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6 - The Multiversity

from Part II - A History of the Future

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2023

Nicholas B. Dirks
Affiliation:
New York Academy of Sciences
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Summary

Clark Kerr, President of the University of California, famously coined the term the “multiversity” to capture the expansion of universities in mid twentieth-century America to the point that they contained multiple and often competing (and indeed conflicting) goals, interests, and trajectories. While Kerr waxed eloquent about the value of the multiversity, he worried about the loss of community and purpose he associated with the smaller undergraduate college – especially in relation to undergraduate education. In particular, he worried that incentive structures for faculty led them to focus on narrow research as well as their own entrepreneurial opportunities outside the university, while they became more detached from undergraduate teaching on the one side, and more resistant to administrative leadership and guidance on the other. I follow up on the tensions between administrators and faculty and the ways in which disciplinary structures impede both intellectual openness and institutional experimentation.

Type
Chapter
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City of Intellect
The Uses and Abuses of the University
, pp. 253 - 277
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • The Multiversity
  • Nicholas B. Dirks, New York Academy of Sciences
  • Book: City of Intellect
  • Online publication: 27 October 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009394437.010
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  • The Multiversity
  • Nicholas B. Dirks, New York Academy of Sciences
  • Book: City of Intellect
  • Online publication: 27 October 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009394437.010
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Multiversity
  • Nicholas B. Dirks, New York Academy of Sciences
  • Book: City of Intellect
  • Online publication: 27 October 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009394437.010
Available formats
×