Campus, Inc.: Corporate Power in the Ivory Tower. (Reviews).

Geoffrey D. White, ed. (Prometheus, 2000)

Campus, Inc.: Corporate Power in the Ivory Tower rings the bell loud and clear about the growing power of corporations on college and university campuses across America. From outsourcing campus services to corporate funding of faculty research, this collection of thirty essays offers many examples of the growing influence of big business in American higher education and of efforts to resist these forces. Though an imperfect book in many ways, Campus, Inc. is a timely contribution and a wake-up call to the threats facing institutions of higher learning.

The wide range of ways that corporations impact and are gaining increasing control over colleges and universities is apparent with a cursory reading of this book. Early chapters focus on the obvious and growing commercialization of campuses, especially sole source contracts for Nike shoes worn by collegiate athletes or Coke beverage exclusives, but also including credit card marketing and corporate endowed chairs. Increased outsourcing, ranging from bookstores (Barnes and Noble) and food services (Marriott). to custodial services, real estate, student loans, and investment management bring large corporations directly into colleges. Perhaps more insidious are the growing inter-locking connections as corporate leaders come to dominate boards of trustees and regents and university presidents serve on corporate boards. In addition, university endowments provide a huge source of capital for corporations and yet provide very little reinvestment into the campuses other than the growth in endowment size. A chapter I considered most effective was a description of the transformation of the University of Pennsylvania, illustrating all of these influences.

One of the scariest trends is corporate investment and control over university research. A particularly enlightening chapter details the passage and impact of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 that gave universities control over the patents and other research results, rather than keeping these in the public domain. Now universities team up with or sell the results to corporations to make up for declining state revenues. Combined with direct corporate funding of research, the emphasis has moved from basic or applied research in the public interest, to essentially putting faculty on corporate payrolls to conduct research to support corporate product development and justification.

Several case studies are, in my opinion, the strength of this book. The primary weakness was the lack of systematic research to support general observations and conclusions. Those of us familiar with higher education cannot doubt the trends described in this book, but usually one or two dramatic but anecdotal examples sufficed. The president of Princeton sits on the board of Dow Chemical; the CEO of Norwest is a University of New Mexico trustee. What percent of seats on the boards of the top 100 research universities do corporate leaders occupy? How many university presidents sit on corporate boards of corporations, especially those with whom their university has entered various partnerships? In one chapter the author says the Marriott corporation provides food services on 500 campuses; in another chapter the figure is 900; and not nearly enough nationwide statistics are used in this book. If folks on the Left are to be effective in their criticism of corporatization (a word found throughout this book but not in my dictionary or spellchecker), more systematic research documenting the extensive influence of corporations will significantly strengthen the argument.

A similar problem arises with examining the resulting impact of corporate influence. Several articles mention the growing number of "vocational" courses such as business and fewer humanities course offerings, but no data is provided. Here there is the additional problem of causality. Student preferences in fact may be the direct cause. This factor in turn is most probably influenced by the growing commercialization and corporate influence in our society. Another weakness of Campus, Inc. is not providing the larger societal context in which to examine changes in higher education. Aren't there larities between the dramatic changes in health care and higher education, as well as other areas of public service, i.e., privatization, outsourcing, growing for-profit involvement, introduction of market forces, etc.? Other impacts mentioned in the book but not described in detail or documented are growing class size, less research in the public interest, and increased use of casual labor. Finally, a couple of related a nd important trends not found in this book that also deserve research and attention are the growing number of for-profit entities offering undergraduate and graduate level education and increased financial aid to middle and upper income students (e.g., Hope scholarships, tax deductions for college tuition) but not the poorest students.

Many of the chapters, especially in the second half of Campus, Inc. provide good examples of efforts to fight back, especially by students. Unfortunately faculty resistance in most of the examples is minimal. Several successful cases of anti-sweatshop organizing and efforts to influence university investments (Free Burma) belie the stereotype of totally apathetic students. One of the most poignant organizing tales was reversing the outsourcing of custodial services at small Southampton College on Long Island. Several chapters are in effect mini-manuals on how to organize (research, educate, media, rally, sit-in, protest, reflect) and how to build coalitions and seek allies, especially among unions, on and off-campus, and neighboring communities. The book also lists the e-mail addresses for a few nation-wide organizing campaigns.

Campus, Inc. makes an important contribution to the growing literature on higher education. More systematic research and documentation on growing corporate influences and the resulting impact on student education and the role of universities in our society are very much needed to reach a wider audience and make a persuasive case for reversal. It's sad that many concerned people appear left to react to the growing conservative agenda rather than determining future directions ourselves. This book provides the committed with examples of success and how to resist current trends.

DAVID ENTIN is a contributor from Holyoke Community College.