Visiting scholar sheds light on academic capitalism among public universities

In light of the education reform bills currently on the Senate floor, Portland State President Wim Wiewel led a discussion last Thursday about the growth of academic capitalism among American universities and the proposed restructuring of university funding in Oregon.

The event was the second lecture of a three-part series called “Outlook Hazy: Does Public Education have a Future in Oregon?” and was sponsored by the PSU chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). 

ASPSU Student Senator Rowan Griffith and National AAUP General Secretary Gary Rhoades were also involved with the discussion. Rhoades is on a three-year leave from the University of Arizona to serve as general secretary of the AAUP.

Thursday’s discussion began with Rhoades’ lecture, “Private Models, Public Costs,” where he discussed the ways in which “institutions were engaged in market and market-like behavior.”

“[This] leads to forgetting who we are and running from who we serve,” Rhoades said.  

Rhoades compared PSU to the University of Arizona as an institution with a history of serving a strong local community and providing access to higher education for diverse groups. Rhoades encouraged PSU to embrace its historic identity as an access university and to strengthen collaborations with the local community.  

Rhoades also discussed how the 30-year-old model of higher tuition and higher aid to help students afford the tuition increases has led to high debt among students. 

“Student debt is greater than credit card debt in this country,” he said. “We’re basically cheating this generation of students.”

Wiewel spoke after Rhoades about the university’s engagement with the city of Portland through programs such as the Cradle to Career initiative and the university’s dedication to providing access for diverse populations.

He said that the university attracts faculty who want to be engaged in the community and, despite an impending 17.7 percent cut in state funding, the university will continue to do this.  

“The demise of higher education in America has always been on the horizon,” Wiewel said, assuring the audience of students, administrators and faculty, that, despite these fears, higher education in this country continues to survive. PSU is currently looking into funding opportunities within the Portland community. 

Wiewel also discussed PSU’s graduation rate of 30 percent and plans to make sure that the university is graduating more students. 

“We have neglected investing in staff,” he said. “That’s why we hired 14 new advisers this fall.”

Griffith spoke about student perspectives on these issues, agreeing that PSU should focus on its role as an access university and be dedicated to serving a more diverse student body.

After the lectures, questions were asked about the recent hiring pause at PSU and whether new tenure track faculty will be hired. According Wiewel, most faculty hires planned before the pause will go through. He added that tenure track faculty members are important to PSU’s growth as a research institution. 

Much discussion centered on state funding and the possible restructuring of the Oregon University System. Oregon is currently one of the states spending the least per student for higher education but with the most state control over universities, according to Wiewel. The proposed restructuring would give universities more local control of their funding. 

“Students need to figure out what we can do with this [restructuring bill], because it’s going to happen,” Griffith said. ?