Trump University (Not What You Think)
What I’ve been reflecting on is the possible parallels between the Trump phenomenon and the current situation higher education. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about the growing economic-power gap between the administrative class in higher education and those who actually deliver the goods: the professors, but especially the exploding sector of adjuncts and those who manage on-line courses. The latter are, of course, barely compensated and overworked. They cobble together inhumane teaching loads in order to make a living. Meanwhile, the administrative class, whose historic role has ostensibly been to serve and to protect those who teach, continues to cash in (quite literally) through their efforts to “streamline delivery” in higher education.
.. Obviously, faculty in higher education don’t always straightforwardly “elect” the administrative class. But if Trumpism in the civic realm is partly explained by the sense that many voters have of being let down by the leadership who should have been looking out for their interests, and if my instincts about there being a parallel phenomenon taking place in higher education are right, then higher education in America could be in for the kind of bumpy ride that the GOP has been experiencing during this election cycle.
.. The difficulty here is that doing this will likely require more courage than most academics possess, myself included. Our felt need for academic credibility and peer validation makes us beholden to the academic establishment. Trumpism in the political realm costs little; it’s just a vote. An anti-establishment vote, one motivated by a sense of administrative betrayal in higher education, would mean academic exile, effectively a form of academic suicide.