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Men in suits chasing a dollar symbol at the end of a fishing rod

Academic freedom, Corporatization and commercialization, International issues

Higher Education or Education for Hire? Corporatization and the Threat to Democratic Thinking

Joel Westheimer

Teaching critical thinking is the university’s democratic mission, argues the University of Ottawa’s Joel Westheimer, and today’s universities are failing to deliver. Universities need to reverse the trend that has them focusing on workforce preparation and the commercialization of knowledge and resurrect higher education’s public purpose.

Two groups of people on opposite sides of a walkway that leads up to a university building

Corporatization and commercialization, International issues, Universities and the academic mission

Class Warriors

William Ayers

Professor William Ayers, banned last year from speaking at the University of Nebraska, argues that the current trend towards “academic capitalism” gives faculty the moment to speak up – and act up.

Whither Tenure?

Mark Rosenfeld

Tenure as we know it today is a relatively recently phenomenon, dating from the 1960s. Since then, it periodically has come under […]

Hiring, promotion, and tenure, Humour

Tenure and the Frights of Passage

Steve Penfold

I always thought I was good at dealing with gatekeepers. After all, my parents lived in a border town for 15 years, […]

Academic mentorship, Teaching and learning

John S. Saul: a passionate scholar

Thomas Klassen

In a long career and life, there are ample opportunities to take sides, make judgements, and reach firm conclusions. This is perhaps […]

History, Politics

Obama and the Crash: reshaping the intellectual agenda in Canada

James Laxer

Major developments in American politics and society always provoke some combination of consternation, envy, imitation, rejection, or righteous indignation north of the […]