Nationally known and emerging scholars and researchers presented and participated at the Neoliberalism and Public Higher Education conference hosted by the Julian Samora Research Institute at Michigan State University March 27-28, 2015. The sessions fostered a scholarly dialogue on:
- the corporatization of public universities,
- the privatization of public higher education and its implications for democracy,
- performance-based budgeting and its implications for institutional governance,
- neoliberalism and shared governance,
- rising tuition rates and their implications for working class and minority students,
- the assault on ethnic studies and its implications for academic freedom and the curriculum,
- and flexible labor and the dramatic increase of adjunct faculty members.
Rubén Martinez, director of the Julian Samora Research Institute at Michigan State University and organizer of the Neoliberalism & Public Higher Education conference, explains the role of the March 2015 event in furthering a scholarly dialogue about the issues.
Lawrence Busch, distinguished professor of sociology at Michigan State University.
John V. Lombardi, president emeritus of Florida State University, presented “Elitism, Ideology, and Pragmatism: A U.S. Higher Education Perspective.”
Doctoral student Angie Carter of Iowa State University presented “AgriSol, Monsanto, and the Silencing of Critical Inquiry.”
Frank Fear, professor and senior associate dean emeritus of the Department of Community Sustainability, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University, presented “Promoting Public Awareness of What Has Happened to Public Higher Education.”
Steven Weiland, professor of Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education with Michigan State University’s College of Education, presented “Faculty Work in the ‘Disrupted’ University.”
Dennis Keeney, professor emeritus and former director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, presented Sustainable Agriculture and the Land Grant University.
Taylor Brorby, graduate student in the Department of English at Iowa State University, presented, “Humanities in the Land Grant University.”
David Gift, associate vice president for community engagement with Internet2, presented “How Is the Networked Digital Era Changing Higher Education – Really?”
Neoliberalism and Public Higher Education 