A must read! Neoliberalism and Academic Repression dismantles and exposes, piece by piece, the state’s attempt to not only stifle but to drag universities and education into intellectual darkness. It exposes brilliantly the various manifestations of the neoliberal corporate structures that have insinuated themselves into the lives of teachers and students to such an extent that disciplines and faculties are either closed or re-branded to situate the developing learner as a consumer at the funfair of corporate education. Any attempts, as this book shows, to engage the learner in a deeper, critical analysis of the world around them is shut down, derided, or viewed with suspicion by the system, sometimes with significant consequences.
CAROLYN DREW, Executive Director, Institute for Critical Animal Studies
This is an important book. It provides a theoretical analysis of an ongoing process that is transforming universities into mass robot production factories. Intellectual curiosity and critique are, for the most part, no longer the primary goals of higher education. They have been replaced by the goal of employability for corporate profit.
Dr. JOHN C. ALESSIO, Professor Emeritus, Minnesota State University, Mankato
These contributions collectively address crucial issues of our time that are deeply entwined with higher education, democracy, and the potential for enacting social change at this current juncture of history. The pieces speak to the ways in which the work of academics is organized by neoliberal political/economic factors, just as the very systems that have the potential to mitigate oppressive forces—the systems that enable the capacity to provide a critical educational environment for students—are undermined. This compilation truly speaks truth to power in ways that must be articulated, as it provides us with more of the tools that we desperately need to both think through these complex dynamics and to engage in actions to create a better, more equitable, and thoughtful world.
Dr. LAUREN E. EASTWOOD, SUNY College at Plattsburgh
Dr. CHANDRA WARD, University of Tennessee Chattanooga
The emergence of Neoliberalism and Academic Repression: The Fall of Academic Freedom in the Age of Trump is timely in the current socio-political climate in which we are living. With the undermining of public academic institutions, the attack on scientific thought and facts, and the subsequent erosion of intellectualism, this book provides the reader with multiple critical frameworks by which to think about this historical moment and injects much needed discourse to combat the suppression our society is facing.
This collection focuses our attention on some of the most important questions regarding the current state of public higher education. In many ways, the questions posed in this work have applicability beyond higher education as neoliberal policies undermine many of the public programs, institutions, and regulations built up in the last century to bring about greater equality, rights, and protections in society. For this reason, this collection should be read.
Dr. JOHN BARANSKI, El Camino College
This important book touches on the importance of stopping the current administration’s executive power over the thoughts of our youth and society. This is a must read because we as a society must pay attention to the past sins and failures or we will be destined to repeat them.
ALISHA PAGE, National Coordinator, Save the Kids
In Neoliberalism and Academic Repression, Erik Juergensmeyer, Anthony J. Nocella II, and Mark Seis remind us how difficult it is to see the operation of repressive processes and practices and how important it is to make them visible. This stimulating collection does just that by exploring the bureaucratization and exploitation of higher education, the alienation this breeds, and the alarming implications.
Dr. RUTH KINNA, Loughborough University
In a world of competing and contending social realities, this volume challenges the perpetuation of racism, classism, and sexism implicit in the standards used to assess learning. It does so while recognizing the value of what we learn from the varied experience and knowledge of our students.
Dr. HAL PEPINSKY, Professor Emeritus, Indiana University
Neoliberalism and Academic Repression is a much-needed reference that examines the many nuances of the subject thoroughly and holistically.
ISABELLA LA ROCCA, Centre College