Comments on: Four theses on university presidents’ speech http://decasia.org/academic_culture/2009/11/four-theses-on-university-presidents-speech/ an anthropological look at universities in france and the united states Sat, 06 Mar 2010 11:38:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Michael Bishop http://decasia.org/academic_culture/2009/11/four-theses-on-university-presidents-speech/comment-page-1/#comment-1495 Michael Bishop Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:59:35 +0000 http://decasia.org/academic_culture/?p=992#comment-1495 Faculty and students do have some influence. Mostly because the administration wants to attract new students and faculty. People who control sources of funding also have major influence, and I'm sure they don't use that influence in an ideal way, but it isn't all bad for faculty/students. Reduce the funders influence and they may decide to stop funding. Faculty and students do have some influence. Mostly because the administration wants to attract new students and faculty.

People who control sources of funding also have major influence, and I’m sure they don’t use that influence in an ideal way, but it isn’t all bad for faculty/students. Reduce the funders influence and they may decide to stop funding.

]]> By: eli http://decasia.org/academic_culture/2009/11/four-theses-on-university-presidents-speech/comment-page-1/#comment-1473 eli Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:04:09 +0000 http://decasia.org/academic_culture/?p=992#comment-1473 Well, in my view we don't have a choice between a university that makes political statements and one that doesn't. Instead, we have a choice between a university whose political acts are managed by administrators and one whose politics are open to democratic campus input. You see, in my view things like "investing in Darfur" or "hiring a huge campus police force" or "building something on the former site of a community garden" are already political acts. The problem, from this perspective, is that the administration generally gets to implement whatever politics it wants, ignoring faculty and student input at will. Well, in my view we don’t have a choice between a university that makes political statements and one that doesn’t. Instead, we have a choice between a university whose political acts are managed by administrators and one whose politics are open to democratic campus input. You see, in my view things like “investing in Darfur” or “hiring a huge campus police force” or “building something on the former site of a community garden” are already political acts. The problem, from this perspective, is that the administration generally gets to implement whatever politics it wants, ignoring faculty and student input at will.

]]> By: Michael Bishop http://decasia.org/academic_culture/2009/11/four-theses-on-university-presidents-speech/comment-page-1/#comment-1469 Michael Bishop Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:37:23 +0000 http://decasia.org/academic_culture/?p=992#comment-1469 I agree that university presidents' speech is far more constrained than individual professors. This may be why I've bothered to read so little of it. I find Zimmer's speech fairly boring, but basically unobjectionable. While I think its rather silly to pretend that a university can truly be apolitical, I wouldn't want the faculty voting to endorse lots of political statements either. I agree that university presidents’ speech is far more constrained than individual professors. This may be why I’ve bothered to read so little of it. I find Zimmer’s speech fairly boring, but basically unobjectionable.

While I think its rather silly to pretend that a university can truly be apolitical, I wouldn’t want the faculty voting to endorse lots of political statements either.

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