The University Against Itself: The NYU Strike and the Future of the Academic Workplace

by Monika Krause (editor), Mary Nolan (Editor), Michael Palm (Editor)

During the last two decades, many U.S. universities have restructured themselves to operate more like corporations. Nowhere has this process been more dramatic than at New York University, which has often been touted as an exemplar of the "corporate university." Over the same period, an academic labor movement has arisen in response to this corporatization. Using the unprecedented 2005 strike by the graduate student union at NYU as a springboard, The University Against Itself provides a brief history of labor organizing on American campuses, analyzes the state of academic labor today, and speculates about how the university workplace may evolve for employees.

All of the contributors were either participants in the NYU strike-graduate students, faculty, and organizers-or are nationally-recognized writers on academic labor. They are deeply troubled by the ramifications of corporatizing universities. Here they spell out their concerns, offering lessons from one historic strike as well as cautions about the future of all universities.

Contributors include: Stanley Aronowitz, Barbara Bowen, Andrew Cornell, Ashley Dawson, Stephen Duncombe, Steve Fletcher, Greg Grandin, Adam Green, Kitty Krupat, Gordon Lafer, Micki McGee, Sarah Nash, Cary Nelson Matthew Osypowski, Ed Ott, Ellen Schrecker, Susan Valentine, and the editors.

280 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Zachary McDargh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot recommend this book highly enough to anyone who expects to spend a significant amount of their career in academia. Especially Part 1, which is an excellent profile and analysis of how universities have become increasingly dominated by finance and corporate organizational principles since the 1970s. It's amazing how well universities work as a miniature representation of our society as a whole.