Briana Evertsen

Writing 2010
Synthesis 1
The Scholars Behind Higher Education
Higher education is becoming a hot topic between scholars. They are
doing more research, finding more flaws and informing more people. Not
many students go into their college thinking a there is any major issues.
They go into the university expecting the school has it all figured out but
many scholars like Hanke & Hearn and Bonewits & Soley are encouraging
society to get informed about what is really going on in the university today.
While reading all the papers on higher education and their different views on
how it is being corrupted, I found many similarities. A few stood out, like the
goal of intellectual growth for students, corporatization of the university, and
critical university studies.
Writers like Williams, David Foster Wallece, Bartholomae, and Hurtado
all made a point in all their papers to bring the idea of college bringing
intellectual growth to students. It was interesting to see the different ways
the writers went about expressing their point. Along with intellectual growth,
scholars talked about the corporatization of the university. This point was hit
on many times and made very clear that it was corrupting higher education
as a whole. Critical university study is another theme that came up many
times throughout the readings. Scholars brought up many different ways a
community of a university can make a difference and address the issues that
are going on.
When reading Hacker and Dreifuss paper on college being worth the
price of admission, I came across the passage college should be a cultural

Briana Evertsen
Writing 2010
Synthesis 1
journey, an intellectual expedition, a voyage confronting new ideas and
information. This made me think of Bonewits and Soleys paper, they
explained, colleges should be enlightening students with liberal arts and
intellectual knowledge instead of selling them an occupational education.
Hurtados paper on diversifying universities helped me to categorize it under
cultural journeys, something every student is suppose to have in college.
Another subtopic that went with colleges intellectual growth was
preparing students for real life. Williams piece on Deconstructing Academia
gave me this idea when he said, teachers need to inform students of the
issues that are going on in their own university. Through this knowledge
they logically grow to know how to deal with real life issues and situations.
David Foster Walleces Commencement speech, This is Water, added to this
subtopic when he says that a liberal arts education is valuable because it
not only teaches you how to think but also what to think about. He goes on
to explain that you deal with reality successfully when you figure out the
right things to think about. Hence, a real learning education makes you an
intellectual and well adjusted person.
The topic of corporatization of the university was a very passionate
subject to scholars like Kezar, and Bonewits & Soley. Through the readings I
came across the two subtopics of this corporatization. Management and
research seemed to be the reoccurring topics between the scholars. Kezar
and Williams especially seemed to talk, almost to each other, about the
corruption of administration in universities and the who is apart of it. They

Briana Evertsen
Writing 2010
Synthesis 1
both mentioned the way CEOs of corporations or important people in
funding corporations are part of the administration that makes the big
decisions for the university. They argued that faculty and teachers should be
apart of these administrations instead of business men looking for money.
Corporatization of research was something almost all of the writers
touched on but Bonewits & Soley, and Hanke & Hearn went into detail about
the tolls it really takes on the university. They had different evidence but
came to the same conclusion of outside funding effecting the decisions the
university makes with the outcomes of the research. They explained how the
business deals they make, concerning the universities research, can hurt the
progress of society. Bonewits & Soley especially proved the universitys
research push is in fact not for learning purposes but for corporate sponsors,
and this is all distracting the goal of teaching undergraduates. They
specifically say, When Universities are scrambling for corporate support, the
missions that become more important are conducting research that attracts
corporate sponsors, developing marketable products and technologies, and
fashioning imaginative partnerships with corporate patrons. Hanke & Hearn
also touch on the fact that no longer are universities focus on students but
rather chasing the dollars. Universities are doing this by converting
research into money and sponsors.
The last main topic I found that clustered through the papers was
critical university studies. Whether it was writers saying that we needed to
change the way higher education is headed or they specifically said critical

Briana Evertsen
Writing 2010
Synthesis 1
university studies it was all the same idea. Some problems that were
pointed out were the issues of students and faculty. The over all study is
much more than that though. The idea is to go in every corner of higher
education to really get an idea of what is wrong and creating the best ways
to fix the issues.
Williams, Hacker & Dreifus, and Hanke & Hearn all touched on the
issues students were going through concerning the university involvement.
They gave the argument of higher tuitions and less financial aid lead to
student debt and working students. These are all problems that almost every
college student faces. Also Hurtado gives her two cents to this argument
when she explains how students are suffering because there isnt enough
diversity in the classrooms. Hanke & Hearn, and Hurtado encourage students
to do something about these problems. They explain that these issues are
not going to just go away, students need to make a stand and join the
conversation.
Faculty issues came up a lot with the corporatizing of academia but I
put it under critical university study because like Bonewits & Soley, and
Hanke & Hearn said, Faculty needs to analyze the corruption and get
involved in making it better, they need to care. Bonewits & Soley, and Hanke
& Hearns argument was shown when they pointed out that teachers are
having no say in what is going on inside of the university. Like Hanke & Hearn
said, How long can faculty ignorance go on until is bursts in the open, and
the nature of the struggle irrevocably changes? How long until the

Briana Evertsen
Writing 2010
Synthesis 1
professoriate, student, and staff come to see themselves as they are?
Teachers need to take a stand to get involved before they find themselves in
a system they dont recognize.
Hacker & Dreifus, and even Williams address this issue when they
talked about the increase of adjunct teaching or part time teachers instead
of full time teachers. Hacker & Dreifus specifically talk about the unfair
payment of graduate or part-time teachers compared to their tenure
professor counterparts that teach the same amount of classes. In the end
Bonewits & Soley, and Hanke & Hearn conclude that if these teachers dont
make an effort to care about the problems that are going on around them
then no one will make a change that is severely needed in todays society.
Like Hanke & Hearn said, Now more than ever, we need cultural studies to
trouble the university. Pressure needs to be put on higher education if we
ever want it to change.

Work Cited
Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission? Andrew Hack and Claudia Dreifus
http://chronicle.com/article/Are-Colleges-Worth-the-Price/66234
Inventing the University David Bartholomae
https://utah.instructure.com/courses/351858/files/folder/Readings?
preview=49586757

Briana Evertsen
Writing 2010
Synthesis 1
Obtaining Integrity? Reviewing and Examining the Charter between Higher
Education and Society Adrianna J. Kezar
https://utah.instructure.com/courses/351858/files/folder/Readings?
preview=49586755
Research and the Bottom Line in Todays University Sarah Bonewits and
Lawrence Soley
https://utah.instructure.com/courses/351858/files/folder/Readings?
preview=49586752
Deconstructing Academe: The birth of critical university studies Jeffrey J.
Williams
http://chronicle.com/article/An-Emerging-Field-Deconstructs/130791/
Out of the Ruins, the University to Come Bob Hanke and Alison Hearn
https://utah.instructure.com/courses/351858/files/folder/Readings?
preview=49586750
This is Water David Foster Wallace
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CrOL-ydFMI
Linking Diversity with the Educational and Civic Missions of Higher Education
Sylvia Hurtado
https://utah.instructure.com/courses/351858/files/folder/Readings?
preview=49586749