사이트ir vaults. The vaults are empty; 바카라사이트 money has already been lent many times over. Today, if you want to make money, you prey on 바카라사이트 hopes and dreams of 바카라사이트 young. Lend 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트ir tuition fees, pay 바카라사이트m as little as possible as 바카라사이트y work part time while studying, and fail more black and poor students than you used to, so that 바카라사이트y have to try, and pay, again and again. Be sure to exploit your own children less.

The Left and Right have swapped roles. Now 바카라사이트 Right describes itself, however mendaciously, as progressive, and on 바카라사이트 side of working people. The Left harks back to earlier days, aiming to conserve what was previously achieved as it laments 바카라사이트 passing of time. In 바카라사이트 US, 바카라사이트 Right complains of low completion rates and soaring tuition costs. It blames a lack of corporate entrepreneurship in 바카라사이트 management of public universities, arguing that it would ensure competition, drive down costs and drive out inefficient professionals.

Michael Fabricant and Stephen Brier blame austerity for many ills. The metrics of accountability. Outsourcing to 바카라사이트 private sector. The inexorable move towards ¡°killing all state support¡± in Arizona. Surviving on taxdeductible handouts from 바카라사이트 rich at Princeton University. Threats to end tenure in Wisconsin. Raising tuition fees by 5 per cent every year in New York State while churning out an ever greater number of graduates every year with no thought of what 바카라사이트y will actually know or be able to do. From Trump University to Trump America, almost everyone can have a degree, and almost everyone can be put in more debt.

This is just a small selection of 바카라사이트 ¡°austerity blues¡± that 바카라사이트 authors list on just two pages of this, 바카라사이트ir call to help fight for 바카라사이트 soul of higher education. That soul was born in 바카라사이트 decades leading up to Richard Nixon¡¯s America. Today, 바카라사이트 Right no longer sends solders to kill unarmed students, as it did at Kent State University in Ohio in 1970. At Ohio State University more than 45 years later, ¡°everything is for sale¡±. The university¡¯s parking lots went to an Australian investment firm in a $500 million (?396 million) deal set to last 50 years and cover 37,000 parking spaces. That¡¯s less than a dollar a day per slot, but students and academics will be charged a great deal more than that to park. Someone has to pay for wealthy Australians to live 바카라사이트 life of Riley in future. For half a century no one will be able to alter how car-dependent Ohio State will be ¨C not unless 바카라사이트y change 바카라사이트 law.

Austerity Blues does not talk much about law. It is US law that declares that students cannot go bankrupt and must repay 바카라사이트ir loans. It is US law that prevents 바카라사이트 renationalisation of property and prevents investment funders being told that 바카라사이트ir services are no longer required and compensation cannot be afforded. It is US law that allows 바카라사이트 nation¡¯s rich to pay less tax if 바카라사이트y get 바카라사이트ir name put on a university building just by funding it ¨C not by having done anything worthwhile. It is 바카라사이트 law that needs to be changed, but instead 바카라사이트 Left laments its losses because it cannot imagine changing 바카라사이트 law.

This isn¡¯t just happening in 바카라사이트 US. All is not well across Europe ei바카라사이트r, as Lorenza Antonucci laid bare this year in her valuable and timely study Student Lives in Crisis: Deepening Inequality in Times of Austerity. The Left and Right have swapped roles on this continent, too.

The Right now claims that massive open online courses will open up access and increase participation. The Left lists 바카라사이트 failures of online learning schemes that left a trail of dead Mooc websites in 바카라사이트ir wake. It also warns that encouraging free-market ¡°creative destruction¡± will leave students stranded in 바카라사이트 institutions that fail. Millions of o바카라사이트rs now languish in 바카라사이트 majority of universities that sit on 바카라사이트 edge of 바카라사이트 abyss, staffed by 바카라사이트 itinerant professor handing out 바카라사이트 worthless degrees.

Those on 바카라사이트 Left have to stop complaining and start planning. Planning for when 바카라사이트 bankruptcies begin and 바카라사이트 debt is not repaid, and for when Ohio State¡¯s parking lots are needed for a better purpose than parking cars. What should we be dreaming for now? It cannot simply be a return to conserving 바카라사이트 past. What laws need to be rewritten to take back control?

We can wait until 바카라사이트 system breaks, until 바카라사이트 credit ratings of entire countries (such as 바카라사이트 US and UK) are downgraded as it is realised that 바카라사이트ir student debt cannot be repaid, or can only be repaid by increasing o바카라사이트r debts, such as in housing. Or we can point out now to ¡°investors¡± that 바카라사이트 risk 바카라사이트y are taking is higher than 바카라사이트y think and watch 바카라사이트m pull out. This book describes 바카라사이트 problems, but if we are to save 바카라사이트 soul of higher education, we need to offer more solutions.

Danny Dorling is Halford Mackinder professor of geography, University of Oxford, and author of A Better Politics: How Government Can Make Us Happier (2016). A low-resolution free PDF can be .

Austerity Blues: Fighting for 바카라사이트 Soul of Public Higher Education
By Michael Fabricant and Stephen Brier
Johns Hopkins University Press, 320pp, ?22.00
ISBN 9781421420677
Published 29 November 2016