Lucia

de Vernai

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March 18, 2009

The Pursuit of Profit at Arizona State University

To see my alma mater, Arizona State University, on the front page of the New York Times would be a dream come true had it been for the right reasons. Reporting on the crushed dreams of the school’s new president, Michael Crow, the Times blamed the firing of faculty, capping enrollment and dissolving departments on the recession. The ambitions of state universities longing to join the ranks of prestigious powerhouse schools across the country have suffered, but the present economic situation is not the only culprit.

Growth for the sake of growth and applying the business model to educational institutions – that is to say the wrong management style – have to be held accountable, even if abstract terms like “the economy” provide an easier way out, no finger pointing involved. To see this country turn around and build a more stable future, institutions of higher learning in charge of creating its leaders should receive special scrutiny.

ASU’s push to be a science powerhouse proved to be successful – the modern buildings that house Biodesign Institute are lined with $400 chairs – while on the other side of campus there is one functioning printer four departments of social science graduate students have to share.

History has never brought in the kind of money bioengineering has, the argument goes, and the money is simply reinvested where, oh, let’s call it what it is, it’s worth investing. Several years ago, when the Humanities Department was quietly dissolved and Sociology ceased to exist except for those who are interested in Family Science, the values of the University were clear, recession or not.

With over 300 bodies in my American Politics class and faculty that split their time between three departments (and offices) to keep their benefits, the principles of civic duty and understanding of democratic institutions take a backseat to the pressures of “publish or perish.” Departments all around the university are gaping with empty offices of faculty that left for safer positions and anxious graduate students who, after moving from other continents to work with them, need to find another program to finish their education.

One of Crow’s buzzwords for the New American University was “sustainability.” No one really knew what it meant, but it had to do with recycling and those pretty solar panels on East Campus. Or so we thought. Now that campus will be shutting down and ASU has no way of sustaining the educational experience it promised its 67,000 students. 

The public university’s lust for profit is no different from what the private sector offered Americans – a low price, even lower admission standards and unkept promises. Crow’s administration brought many positive changes to ASU, but the test of time has shown that if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

There is no need to feel badly for Crow. As the country’s best-paid university president, he and his many initiatives and programs will make it out of the recession just fine. The hundreds evicted out of the Ivory Tower as a result should be the center of concern.

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