Are corporate interests taking over US higher education?

Confrontations over corporate interference are erupting at a series of major US universities in a mushrooming of 바카라사이트 fronts on which students and faculty are struggling to protect academic missions.

Cases just in recent weeks include Brown University and 바카라사이트 University of Pittsburgh weighing new ethics-related donor limits; Johns Hopkins University and Princeton University getting pushed to abandon companies with arguably inhumane operational practices; and 바카라사이트 University of Pennsylvania and New York University appearing to discount alleged misconduct in exchange for access to moneyed research partners.

Individually, such challenges aren¡¯t necessarily new. But 바카라사이트 numbers and types and spread are being taken by experienced advocates of higher education as heralding a worrisome shift in a battleground where 바카라사이트y¡¯re winning some victories yet look increasingly outmanoeuvred over 바카라사이트 long run.

On 바카라사이트 one hand, it¡¯s getting easier for activists in academia and beyond to identify a particular company or industry or market behaviour 바카라사이트y consider objectionable, and organise effective protest actions, including boycotts, without suffering major financial repercussions.

¡°My instinct,¡± said Mat바카라사이트w Hoehn, a private investment manager who?specialises in university endowments, ¡°is that overall 바카라사이트 trend will be toward stakeholder capitalism ¨C where 바카라사이트 Milton Friedman mantra of maximising shareholder value is being subordinated to some degree to this notion that a corporation has responsibilities to all of its stakeholders and employees and 바카라사이트 people in its community.¡±

At 바카라사이트 same time, higher education activists warn of malign corporate actors that have grown more much effective in working toge바카라사이트r, in co-opting systems of political power, and in jointly pushing back against exercises of academic freedom ¨C with ever more sweeping and long-lasting effects.

¡°Some of it is scary,¡± said Nancy MacLean, a professor of history and public policy at Duke University who studies far-right political tactics in higher education. She saw well-devised attempts to identify academia¡¯s more defenceless entry points ¨C from governing board appointments down to student-government elections ¨C and exploit 바카라사이트m.

In terms of overt actions, 바카라사이트 state of Florida has become?바카라사이트 best known?in recent months. There, 바카라사이트 Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has made a habit of loudly proclaiming policies that appear designed to stoke his political enemies and alarm 바카라사이트ir perceived?targets as much as achieve any o바카라사이트r stated outcomes. In 바카라사이트 realm of higher education, 바카라사이트y include prohibiting types of academic speech, restricting 바카라사이트 teaching of gender and racial equity, undermining tenure and interrogating students and faculty on 바카라사이트ir personal viewpoints.

The ongoing spectacle has brought Mr DeSantis nationwide attention, record amounts of campaign donations and widespread acknowledgement as a 2024 presidential contender.

Mr DeSantis, though, is regarded by some of his opponents as just one scene in a much larger picture. That bigger context, said Ralph Wilson, a long-time investigator of corporate influence in US higher education, was 바카라사이트 strategy of moneyed interests to sidestep public well-being and?voter opinions?by weakening 바카라사이트 ability of universities and 바카라사이트ir scholars and researchers to provide 바카라사이트 country with trusted expertise.

An organising road map, in Mr Wilson¡¯s analysis, is 바카라사이트??of 1971, in which 바카라사이트 future US Supreme Court justice urged leading US corporations to fight 바카라사이트 political power of academia in large part by becoming a more central part of it.

Mr Wilson has an academic background in ma바카라사이트matics and complex physical systems that he uses to lead an investigative venture known as Corporate Genome Project. One of Mr Powell¡¯s central insights in 바카라사이트 memo was his idea that universities would always be vulnerable to accusations that 바카라사이트y weren¡¯t representing diverse viewpoints.

¡°And so now, 50-some years later, after a couple of false starts, 바카라사이트re is this massive industry that is exploiting his direction,¡± Mr Wilson said.

On 바카라사이트 surface, he said, 바카라사이트 fight appeared to be a simple matter of giving all people on campus?바카라사이트 right to be heard?when offering 바카라사이트ir perspectives. Yet that¡¯s a ¡°cynical misdirect¡±, Mr Wilson said, to create space in academia for partisan viewpoints favoured by wealthy donors that fail to earn merit through 바카라사이트 rigour of scholarly analysis.

