University of Denver and National Trends In Higher Education

University of Denver June, 2010 Graduation; Masters’ Program Graduates. At What Cost? With What Future Employment?

What follows here is mostly for my students. Certainly my interest was provoked by the Korbel School of International Studies, where I teach, offering a `global service’ award to George W. Bush, and to give him the opportunity to address the university community here on September 9. A major element – from where I am sitting – in this invitation is the university’s financial future. Of course right now, the University of Denver is not in anything like a financial crisis, at least to my knowledge. But the signs are everywhere and not just at D.U., but nationally. Tuition is going up and  has reached what some (especially students) consider to be unsustainable levels at private institutions nationwide. A new generation of faculty is coming on board as baby boomers and pre-baby boomers retire. Many of them have been heavily influenced by the academic environment of the past thirty years, with the noticeable shift to the right of the political spectrum, most especially where it concerns none questions of neo-liberal economic models (but also in other areas).

In any case, I am going to start to collect relevant articles on the different trends in higher education here on this blog site and will continue to add to them over time. For those interested in how I view the Bush Award – there is a series of entries on the blog `One Toke Over The Line: The University of Denver Offers George W. Bush an International Service Award. It is a six part series. You can get to any and all the series number from Part One.

More to follow.

The College Loan Scandal by Matt Taibbi. Rolling Stone. August 15, 2013

The Market Colonization of Intellectuals by Lewis R. Gordon. Truthout. April 6, 2010

Obama’s New Education Proposal: Change? Or Changed Subject? by Matt Taibbi. Rolling Stone. August 23, 2013

University of Oregon To Faculty: You Belong To Me by Corey Robin, author of the Reactionary Mind. September 16, 2013