Recent Bookmarks 04-September-2009

College for $99 a Month
Kevin Carey. Washington Monthly. September/October 2009.
“[T]he day is coming—sooner than many people think—when a great deal of money is going to abruptly melt out of the higher education system … [But] Just as the world needs the foreign bureaus that newspapers are rapidly shutting down, it needs quirky small university presses, Mughal textile historians, and people who are paid to think deep, economically unproductive thoughts. …There is an unstable, treacherous future ahead for institutions that have been comfortable for a long time. ”
gml: There’s no shortage of attention-grabbing quotes about the “Internet bomb” that will “explode” in higher education’s “basement.” But what I appreciated was the counterpoint that there is much good in higher education that may get swept aside during the impending transformation.

The University’s Crisis of Purpose
Drew Gilpin Faust. The New York Times. 01-September-2009.
“Universities are meant to be producers not just of knowledge but also of (often inconvenient) doubt. They are creative and unruly places, homes to a polyphony of voices. But at this moment in our history, universities might well ask if they have in fact done enough to raise the deep and unsettling questions necessary to any society.”
gml: As president of Harvard University, Faust occupies a unique bully pulpit. But I’m always frustrated when I read her opinion pieces because they seem so … sanitized. You get the sense that she really does have something to say, if only the real Drew Gilpin Faust would take off the kid gloves and just let loose. My goodness, this is the time in the history of higher education when we need more of that.

The Don’ts of Higher Ed Reform
Robert Zemsky. Inside Higher Ed. 04-September-2009.
“Don’t Try to Reform the NCAA’s Big Money Sports … Don’t Tackle Tenure … Don’t Try to Reform Accreditation … Leave Investments in Research Infrastructure to Others”
gml: By providing a don’t-do list, Zemsky attempts to focus higher education reform on what’s possible. Instead he provides a damning depiction of just how ossified colleges and universities have become. While totally unintended on the part of the author, this is the single best piece I’ve read for why higher education in the United States is beyond hope.