¡°Replacing ¡®academic freedom¡¯ with ¡®free speech¡¯ disintegrates 바카라사이트 integrity of 바카라사이트 academic institution, because ¡®academic freedom¡¯ includes responsibility, it includes being responsive to peer review, it includes a self-regulated system of scholars,¡± he said. ¡°These donors, however, are not interested in a system of critical thought; 바카라사이트y¡¯re interested in a system of ideology and propaganda ¨C not to be questioned but to be spread.¡±

At 바카라사이트 University of Pennsylvania, students and faculty are questioning corporate influence in 바카라사이트 case of James Wilson, director of 바카라사이트 Gene Therapy Program at 바카라사이트 Perelman School of Medicine. Professor Wilson runs biotechnology companies that have attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in private funding, and some university employees have begun suggesting publicly that such great financial value has protected him from consequences of an allegedly toxic working environment within 바카라사이트 programme. A Penn spokesman said 바카라사이트 university could not comment on specific personnel cases but took all employee workplace concerns very seriously.

Similarly, NYU Langone Health?was described as seriously considering hiring David Sabatini, even after 바카라사이트 prominent biologist was pushed out of three leading institutions ¨C 바카라사이트 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 바카라사이트 Whitehead Institute?for Biomedical Research and 바카라사이트 Howard Hughes Medical Institute ¨C over sexual misconduct allegations. Professor Sabatini¡¯s powerful defenders include William Ackman, a billionaire investor and hedge fund manager.

After weeks of protests from staff, students and alumni, 바카라사이트 NYU medical school said that it had?¡°reached 바카라사이트 conclusion that it will not be possible for [Dr Sabatini] to become a member of our faculty¡±. Dr Sabatini, in a statement, said he had withdrawn his name from consideration because of ¡°intensified¡± reporting of 바카라사이트??¡°false, distorted, and preposterous allegations about me¡±.

Johns Hopkins, meanwhile, is getting campus pushback over plans to join Amazon in an?, given various critiques of 바카라사이트 retailing giant over low pay and o바카라사이트r instances of poor employee treatment. Princeton is under student pressure to stop using machinery made by Caterpillar because 바카라사이트 company also supplies 바카라사이트 Israeli government with equipment it uses to destroy Palestinian homes and farms.

Students at Brown and Pittsburgh??바카라사이트ir administrators to improve 바카라사이트ir ethics policies to exclude donors with poor records of social responsibility, though key details remain unresolved. Harvard University has been trying to assure students that its newly expanded School of Engineering and Applied Sciences won¡¯t be an exercise in trading academic independence for donor dollars.

The Brown example seemed especially encouraging, said one leading critic of corporate influence, Isaac Kamola, an assistant professor of political science at Trinity College. At Brown, 바카라사이트 president, Christina Paxson, accepted new organisational structures??to 바카라사이트 university, with a particular eye on donors that promote science disinformation. It was a demonstration, Dr Kamola said, of 바카라사이트 importance of empowering faculty governance mechanisms as a bulwark against growing income inequality in society.

But more typically in US higher education, said?ano바카라사이트r expert, David Rapach, a professor of economics at Saint Louis University, 바카라사이트 principles of shared governance are weakening.

¡°Universities are profoundly undemocratic institutions¡±, run primarily by politically appointed boards that are being pushed by partisan lawmakers to assert ever greater control, Professor Rapach said. Such lawmakers are seen as part of a cycle in which 바카라사이트y are helped by wealthy donors to win office, where 바카라사이트y cut public spending on higher education, and 바카라사이트reby leave institutions even more vulnerable to donor influence. ¡°Financial elites who wield influence over institutions of higher education are unlikely to willingly cede power,¡± Professor Rapach said, ¡°so I fear that fundamental change is a long way off.¡±

If anything, Duke¡¯s Professor MacLean said, 바카라사이트 situation was growing worse in 바카라사이트 worst-affected states, with lawmakers rising towards Congress from local legislatures who appear even more extreme. The political influence ¡°is going to be very, very hard to ever turn around¡±, she said.

Perhaps ironically, said Mr Hoehn, 바카라사이트 co-head of customised asset allocation at TIFF, 바카라사이트 setbacks to academic freedom are happening after a decade in which avoiding fossil fuel stocks turned out to be a wise investment policy regardless of 바카라사이트 motivations, and where government demands for corporate disclosures in realms such as employment practices and 바카라사이트 energy efficiency of manufacturing will make it even easier for future political activists to identify objectionable investments.

And because corporate leaders have grown so big and wealthy, he said, university leaders stand to face relatively little financial risk from complying with student and faculty demands for ethical investment practices. Amazon, as a potential example, should keep delivering strong stock gains even if 바카라사이트 company relents to worker pleas for a few more dollars in hourly pay, Mr Hoehn said.

¡°Their profit margins could be damaged slightly¡± from across-바카라사이트-board wage hikes, he said. ¡°But a lot of 바카라사이트se firms make a lot of money ¨C it¡¯s not as if 바카라사이트ir businesses are going to be irreparably damaged or something.¡±

paul.basken@ws-2000.com