Gone for Good: Tales of University Life After the Golden Age

by Stuart Rojstaczer

Book Overview

Amid the clamorous debates on political correctness, the Western canon, and alcohol abuse on campus, many observers have failed to notice the most radical change in the American University: the Golden Age of massive government funding is gone. And, as Stuart Rojstaczer points out in this incisive look at higher education, the consequences are affecting virtually every aspect of university life.
Laced with humorous and insightful anecdotes, Gone...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195126823
• ISBN13: 9780195126822
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.2" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

the continuing failure of our major universities

this is written by a student who went to university and grad school in the golden age. my time (cornell '51) was just after WW II when much of the student body was made of vets, who drove much of the feelings about university life for all the rest of us who were there. my grad school (u. of rochester '57)was as a vet myself who had the goal of preparing to enter the real world. at both times i learned lessons that have stood me in good stead for the rest of my life, along with those i had learned in the military. the book 'gone for good' tells me what happened from the years of my studies to the time, 1999, the book was published. it ain't a pretty sight, especially because duke and cornell are so much alike. in this present day, almost 2009, we find the universities, who had changed from the task of training future citizens to becoming adjuncts of the financial world, suffering the ills they did not see whan they made that change. business has suddenly been turned on its ear and these nontaxpaying institutions find themselves endlessly calling their alumni to help bail them out while at the same time attempting to increase their tuition and fees for a population that is suffering far more from the financial collapse and depression than the universities. they are beginning to know how this affects them also. here we have institutions who though they have lost little in their endowment funds perceive the present day value as being a calamity. but except those who had invested in the collapsed mortgage market or have been hit by the large madoff ponzi scheme, they have lost only perceived value, which will eventually return over time as our finances slowly get better and we recover from this depression. the universities, for all the expertise within their walls, have found they are no better than the financial mavens of wall street in protecting themselves against crooks, many of whom sit on their board of directors (i know at least one at cornell). the universities, leaving their prime purpose behind, have turned instead to become big businesses and now know they are not insulated from either the vagaries of the market or the thieves therein. it has been difficult to watch this all happen and stuart rojstaczer explains the result in easy to read and entertaining fashion, entertaining if one does not know what life was like during the golden age. for anyone with children now going to university or with those who will attend in future, it is a course in what their children will face and for what they will pay outrageous amounts of money for the privilege. there is hope that schools will learn there is a time to use the endowments for the benefit of the students and that deficit spending is at times needed, just as our government is now beginning to understand. other reviews listed tell one about the book. here is a review that i hope will tell you what it means and has meant.

Perceptive insights into American research universities

This is an incisive, readable assessment of the present American research university. Gone (and probably for good) is the growth of federal funding to universities beginning shortly after WWII, spurred by Sputnik in 1957, and continuing almost unabated until the end of the cold war. Although the benefits of this funding are undeniable, the inevitable shift of priorities has had an impact -- not entirely positive -- on almost every aspect of American universities. Those in academia will find this familiar territory. Others, e.g., tuition-paying parents or aspiring academics, will find many aspects of university life described with clarity, wit, and candor: faculty hiring and tenuring, the scramble for external funds, the influence of sports programs, research and graduate education, to name just a few. Chapters on grade inflation (no, the students aren't getting smarter) and on why women are underrepresented in faculty ranks (no, it's not just a "pipeline" problem) are especially perceptive. Rojstaczer, an environmental geologist at Duke, begins each chapter with a personal anecdote or reflection, adding interest and credibility. The book is without rancor; the academic system has worked well for the author, and much about American universities is admirable. In the chapter "Why Research?" the author emphasizes he loves it, has been successful at it, and is a better teacher because of it. But he is critical of the pressure to publish every bit of minutia or to publish work quickly even before the work is complete. The chapter "Getting Tenure" contains excellent advice for the untenured, and closes with this revealing comment: "...the book you are reading would never have been written by the author if he didn't have tenure." But his success within the system has not clouded his vision to those current priorities at odds with education and learning, and some of which are a direct result of the golden age of federal funding. "Gone for Good" should be of interest to anyone with a stake in higher education.

well worth reading...

I'm just beginning my PhD in molecular biology, and a friend gave me this book for xmas, knowing my intent to eventually become a professor. It was an eye-opening, fresh perspective of life in academia. It isn't always pretty, but it is a frank and honest account. How do you balance your personal expectations for college students' performance in class with the reality that many of them turn away from the more rigorous and demanding courses? How do you survive college politics? By answering these questions, and others, the author provides helpful information for current and prospective academicians.

good "saturday afternoon read"

normally nobody would read a book about university life written by a young recently tenured professor of hydrology on a beautiful saturday afternoon as i did. but this book is different.given that you are interested in academic life in US, once you start reading this book, its difficult to put it down soon. excellent first hand account of the inside stories of universities in US. a must read for anyone hoping to get tenure or aspiring to be a professor himself !!!! good show professor !!!