Reviews for Wannabe U: Inside the Corporate University

The average rating for Wannabe U: Inside the Corporate University based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-10-25 00:00:00 Matthew Schaaf Appreciated Gaye Tuchman's take on the corporatization of academia and how much the desire to maximize profit influences higher education in the United States. Academia is not just a space where passionate intellectuals have free-roaming opportunities to advance knowledge and share wisdom with students. Though I think more people are aware of the corporatization of academia now, Tuchman's 2008 book offers specific insights into how it has taken place at one large state school. She writes about the proliferation of administrators and the power they wield to generate money above all else, the pressure on faculty to pursue grants and publications that will serve as revenue streams, and how auditing and accountability manifest as mechanisms of control over professors' autonomy. Tuchman's prose is direct, and I like how she offers intelligent and honest critiques about how neoliberalism continues to infiltrate and permeate higher education. Though I appreciated Tuchman's naming of corporatization and how it affects university faculty, by the end of this book I wondered, where do we go from here? I think naming the problem is oftentimes the first step to generating solutions, though I wanted some brainstorming about how we can resist or organize against the corporatization of academia. I also feel like the book could have benefitted from a more nuanced take on the accountability of professors. While I see how professors having freedom to say and do what they want is important to ensure the safety of expression of ideas that may be controversial, I am also aware of quite a few faculty who abuse, neglect, and/or generally mistreat their students. How can we hold those faculty accountable for their actions (e.g., student evaluations that are analyzed with a critical lens?) while still promoting faculty autonomy? Finally, I wanted more of a discussion of how faculty members with marginalized identities can navigate this system, given the racism, heterosexism, sexism, and other forms of oppression that operate within academia (e.g., Presumed Incompetent II offers excellent narratives from women of color in academia). Overall, I would recommend this book to those who want to learn about the corporatization of the university through an in-depth look at how that has manifested at one state school in particular. I would also recommend supplementing the book with perspectives of faculty of color and those engaged in campus activism and organizing. Yay to speaking truth to power (lol hopefully I don't get roasted for saying that when I'm on the academic job market in a few years or when I apply for tenure in several more years)!

Review # 2 was written on 2011-07-11 00:00:00 Michael Elliott Should be required reading for those of us entering (or attempting to enter) academia. Also, sociologists write differently from theatre scholars. UPDATE: Having survived my first semester at an institution undergoing serious administrative changes, I see more and more the value of this book. I've actually recommended it to many of my colleagues. It's a weird time to be a college professor.