As the Occupy Wall Street anniversary nears, energy is resurging once again, especially in New York—and among academics. The Chronicle of Higher Education published this article yesterday on scholars’ involvement with the Occupy movement. Professors are jumping on the OWS bandwagon, putting together a letter to gain support by way of signatures, organizing events for the upcoming weekend, and spreading the word among their students.
Professors say they are frustrated not only with corporate heads of America, but also their own version of top-tier elitism with what they call “the adjunctification and corporatization of higher education.” The story in universities sounds one-sided enough when professors like the one from the New School tell students, “If you don’t get angry, how can there be change?” Yet, The Chronicle article itself does not offer any counter-example of scholars who do not support the Occupy movement. Surely not all academics have been pulled under the sway of the protesting cohort. Maybe professors not in favor of the movement were not consulted because they did not raise their voices loud enough, and the complainers, by default, garnered the attention for themselves.
Image of Princeton professor Cornel West: the Atlantic Wire
