Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-cphqk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-13T09:07:33.009Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

20 - Corporatization of Higher Education

A Crisis of Labor and Democracy

from Part V - Labor and Democracy Sectoral Case Studies: Platform Workers, Higher Education, and the Care Industry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2022

By
Risa L. Lieberwitz
Edited by
Angela B. Cornell  and
Mark Barenberg
Angela B. Cornell
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Mark Barenberg
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York
Get access

Summary

Concepts of labor and democracy have infused the theory and practice of higher education in the USA since the development of the modern university in the late 1800s and the early 1900s.Higher education’s social role in promoting the common good in a democratic society is linked to its internal labor model that provides faculty with academic freedom and collective self-governance. These are contested institutional goals and structures, however, in tension with the competing use of higher education to serve the private interests of industry. This chapter explores the ongoing push-pull between private economic interests, on the one hand, and higher education’s contribution to wider democratic political culture and its correlative internal commitment to its faculties’ academic freedom, tenure, and rights to govern jointly with administrators, on the other.

Keywords

higher educationpublic missiondemocracyfaculty laboracademic freedomshared governanceneoliberalism
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Labor and Democracy , pp. 318 - 333
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aldridge, Susan C. 2010. “Strategy Matters More than Budget in Student Recruiting,” Chronicle of Higher Education (Oct. 31, 2010).Google Scholar
American Association for the Advancement of Science. 2018. “R&D at Colleges and Universities.” www.aaas.org/programs/r-d-budget-and-policy/rd-colleges-and-universitiesGoogle Scholar
American Association of University Professors (AAUP). 2013–2014. The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2013–14. www.aaup.org/our-work/research/annual-report-economic-status-professionGoogle Scholar
American Association of University Professors (AAUP). 2014. AAUP Recommended Principles & Practices to Guide Academic-Industry Relationships. AAUP Foundation. www.aaup.org/report/recommended-principles-practices-guide-academy-industry-relationshipsGoogle Scholar
American Association for the Advancement of Science. 2015a. “Academic Freedom and Tenure: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign” (April 2015), pp. 1–21. www.aaup.org/report/UIUCGoogle Scholar
American Association for the Advancement of Science. 2015b. “1915 Declaration of Principles on Academic Freedom and Academic Tenure,” Policy Documents and Reports, 11th ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 3–12.Google Scholar
American Association for the Advancement of Science. 2015c. “1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure with 1970 Interpretive Comments,” Policy Documents and Reports, 11th ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 13–19.Google Scholar
American Association for the Advancement of Science. 2015d. “Committee A Statement on Extramural Utterances,” Policy Documents and Reports, 11th ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, p. 31.Google Scholar
American Association for the Advancement of Science. 2015e. “On Collegiality as a Criterion for Faculty Evaluation,” Policy Documents and Reports, 11th ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 227–228.Google Scholar
American Association for the Advancement of Science. 2015f. “On the Relationship of Faculty Governance to Academic Freedom,” Policy Documents and Reports, 11th ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 123–125.Google Scholar
American Association for the Advancement of Science. 2015g. “Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure,” Policy Documents and Reports, 11th ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 79–90.Google Scholar
American Association for the Advancement of Science. 2015h. “Statement on Collective Bargaining,” Policy Documents and Reports 11th ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 323–324.Google Scholar
American Association for the Advancement of Science. 2015i. “Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities,” Policy Documents and Reports, 11th ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 117–122.Google Scholar
American Association for the Advancement of Science. 2015j. “The Inclusion in Governance of Faculty Members Holding Contingent Appointments,” Policy Documents and Reports 11th ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 197–209.Google Scholar
