The University in Ruins

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by Bill Readings

Harvard University Press

Due/Published October 1997, 256 pages, paper

ISBN 0674929539

Readings traces the roots of the modern American university in German philosophy and in the work of British thinkers like Newman and Arnold to argue that historically the integrity of the modern university has been linked to the nation-state, which it has served by promoting and protecting the idea of a national culture. With the nation state in decline and national culture no longer needing to be either promoted or protected, universities are increasingly turning into transnational corporations, and the idea of culture is being replaced by the discourse of "excellence." Readings then warns that, before embracing this vision too quickly, we should realize that the new University of Excellence is a corporation driven by market forces, and, as such, is driven by profit margin more than by thought. He urges us to imagine how to think without concession to corporate excellence.