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The Death of the Public University

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Clarissa

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Two bits of news:

A. The state of Illinois refuses to honor its obligations as to funding a percentage of our university’s budget.

B. The state of Illinois has adopted a law that will prevent professors at public universities from getting published and advancing their careers as researchers. I guess the idea behind this is that students at public schools do not deserve to be taught by scholars. This definitely sounds like the final nail in the coffin of the public higher ed system. If professors can’t do research, there is no chance they will stay at such universities.

15 responses to “The Death of the Public University”

  1. Evelina Anville Avatar
    Evelina Anville

    What??? What is this Illinois law that prevents professors from publishing? I haven’t heard about this! Will this apply to all schools? How can this be? The University of Illinois system has some world reknowned research schools (i.e. UI Urbana, UI Chicago etc. etc.)

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      The universities covered by the policy are: University of Illinois, Southern Illinois
      University, Chicago State University, Eastern Illinois
      University, Governors State University, Illinois State
      University, Northeastern Illinois University, Northern
      Illinois University, Western Illinois University

      I promise to say a lot about this soon. I just discovered about this last night.

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      1. Evelina Anville Avatar
        Evelina Anville

        I”m horrified. I bet my state will be next. 😦

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          You know I’m not one to panic-monger. But this new law we’ve been told about is truly bad.

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  2. el Avatar
    el

    // A. The state of Illinois refuses to honor its obligations as to funding a percentage of our university’s budget.

    How is it explained? How is it legally possible?

    Wait, do you live and work in the state of Illinois?

    Can you get published or not? Is your university public?

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Yes, I’m in Illinois. My husband is in Missouri. We live together but work in different states. Mine is a state university, yes.

      Our state has a new Republican governor. The president of the university told us yesterday that we will have to fire thousands of people and eliminate departments and programs to please the governor. Today I’m going to meet this president in person and hear what details he can offer.

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  3. Pen Avatar
    Pen

    What? What is this law? How in hell can it be legal?

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  4. el Avatar
    el

    A serious question: in this new liquid world, does USA still need good public education? Previously, if you wanted to be an empire, you had to educate and prepare some of your citizens for various roles. What now?

    I don’t understand how such policies won’t harm American standing in the long run.

    Just now I saw on an Israeli site an article about the criminal investigation concerning an American for-profit college. (Links below). If this college succeeded to “fraudulently obtain millions of dollars in federal money,” doesn’t it cost more and give less to the country than a public university on the whole? Also, you’ve written “If professors can’t do research, there is no chance they will stay at such universities.” Where will they go then? To colleges which use strippers?

    LINK 1
    Lawsuit: College Used Strippers to Lure Students
    A for-profit Florida college used exotic dancers as admissions officers, falsified documents and coached students to lie on financial forms as it fraudulently obtained millions of dollars in federal money, according to a federal lawsuit filed in Miami.

    On at least one of its seven campuses, FastTrain College “purposely hired attractive women and sometimes exotic dancers and encouraged them to dress provocatively while they recruited young men in neighborhoods to attend FastTrain,” according to an ongoing civil lawsuit. The Florida attorney general and the U.S. attorney in Miami announced Wednesday that they were joining the lawsuit against the now-defunct FastTrain and former owner Alejandro Amor, 56.
    http://abcnews.go.com/Weird/wireStory/lawsuit-college-strippers-lure-students-27367115

    LINK 2
    The FBI raided campuses of Florida-based FastTrain College on Wednesday. The for-profit school has multiple ties to Representative Alcee Hastings (D-FL), who has been a fervent backer of for-profit education companies. This industry has lobbied Congress fiercely in recent years to avoid accountability for waste, fraud, and abuse at the expense of students and taxpayers.
    http://www.republicreport.org/2012/alcee-hastings-for-profit-raided/

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Have you read the recent article by the BRILLIANT петрановская? Here is an excerpt:

      Не знаю, как кому, а мне нестерпимо грустно за судьбы Родины становится не от грязного лифта, не от врущего телевизора и даже не от падающего рубля, а в те минуты, когда я читаю на новостных порталах разделы «Новости науки и технологий». Я их часто читаю. Расстраиваюсь, а читаю.

      Особенно «Новости медицины» – просто до слез. Чувствующие протезы, искусственная кожа для пересадки, перспектива полного излечения диабета, генная инженерия… Хотя и про космос тоже. И про альтернативные источники энергии. И про переработку мусора. Хорошо, что хоть в IT я вообще ничего не понимаю.

      Человечество идет в познании и изменении мира все дальше и дальше, вопрос продления активной жизни до 120 лет как минимум кажется вполне решаемым. Человечество сканирует комету. Печатает на 3D принтерах позвонки и суставы, начинает массовое производство электромобилей, делает роботов размером с вирус и корабли размером с город. Человечество изобретает, ищет, учится.

