Gone for Good: Tales of University Life after the Golden Age

by Stuart Rojstaczer

Amid the clamorous debates on political correctness, the Western canon, and alcohol abuse on campus, many observers have failed to notice the most radical change in the American the Golden Age of massive government funding is gone. And, as Stuart Rojstaczer points out in this incisive look at higher education, the consequences are affecting virtually every aspect of university life.
Laced with humorous and insightful anecdotes, Gone for Good is a highly personal tour of the university system as it has evolved from the glory days of phenomenal post-WWII growth to the financial stresses that now beset it. Stuart Rojstaczer, professor of Hydrology at Duke, shows how almost unlimited funding during the Cold War years encouraged universities to become unwieldy behemoths--with ever-enlarging faculties and administrative staffs, an explosion of new buildings that are proving costly to maintain, and a parade of programs designed largely to impress other universities. Rojstaczer asserts that despite the scarcity of new funding sources, universities continue to strive for unlimited growth--with disastrous skyrocketing tuition (well over $20,000 per year at top tier schools); desperate attempts to increase enrollments (lower standards, inflated grades, and new majors in some rather implausible areas of study); and increasing pressure on faculty who already spend
more time researching than teaching to raise more money through research grants. The time has come, Rojstaczer argues, to abandon an outmoded idea of growth and create a leaner university system more beneficial to both students and society.
For parents, students, and anyone interested higher education, Gone for Good offers a vivid account of the crossroads where universities now stand--and a compelling argument about which path they should take.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Stuart Rojstaczer is an American writer, scientist and musician. Raised in Milwaukee, he received degrees from the University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois and Stanford University. He is a former Duke University geophysics professor, and has lived in Israel, Italy and throughout the United States. His parents were Polish-Jewish, post-WWII immigrants. He has written about education for the New York Times and the Washington Post, and has written research articles in hydrology, ecology, geophysics and geology for Science, Nature and many other scientific journals. His academic memoir, Gone for Good (OUP, 1999), was widely praised. His novel, The Mathematician's Shiva (Penguin, 2014), was an American Booksellers Association bestseller. He received the National Jewish Book Award for Outstanding Debut Fiction (2014) and has been a National Science Foundation Young Investigator. He has lectured at universities worldwide and appeared on CNN, ESPN, NPR and, briefly, in the Academy Award-nominated movie Moneyball. His work has been cited in Supreme Court briefs and congressional laws, and has been used to champion the launch of NASA environmental satellites. He lives with his wife in northern California.

Reviews

[Filip Dul · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s funny to see reviews from fourteen years ago calling this book dated, and yet here I am in 2025 saying “well sure, it’s dated, but also…”.

Rojstaczer gets a lot right. He stated what was going to _have_ to happen to academia for it to remain viable as an industry. The only issue is that those things haven’t happened. Indeed, some of his more grim predictions have come true: e.g. that many state universities have become luxurious and accessible by and large to the upper middle class.

Research is still the be-all-end-all for the vast majority of faculty, and teaching seems to have gotten even worse. I guess my point is that it’s not too late to start taking what’s in this book (and Rojstaczer is not the only one who made this diagnosis) seriously, even thought it was written in 1999. And late would certainly be better than never.

[Kerry Pickens · Rating 4 out of 5]

I work at a large university so I was interested in the author's perspective. Mostly it is a tale of how academics have declined because of pressure to produce research and pass students without making them do too much work. It is a bit dated now though because college admissions have gotten so competitive. The problem to me lies more with lack of funding for the public school system, and many kids are warehoused rather than educated before they even get to college. They are not taught to study linear texts, which is most of the outdated teaching methods that are used on college campuses. The colleges don't want to change their methodology, but the kids learning styles have changed dramatically over time due to the computer industry and the amount of time they spend on electronics. I will get off my soapbox now.

[Darin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rojstaczer's overview of the modern college life is a bit dated, but rings true. Of course, the view available to him used to be available to only the smallest number of elite academics, but that's his whole point. The "glamorous" world of education is no more, and what is left is a mess of politics, a glut of graduate students avoiding the weak labor market and the ever-shrinking job pool, and the role of "professor" taking third-fiddle to a mass of research and administrative expectations. Very much worth a read to those entering undergraduate education in order to become a professor...you may change your mind.

[Stephen Canham · Rating 2 out of 5]

All I can say is I certainly hope everything this guy says is wrong. Otherwise a life in academia is going to be miserable.