ABSTRACT

Steal This University explores the paradox of academic labor. Universities do not exist to generate a profit from capital investment, yet contemporary universities are increasingly using corporations as their model for internal organization. While the media, politicians, business leaders and the general public all seem to share a remarkable consensus that higher education is indispensable to the future of nations and individuals alike, within academia bitter conflicts brew over the shape of tomorrow's universities. Contributors to the volume range from the star academic to the disgruntled adjunct and each bring a unique perspective to the discussion on the academy's over-reliance on adjuncts and teaching assistants, the debate over tenure and to the valiant efforts to organize unions and win rights.

chapter 1|18 pages

None of Your Business: The Rise of the

The Rise of the University of Phoenix and For-Profit Education—and Why It Will Fail Us All Ana Marie Cox

chapter 2|16 pages

Digital Diploma Mills

chapter 3|12 pages

Inefficient Efficiency: A Critique of Merit Pay

A Critique of Merit Pay Denise Marie Tanguay

chapter 4|20 pages

The Drain-O of Higher Education: Casual Labor and University Teaching

Casual Labor and University Teaching Benjamin Johnson

chapter |6 pages

SECTION TWO Laboring Within

chapter 5|10 pages

How I Became a Worker

chapter 7|16 pages

Blacklisted and Blue: On Theory and Practice at Yale

On Theory and Practice at Yale Corey Robin

chapter 8|16 pages

Tenure Denied: Union Busting and Anti-Intellectualism in the Corporate University

Union Busting and Anti-Intellectualism in the Corporate University Joel Westheimer

chapter |6 pages

SECTION THREE Organizing

chapter 9|26 pages

The Campaign for Union Rights at NYU

Lisa Jessup

chapter 10|18 pages

Democracy Is an Endless Organizing Drive: Learning from the Failure and Future of Graduate Student Organizing at the University of Minnesota

Learning from the Failure and Future of Graduate Student Organizing at the University of Minnesota Michael Brown, Ronda Copher, and Katy Gray Brown

chapter 11|18 pages

Moving River Barges: Labor Activism and Academic Organizations

Labor Activism and Academic Organizations Cary Nelson

chapter 13|10 pages

Renewing Academic Unions and Democracy at the Same Time: The Case of the California Faculty Association

The Case of the California Faculty Association Susan Meisenhelder (with Kevin Mattson)

chapter |10 pages

Notes

chapter |6 pages

Notes on Contributors and Editors