Crisis in the Academy Rethinking Higher Education in America

Not since student turmoil and unrest wreaked havoc on the nation's campuses three decades ago has American higher education been the subject of so much controversy and popular criticism. Countless indictments compete for the public's attention as critics explore vital issues confronting today's institutions of higher learning: curricular fragmentation, declining academic standards, the apparent erosion of liberal learning within academe, widespread neglect of undergraduate education in favour of academic research and unprecedented financial woes. Confusion over fundamental priorities and purposes, the author argues, lies at the heart of the dilemma facing end-of-the-century higher education. Thoughtful and timely, Crisis in the Academy offers a wide-ranging analysis of contemporary higher education while making an important contribution to the ongoing public debate over the future of America's beleaguered and diverse institutions of higher learning.

PART 1: AMERICAN ACADEMY: AN OVERVIEW Patterns in the Mosaic Classifying Types of Institutions Explosive Growth Demographic Shift The American Professoriate Multiple Academic Worlds Enduring Questions PART 2: MISSIONS AND GOALS: WHAT ARE COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES FOR? Aims and Purposes Community Colleges Four-year Colleges Origins of the American University Structural Elements and Goals Regulative University Ideals Reconciling Objectives and Functions PART 3: ENTRANCE STANDARDS: WHO SHALL BE ADMITTED? Inclusion and Exclusion: The Perennial Tension Open Admissions: The Egalitarian View Restrictive Admissions: The Meritocratic View Selective Admissions Reconsidered Affirmative Action and its Critics: An Alternative Future Prospects PART 4: THE CURRICULUM: WHAT SHALL BE TAUGHT? Liberal Learning and General Education: Roots of Crisis Restoring Curricular Integration Great Books: The Idea of a Curricular Canon General and Common Learning: The 'Disaster' Reframing the Core Curriculum Basic Issues Reconsidered: The Contemporary Context Proposals for a Reform Agenda PART 5: ACADEMIC PRIORITIES AND THE PROFESSORIATE: WHO SHALL TEACH? Reforming Academic Culture Abolishing Faculty Tenure An Alternative Scholarship at Gunpoint Challenging the Faculty Reward System Scholarship Reconsidered Shifting Priorities and New Imperatives PART 6: ACADEMIC ACCOUNTABILITY: WHAT IS TO BE DONE? An Erosion of Public Confidence The Accountability Imperative Rational Strategic Planning Faculty Governance and Academic Freedom Coherence in the Curriculum Instructional Innovation External Accreditation Academic Standards Revisited Teacher Preparation Faculty Performance Auditing Assessment and Social Responsibility PART 7: A CONCLUDING POSTSCRIPT Notes Bibliography Index

Christopher J. Lucas is Professor of Higher Education and Educational Statistics and Research Methods in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas, USA.