Schapira offers a discursive, historical and philosophical analysis of higher education crises, analyzing primary documents such as the Port Huron Statement (1962). Universities have been the sites of student protests since 1229 at the University of Paris. Malcontent students and professors, meddling politicians, and neoliberal, efficiency-minded bureaucrats continue to kindle battles at revered institutions. The primary focus is on US settings, but Schapira also covers global conflicts, including Britain’s New Public Management scheme, which envisions universities as subject to a managed economy approach. Schapira draws on analyses by Jacques Derrida and especially Emmanuel Kant, who posited a normative ideal of the university philosophy faculty as enlightened governance “that takes upon itself the role of managing ... sources of perpetual conflict.” Schapira discusses the late-19th-century German model of governance, incorporating Wissenschaft and Bildung. He identifies the conflicts within universities' missions to be "humanistic enclaves," centers for civic and vocational training, and knowledge factories. Is there a university of excellence, as the subtitle suggests? A challenging examination of a foundational pillar of society. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.
