The University in Ruins?

Abstract

Just before his untimely death, Bill Readings finished writing a book that will be a center of discussion and an object of critical dialogic exchange for some time to come. The University in Ruins contains an argument that should be considered carefully by academics, administrators, and the general public.' This argument demonstrates that, while the culture wars may not be as heated as they were only a short time ago, the issues they raised are in no sense a thing of the past. Indeed the consequences of polarization and rhetorical overkill are still with us, as is the tendency of extreme ideological positions to meet in curious and unsettling ways. I would begin by noting that, in my own judgment, the contemporary academy is based on a systemic, schizoid division between a market model and a model of corporate solidarity and collegial responsibility. (Often one or the other model is invoked in ways that best serve the selfinterest of the commentator.) The market model is employed in the prevalent idea that undergraduates subsidize research and graduate education and that they are not getting their money's worth, notably at a time when tuition is very high and has been outpacing the general rate of inflation. The market model has also played a significant role in the establishment of criteria for teaching and reward in departments and in the setting of salaries and perquisites for individuals. The idea here is that a department, to be competitive nationally, must conform to national criteria, for example, with respect to faculty that it is trying to recruit. And