      Говорят, научно-техническую революцию уже переназвали в научно-технический взрыв. Потому что графики, описывающие скорость изменений, – это почти графики взрыва: по гиперболе ввысь, в бесконечное далеко. Страны раньше ассоциировавшиеся только с дешевым низко-квалифицированным трудом, такие, как Индия или Китай, создают свои силиконовые долины, вкачивают огромные деньги в свои университеты и лаборатории. Тем временем Америка возвращает на свою территорию производства – потому что для новых заводов нужно мало рук, но рук очень высокопрофессиональных, то есть скорее голов, чем рук. Все тяжелое и простое делают роботы. В далеко не самой богатой, традиционно аграрной Эстонии я была в школе, современнейшей по оборудованию, по стилю, по методам преподавания – не образцовой школе для детей элиты, а самой обычной муниципальной, в рабочем пригороде. Муниципалитеты там соперничают друг с другом: чья школа лучше, а страна тем временем с каждым годом увеличивает свое присутствие на рынке программных продуктов. Экономисты отмечают, что в структуре трат европейцев среднего класса все меньшее место занимают дорогие вещи, и все большее – образование для детей и переобучение для себя. Все что-то слушают на «Курсере», все сдают какие-то экзамены, учат третий-пятый язык с носителем по скайпу, сами ведут мастер-классы. Художественная литература, поколениям дававшая блаженство ухода из реального мира в мир фантазии, отодвигается на задние полки магазинов: сегодня правит бал нон-фикшн, люди хотят знать, как устроен реальный мир, в котором они живут. Они хотят знать про экономику, про нейрофизиологию, про устройство «кротовых нор» и про быт средневековых городов.

      Мир учится, мир вкладывает в образование и науку, сегодня уже всем ясно, что сильнее не тот, у кого танки и ракеты, а тот, у кого умнее население. У кого больше ботаников – лучших ботаников – сидят и щелкают по клавишам ноутбуков, смотрят в микроскопы, ведут дискуссии, в которых постороннему понятны только предлоги. Потому что из всего этого получается новая жизнь, новый мир, никакими фантастами толком не предсказанный. И рост благосостояния, и лучшая экология, и более сильная армия – все это в конечном итоге оказывается у тех, у кого больше умников и у кого умнее население в целом, а наличие ископаемых, размер территории и былая грозная слава – все это уже не так важно.

      http://spektr.delfi.lv/novosti/vid-szadi.d?id=45279588#ixzz3KxRdaPq7

      She isn’t using the words “liquid society” or “post-nation state” but this is precisely the phenomenon I’m talking about. People around the world are conscious that some of us will radically advance our education and knowledge and some of us will fall off the fast-moving train of modernity.

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      1. el Avatar
        el

        \\ Have you read the recent article by the BRILLIANT петрановская?

        Never heard about her before.
        Thank you for the link.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          She is a brilliant psychologist working in the area of children rights.

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    2. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      “Where will they go then? To colleges which use strippers?”

      – There is always an entire galaxy of the normal between any extremes.

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      1. Clarissa Avatar
        Clarissa

        “I don’t understand how such policies won’t harm American standing in the long run.”

        – Exactly. We are kicking ourselves off the train.

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  5. el Avatar
    el

    If professors can’t do research, will they be forced to teach a huge number of courses?
    Is the goal to pay less to professors?

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  6. Editor (Retired) Avatar
    Editor (Retired)

    This is too scary. I knew a revolution in higher education was coming, but I didn’t know it was coming so fast. I’m guessing the people pushing this extreme cost-saving scheme in Illinois think college professors can be replaced by technology. Distance learning, internet-based higher education, and outsourcing.

    I imagine state politicians will decide that the mission of public colleges and universities is to provide job credentials to the masses as cheaply and efficiently as possible, not to support research. Teaching the masses cheaply is the community college model. No reason it can’t be extended to four-year public institutions. (Even the concept of higher education for the masses is in doubt. Will the new economy need masses of well-educated workers? Possibly not.)

    Why listen to a learned professor holding forth in an ivy-covered lecture hall, when you can watch the same lecture on YouTube in your pajamas?

    If accounting firms can outsource preparation of income tax returns to accountants in India, colleges can outsource grading English 101 essays to teaching assistants in Bangladesh.

    I’m not saying I’m in favor of this scary future. I understand that higher education will be reduced to the lowest common denominator. Many intangibles of learning will be lost. Students who want or need quality education will have to get it from private institutions, which will offer some student aid, but become more exclusive and removed from the masses.

    Like Illinois, Maryland also elected a new Republican governor in November. If the Illinois project seems practical and popular, I’m sure Republican leaders in Maryland and many other states will be eager to jump on the bandwagon.

    Thanks for alerting us to this development, Clarissa.

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