The Illiberal College
Elite academia doesn’t like oversight.Sunday, September 2, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT

One of the more momentous cases in Supreme Court history, Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819), involved an attempt by the state of New Hampshire to wrest control of the privately chartered school from its board of trustees. But a corporate charter like Dartmouth’s, the Marshall Court ruled, is the same as a private contract; the state could not simply annex the school.
The sanctity of contract has preserved the independence of not a few colleges and universities. But institutions of higher learning now shy from the same oversight their faculties have demanded of the corporate world, and some of the lessons learned in that 1819 case are being unlearned. [snip]

The candidates for elected trusteeships have traditionally been vetted by a small committee, ensuring quiescence. Over the last four years, however, no fewer than four reform-minded candidates won seats on the board using a provision allowing nomination by petition. They include Silicon Valley CEO T.J. Rodgers and Virginia law professor Stephen Smith, who have raised the profile of such issues as academic standards, bureaucratic bloat and free speech.

Their presence has proven to be a tremendous offense to Dartmouth’s inner circles. Like administrators at most universities, these academic elites expect only money–not opinion and oversight–from their alumni donors. A year ago, the administration worked with a small committee of alumni to alter the petition process to make it less likely that outsiders could win. They lost in a rout in an alumni referendum. [snip]

Should the board decide to vitiate Dartmouth’s own experiment in democracy, it…will be one more sign of a widening crevice between the real world and life on the nation’s campuses.

The endowments of the 25 wealthiest institutions of higher learning total $178 billion, and a college education is one of the largest investments a person will ever make (in tuition and donations as an alumnus). It isn’t a surprise that alumni stakeholders have begun to show interest and exert influence. The only surprise is the lengths to which academic elites will go in order to keep out the light of day.

The pointy-heads feel they are exempt from any of the strictures controlling mortal individuals.

With the sniffing pomposity of a cart pushing baglady, they’re offended when the secular see them for what they are, not as they see themselves. Comeuppances discombobulate the nobility when the serfs divulge they’re sans culottes.

Having the faculty’s caskets open when the sunlight of outside governance streams into council chambers produces the ambiance of a Vermont outhouse seat in February.

If only they freeze it off!

Archived in: Education, Free Speech, New Hampshire, Supreme Court, Vermont