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

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 University: 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 results: 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.

Table of Contents:
1: Introduction why no one seems to know, even my mother, what I do at work: Section One: Undergraduate Life 2: Lowering the Bar why we have such low intellectual expectations for students even though they could easily do more: 3: The Prestige Business what services the university provides students and why we charge so much for tuition: 4: Shortening the Yellow Brick Road why we have made college easier, yet no one seems to mind or care: 5: The Sports Machine how universities entertain their students and alumni and why and how we've crossed the line of good judgment: Section Two: Research and Graduate Education 6: Heart & Soul why graduate students are often more important than professors: 7: Grants or Goodbye why we spend so much time writing grant proposals: 8: Why Research? what professors do when they don't teach and why they do it: Section Three: Campus Politics 9: Matchmaking how we hire and why we move to other universities: 10: The End of the Golden Age why the era of exponential growth has ended and why it's a good thing that it's over: 11: Shaking the Tree why universities are increasingly turning to alumni, foundations and corporations, and what they will and will not do in exchange for money: 12: You've Got to Believe why we blindly follow the latest trends in academic fashion even though it makes us look ridiculous: 13: The Fifty Percent Solution why there are so few female professors, and why there aren't likely to be more in the foreseeable future: 14: Making Adjustments how to adapt to the life of a professor without getting too crazy: 15: Getting Tenure what it takes to get tenure, why standards have risen, and why they will continue to rise: 16: Rolling the Dice why the American university is still valuable even though it looks to be in such a mess:

About the Author :
Stuart Rojstaczer is Associate Professor of Geology, Environment and Engineering, and Director, Center for Hydrologic Science at Duke University. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Review :
"Donald Kennedy and Henry Rosovsky have recently given us views of the modern university as seen from the top down. Rojstaczer tells us what it looks like from the inside out. His description is usually entertaining, occasionally depressing, and always deadly accurate. If you care at all about academic life in America, you'll have trouble putting this book down."--David Goodstein, Vice Provost, Cal Tech University "All parents of prospective applicants to selective universities would benefit from reading this book; for that matter so would the applicants and the faculty who may teach them. Stuart writes quite well, especially compared against most academicians today. You will enjoy the book, and you might even learn a thing a thing or two."--Malcom Gillis, President of Rice University "Rojstaczer's is not a pretty picture, but Gone for Good is an important book that suggests that the halls of ivy are not as green and fresh as one might hope."--Booklist "A serious, although informal, introduction to the realities of the university world today."--Kirkus Reviews