American Association for the Advancement of Science. 2016–2017. Visualizing Change: The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2016–17. www.aaup.org/sites/default/files/FCS_2016-17_nc.pdfGoogle Scholar
Bekelman, Justin E. Yan Li, and Gross, Cary P. 2003. “Scope and Impact of Financial Conflicts of Interest in Biomedical Research,” Journal of the American Medical Association 289, 4: 454–465.Google Scholar
Benjamin, Ernst. 2010. “The Eroding Foundations of Academic Freedom and Professional Integrity: Implications of the Diminishing Proportion of Tenured Faculty for Organizational Effectiveness in Higher Education,” AAUP Journal of Academic Freedom 1. www.aaup.org/reports-publications/journal-academic-freedom/volume-1Google Scholar
Bok, Derek. 2003. Universities in the Marketplace: The Commercialization of Higher Education. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Blumenthal, David. 2002. “Biotech in Northeast Ohio Conference: Conflict of Interest in Biomedical Research,” Health Matrix 12 : 377–392.Google Scholar
Blumenthal, David. 2003. “Academic-Industrial Relationships in the Life Sciences,” New England Journal of Medicine 349: 2452–2459.Google Scholar
Blumenthal, David, Caucino, Nancyanne, Campbell, Eric, and Louis, Karen Seashore. 1996. “Relationships between Academic Institutions and Industry in the Life Sciences – An Industry Survey,” New England Journal of Medicine 334 : 368–374.Google Scholar
Brown, Wendy. 2015. Undoing the Demos. Brooklyn: Zone Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byrne, J. Peter. 1989. “Academic Freedom: A ‘Special Concern’ of the First Amendment,” Yale Law Journal 99: 251–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carmichael, Mary. 2011. “New Guiding Hands at Suffolk: School Set to Add 12 Trustees with Business Focus,” Boston.com (Oct. 4, 2011). http://articles.boston.com/2011-10-04/news/30243289_1_board-members-higher-education-pappas-consulting-groupGoogle Scholar
Coalition for the Academic Workforce. 2012. A Portrait of Part-Time Faculty Members: A Summary of Findings on Part-Time Faculty Respondents to the Coalition on the Academic Workforce Survey of Contingent Faculty Members and Instructors. www.academicworkforce.org/survey.htmlGoogle Scholar
Cohen, Felix. 1927. “Property and Sovereignty,” Cornell Law Quarterly 13, 1: 8–30.Google Scholar
Drucker, Jesse, and Tankersley, Jim. 2019. “How Big Companies Won New Tax Breaks From the Trump Administration,” The New York Times (Dec. 30, 2019). www.nytimes.com/2019/12/30/business/trump-tax-cuts-beat-gilti.htmlGoogle Scholar
Duncan, John C. Jr. 1999. “The Indentured Servants of Academia: The Adjunct Faculty Dilemma and Their Limited Legal Remedies,” Indiana Law Journal 74: 513–586.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, Rebecca S. 1987. “Proprietary Rights and the Norms of Science in Biotechnology Research,” Yale Law Journal 97: 177–231.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, Rebecca S. 1996. “Public Research and Private Development: Patents and Technology Transfer in Government-Sponsored Research,” Virginia Law Review 82: 1663–1727.Google Scholar
Fineman, Martha Albertson. 2004. The Autonomy Myth. New York: New Press.Google Scholar
Fisk, Milton. 1972. “Academic Freedom in Class Society,” in Pincoffs, Edmund L., ed. The Concept of Academic Freedom. Austin: University of Texas Press, pp. 5–26.Google Scholar
Flaherty, Colleen. 2019a. “Uncertainty for Non-Tenure-Track Unions,” Inside Higher Education (Mar. 14, 2019). www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/03/14/federal-appellate-court-decision-could-make-it-harder-adjuncts-form-unionsGoogle Scholar
Flaherty, Colleen 2019b. “Ruling Out Grad Unions,” Inside Higher Education (Sept. 23, 2019). www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/09/23/trump-labor-board-proposes-new-rule-against-grad-unionsGoogle Scholar
Flaherty, Colleen 2021. “Green Light for Student Employee Unions,” Inside Higher Education (Mar. 15, 2021). www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/03/15/labor-board-withdraws-planned-rule-against-student-employee-unionsGoogle Scholar
Freeman, Alan, and Mensch, Elizabeth. 1987. “The Public-Private Distinction in American Law and Life,” Buffalo Law Review 36: 237–257.Google Scholar
Freeman, Jody, and Minow, Martha, eds. 2009. Government by Contract: Outsourcing and American Democracy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Fugate, Rachel E. 1998. “Choppy Waters are Forecast for Academic Free Speech,” Florida State University Law Review 26: 187–259.Google Scholar
Gerber, Larry G. 2014. The Rise and Decline of Faculty Governance: Professionalization and the Modern American University. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Goldin, Claudia, and Katz, Lawrence F.. 1999. “The Shaping of Higher Education: The Formative Years in the United States, 1890 to 1940,” The Journal of Economic Perspectives 13, 1: 37–62.Google Scholar
