An Embarrassing Portrait of a State Flagship University

In this week's Pope Center Clarion Call, I review the new book Paying for the Party by Elizabeth Armstrong and Laura Hamilton. Putting aside the egalitarian blather about the supposed "class reproducing" effects of higher education, this is a terrific book. It exposes the waste and folly that dominates on the campus where the authors did a longitudinal study of some 50 young women. By the way, the authors don't say which university it is, merely saying that it's a flagship in the Midwest, but from evidence in the book, there is no doubt that it's Indiana University.