The hollow university: Disaster capitalism befalls American higher education

Abstract

Over the last 40 years, American institutions of higher education have been encouraged to align with the private sector by policymakers, think tank experts and businessmen in order to become more efficient and more accountable. In a wider sense, this new partnership may be evidence of what has been termed 'disaster capitalism.' In disaster capitalism, crises are treated as economic opportunities. Governing bodies become 'hollow states' which serve only to regulate contracts and provide further opportunities to entrepreneurs. The supposed crisis of accountability in American higher education may be such an opportunity. This paper argues for the emergence of the 'hollow university' in American higher education. In the hollow university, state legislatures, think tank experts, leaders from the private sector and higher education administrators help to create a climate where institutions are more amendable to private sector partnerships. In order to determine this, I examine the desired inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes of four performance-based funding policies in the United States and demonstrate how the wording of these policies allow for and encourage private sector partnerships, specifically with emerging data companies such as Civitas Learning. Implications for the public mission of universities are discussed.