Gumport, Patricia J., Iannozzi, Maria, Shaman, Susan, and Zemsky, Robert. 1997. “Trends in United States Higher Education from Massification to Post Massification,” National Center for Postsecondary Improvement, School of Education, Stanford University.Google Scholar
Hale, Robert. 1923. “Coercion and Distribution in a Supposedly Non-Coercive State,” Political Science Quarterly 38, 3: 470–494.Google Scholar
Halewood, Peter, and Young, Donna. 2017. “Rule of Law, Activism, and Equality: Growing Antisubordination Norms within the Neoliberal University,” John Marshall Law Review 50, 2: 249–270.Google Scholar
Hartman, Chester. 1989. “Uppity and Out: A Case Study in the Politics of Faculty Reappointments (and the Limitations of Grievance Procedures),” in Trumpbour, John, ed. How Harvard Rules. Boston: South End Press, pp. 287–302.Google Scholar
Herbert, William A., and Apkarian, Jacob. 2017. “Everything Passes, Everything Changes: Unionization and Collective Bargaining in Higher Education,” Perspectives on Work, pp. 30–35.Google Scholar
Hiers, Richard H. 1993. “Academic Freedom in Public Colleges and Universities: O Say, Does that Star-Spangled First Amendment Banner Yet Wave?” Wayne Law Review 40: 1–107.Google Scholar
Hirsch, Barry, and Macpherson, David. 2017. “Union Membership and Coverage Database from the CPS” [Data from Unionstat]. http://unionstats.gsu.edu/CPSGoogle Scholar
Hofstadter, Richard, and Metzger, Walter P.. 1955. The Development of Academic Freedom in the United States. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Johnston, Josephine. 2007. “Health Related Academic Technology Transfer: Rethinking Patenting and Licensing Practices,” International Journal of Biotechnology 9, 2: 156–171.Google Scholar
Khan, Beethika, Robbins, Carol, and Okrent, Abigail. 2020. “The State of US Science and Engineering 2020,” National Science Foundation (Jan. 15, 2020). https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb20201/u-s-r-d-performance-and-fundingGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, Duncan. 1982. “The Stages of the Decline of the Public/Private Distinction,” University of Pennsylvania Law Review 130: 1349–1357.Google Scholar
Kenney, Martin. 1986. Biotechnology: The University-Industrial Complex. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Kim, Dongbin, and Rury, John L.. 2007. “The Changing Profile of College Access: The Truman Commission and Enrollment Patterns in the Post-War Era,” History of Education Quarterly 47, 3: 302–327.Google Scholar
King, Jonathan, and Stabinsky, Doreen. 1999. “Patents on Cells, Genes, and Organisms Undermine the Exchange of Scientific Ideas,” Chronicle of Higher Education (Feb. 5, 1999). www.chronicle.com/article/patents-on-cells-genes-and-organisms-undermine-the-exchange-of-scientific-ideas/Google Scholar
Klare, Karl. 1982. “The Public/Private Distinction in Labor Law,” University of Pennsylvania Law Review 130: 1358–1422.Google Scholar
Krimsky, Sheldon. 2003. Science In the Private Interest: Has the Lure of Profits Corrupted Biomedical Research? Washington DC: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.Google Scholar
Krimsky, Sheldon, Rothenberg, L. S., Stott, P., and Kyle, G.. 1996. “Financial Interests of Authors in Scientific Journals: A Pilot Study of 14 Publications,” Science & Engineering Ethics 2: 395.Google Scholar
Lawler, Andrew. 2003. “Last of the Big Time Spenders,” Science 299, 5605: 330–333.Google Scholar
Levinthal, Dave. 2015. “Spreading the Free-Market Gospel,” The Atlantic (Oct. 20, 2015).Google Scholar
Lieberwitz, Risa L. 1987. “Due Process and the LMRDA: An Analysis of Democratic Rights in the Union and at the Workplace,” Boston College Law Review 29: 21–64.Google Scholar
Lieberwitz, Risa L. 2002. “The Corporatization of the University: Distance Learning at the Cost of Academic Freedom?” Boston University Public Interest Law Journal 12: 73–135.Google Scholar
Lieberwitz, Risa L. 2005. “Confronting the Privatization and Commercialization of Academic Research: An Analysis of Social Implications at the Local, National, and Global Levels,” Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 12: 109–152.Google Scholar
Lieberwitz, Risa L. 2007. “Faculty in the Corporate University: Professional Identity, Law, and Collective Action,” Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy 16: 263–330.Google Scholar
Lieberwitz, Risa L. 2014. “University-Industry Relations in the United States: Serving Private Interests,” in Turk, James L., ed. Academic Freedom in Conflict: The Struggle Over Free Speech Rights In The University. Toronto: James Lorimer & Company, Ltd., pp. 250–271.Google Scholar
Marcus, Jon. 2020. “Think Universities Are Making Lots of Money from Inventions? Think Again,” The Hechinger Report (Jan. 17, 2020).https://hechingerreport.org/think-universities-are-making-lots-of-money-from-inventions-think-again/Google Scholar
