Austerity Blues: Fighting for the Soul of Public Higher Education (Hardcover)

Introduction

Part I: The Political-Economic Context of Public Higher Education
Chapter 1: Public Assets in an Era of Austerity
Deregulation, Disinvestment, and Degradation
Six Propositions for Understanding the Restructuring of Public Higher Education
Economic Crisis and the Capitalization of Public Goods
The Radical Restructuring of Public Higher Education

Chapter 2: The State Expansion of Public Higher Education
The G.I. Bill
The Presidential Panel on Higher Education
Public Higher Education in California, New York, and Beyond
The Founding and Expansion of SUNY and the Status of New York City’s Municipal Colleges
The California Master Plan for Higher Education

Chapter 3: Students and Faculty Take Command
New York State, CUNY and the Struggle for Open Admissions-
The Multiversity and the Student Movement
The Fate of Open Admissions

Part II: The State of Austerity
Chapter 4: The Making of the Neoliberal Public University
Neoliberal Reform I: Corporatizing University Culture
Neoliberal Reform II: The Perfect Storm of Online Technology and the Commodification of Knowledge
Elite Politics and Economics
The Curricula of Austerity
Technology as the Tool of Austerity Managers
College Readiness, Low Graduation Rates, and Fiscal Starvation
Resetting Course: Investing in Disposable Citizens

Chapter 5: The Public University as an Engine of Inequality
Unequal Investments in Public Higher Education
Cheapening Public Higher Education
Qualitative Shifts in the Experience of Public Higher Education
The Ascent of For-Profit Colleges
Accountability in an Era of Austerity
Cheap Part-time Labor as an Austerity Fix
Managing Public Universities in a Time of Inverted Priorities

Chapter 6: Technology as a “Magic Bullet” in an Era of Austerity
Expanding Beyond Classroom Instruction
The Emergence of Digital Technology
The Rise of DigitalU
The Open Educational Resources Movement
The Khan Academy
MOOCs and the Reshaping of Public Higher Education
Neoliberal Reformer: Michael Crow and the “New American University”

Part III: Resistance Efforts and the Fight for Emancipatory Education
Chapter 7: Fighting for the Soul of Public Higher Education
Restructuring, Abandonment, and Dissolution
The Struggle Over Purposes and Practices
Achieving Emancipatory Education
What Types of Strategic Investments Are Needed?
Building a Better Knowledge Production Workforce
Where Should Public Higher Education Be Situated?
Deploying Technology to Improve Teaching and Learning
Political Choice and Struggle
Fault Lines in Current Struggles
Grassroots Struggles and Educational Policy Reforms:
Student Debt and the Choice to Strike
Free Tuition and Community Colleges
Increasing Wages and Job Protections for Part-Time Faculty
Cross-Sector Campaigns and Increased Investment
Sustaining and Expanding Universal Access
Resisting Curricular Dilution
Scaling Up and Drilling Down

Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index