The Value of Higher Education
MN AAUP 2011 Fall Forum
Nov. 2, 6:00 pm, Hamline University, Giddens Learning Center 100E

Your department is shrinking.  Your program is being downsized.  You are continually asked to do more with less, and your students are made to pay more for less.  You aim to teach but you are told to produce learning outcomes instead.  You study fundamental questions and you are asked what profit that will yield.  Is this what you got a degree for?  Is this why you labor in the fields of academe?

Under the cover of financial crisis, education from K-12 to the doctoral level is being restructured in market terms. This framework dictates more, cheaper, and faster delivery of products – measured by enrollment figures, graduation rates, numbers of degrees produced, etc. – reducing our students and ourselves to fungible units of revenue and expense. As resources are reallocated according to this logic the real value of education, research, and scholarship is elided.

The MN AAUP is hosting a panel discussion about the value and valuing of higher education. The panel brings together speakers representing private and public institutions, faculty and administration, and the legislature as well. Please join us and participate in the discussion! No cost; light refreshments provided. Contact MN AAUP Past President Karen Vogel (kvogel@gw.hamline.edu) to RSVP by October 28th. Space is limited – reserve your seat today.

Event Details

Panelists:
State Representative Terry Morrow (DFL-23A)
Dr. Richard Davenport (President – Minnesota State University Mankato)
Professor William Beeman (Anthropology - University of Minnesota)
Professor Ananya Chatterjea (Theater Arts and Dance - University of Minnesota)
Professor Michael Livingston (Psychology - St. John’s University).

Moderator:
Professor Eva von Dassow (Classical and Near Eastern Studies - University of Minnesota)

Time and Location:
Wednesday, November 2, 2011. Reception at 6:00 pm; panel discussion from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. Hamline University, Giddens Learning Center, Room 100E. See: http://www.hamline.edu/about/virtual-tour/

The AAUP, founded in 1915, seeks to advance academic freedom and shared governance, define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education, and ensure higher education's contribution to the common good.