Campus, Inc. Corporate Power in the Ivory Tower

9781573928106

1573928100

The university, as a core institution of democratic society, is increasingly threatened by the intrusion of big business. Corporations are working their way into academe in both subtle and obvious ways: granting of exclusive concessions rights on campus to a soft drink manufacturer; use of a major portion of the resources, faculty, and research efforts of university departments by a particular company in exchange for modest funding; university administrators whose salaries are often doubled for service on the boards of important corporate contributors. Can faculty members remain independent under such heavy corporate influence? This book not only describes the threat of corporatisation, but provides real-life strategies, campaigns, and solutions to the problem. Successful efforts to take universities off the corporate auction block are becoming more common. A new era of student activism has helped roll back the sale of sweatshop-produced items in campus stores; the re-emergence of unions has helped faculty organise to prevent "hostile take-overs" of our publicly funded institutions; and effective strategies to re-democratise the university are increasingly available.