Expanding Our Struggle: Higher Education as a Common Good

Abstract

While recognizing the achievements of the adjunct faculty movement, this commentary piece argues for a more radical approach to the struggle for equity. In order to combat the neoliberal privatization or “enclosure” of higher education which underlies the exploitation of faculty and students, faculty activists ought to emphasize the understanding that higher education is a common good, and that such education should be much more accessible and democratic than it has ever been in the past. By making this conceptualization of higher education central to our struggle, we can strengthen our movement and build true solidarity with students and community groups.