McCluskey, Molly. 2017. “Public Universities Get an Education in Private Industry,” The Atlantic (Apr. 3, 2017). www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/04/public-universities-get-an-education-in-private-industry/521379/Google Scholar
Merton, Robert K. 1973. The Sociology of Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Metzger, Walter P. 1964. Academic Freedom in the Age of the University. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Metzger, Walter P. 1988. “Profession and Constitution: Two Definitions of Academic Freedom in America,” Texas Law Review 66: 1265–1322.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Michael, Leachman, Michael, and Saenz, Matt. 2019. “State Higher Education Funding Cuts Have Pushed Costs to Students, Worsened Inequality,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Oct. 24, 2019). www.cbpp.org/research/state-budget-and-tax/state-higher-education-funding-cuts-have-pushed-costs-to-studentsGoogle Scholar
Newfield, Christopher. 2016. The Great Mistake. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Olivas, Michael A. 2003. “The Rise of Non-Legal Legal Influences Upon Higher Education.” www.ilr.cornell.edu/depts/cheriGoogle Scholar
Palomino, Joachin. 2013. “Billions of Corporate Dollars are Hijacking University Research to Help Make Profits,” Alternet (Apr. 22, 2013). www.alternet.org/2013/04/billions-corporate-dollars-are-hijacking-university-research-help-make-profitsGoogle Scholar
Post, Robert C. 2012. Democracy, Expertise, and Academic Freedom: A First Amendment Jurisprudence for the Modern State. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Rai, Arti Kaur. 1999-2000. “Regulating Scientific Research: Intellectual Property Rights and the Norms of Science,” Northwestern University Law Review 94: 77–152.Google ScholarPubMed
Rai, Arti K., and Eisenberg, Rebecca S.. 2003. “Bayh-Dole Reform and the Progress of Biomedicine,” American Scientist 91, 1: 52–59.Google Scholar
Schrecker, Ellen. 1983. “Academic Freedom: The Historical View, in Regulating the Intellectuals,” in Kaplan, Craig and Schrecker, Ellen, eds. Regulating the Intellectuals: Perspectives on Academic Freedoms in the 1980s. New York: Praeger, pp. 25–43.Google Scholar
Schrecker, Ellen. 1986. No Ivory Tower: McCarthyism and the Universities. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Schrecker, Ellen. 2010. The Lost Soul of Higher Education: Corporatization, the Assault on Academic Freedom, and the End of the American University. New York: New Press.Google Scholar
Shamir, Hila. 2014. “The Public/Private Distinction Now: The Challenges of Privatization and of the Regulatory State,” Theoretical Inquiries in Law 15, 1: 1–26.Google Scholar
Slaughter, Sheila, and Leslie, Larry L.. 1999. Academic Capitalism: Politics, Policies, and the Entrepreneurial University. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Snyder, Thomas D., and Hoffman, Charlene M.. 2002. Digest of Education Statistics 2001. table 224. National Center for Education Statistics.Google Scholar
Snyder, Thomas D., Brey, Cristobal de, and Dillow, Sally A.. 2018. Digest of Education Statistics, 52nd Ed. 2016. tables 314.20, 314.30. National Center for Education Statistics.Google Scholar
Sproul, Curtis R., Bucklew, Neil, and Houghton, Jeffery D.. 2014. “Academic Collective Bargaining: Patterns and Trends,” Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy 6, 1: 1–10.Google Scholar
Straumsheim, Carl. 2015. “Supporting Online Adjuncts,” Inside Higher Education (Nov. 12. 2015). www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/11/12/study-explores-hiring-and-managing-practices-online-adjunct-faculty-membersGoogle Scholar
Summers, Clyde W. 2000. “Employment at Will in the United States: The Divine Right of Employers,” University of Pennsylvania Journal of Labor & Employment Law 3, 1: 65–86.Google Scholar
Thacker, Lloyd. 2005. “Confronting the Commercialization of Admissions,” Chronicle of Higher Education (Feb. 25, 2015). www.chronicle.com/article/confronting-the-commercialization-of-admissions/Google Scholar
Tiede, Hans-Joerg. 2014. “‘To Make Collective Action Possible’: The Founding of the AAUP,” AAUP Journal of Academic Freedom 5: 1–29.Google Scholar
Tiede, Hans-Joerg. 2015. University Reform: The Founding of the American Association of University Professors. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Tuchman, Gaye. 2009. Wannabe U: Inside the Corporate University. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valdivia, Walter D. 2013. “University Start-Ups: Critical for Improving Technology Transfer,” The Brookings Institute (Nov. 2013). www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Valdivia_Tech-Transfer_v29_No-Embargo.pdfGoogle Scholar
Washburn, Jennifer. 2005. University Inc.: The Corruption of Higher Education. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×