Zoom

Our Contentious Universities: A Personal History

Name: Our Contentious Universities: A Personal History
Brand: American Philosophical Society Press
SKU: 9781606180075
Price: 28.99 USD
Availability: InStock

$28.99 $34.95

Discount: $5.96 (18%)

Hurry Up! Only 9 Left in Stock!

Out of stock >

Guarantee safe & Secure checkout

Availability: Only few left!

Contributors:

Neil L. Rudenstine

Publisher:

American Philosophical Society Press

Binding:

Hardcover

Book Category:

Education, History

Book Subcategory:

Administration, United States

Book Topic:

Higher, 20th Century, 21st Century

Series:

Transactions of the American Philosophical Society

Shipping & Return +

The product is eligible for a complimentary return within 30 days from the date of purchase. Furthermore, individual items are shipped within 24 hours of receiving the order.

Rating and Reviews +

Specifications +

Release Date:

03/04/25

ISBN 13:

9781606180075

Weight:

1.25 lbs

Size:

9.10 x 6.00 x 1.20 inches

Pages:

312

Mint Condition +

product description

Description

How universities have become increasingly contentious since the Sixties, from the viewpoint of a former Princeton provost and Harvard president

From his days at Princeton University as a member of the faculty, dean, and provost, and his time as a faculty member and president at Harvard University, Neil L. Rudenstine has been uniquely positioned to observe the changes that have occurred in higher education over the past few decades. In this book, he draws on his various roles to present an educator's inside account of the modern university. More than that, Our Contentious Universities is a personal history of how our current campus climate of antagonism evolved, beginning with the late 1960s and up to our contemporary moment.

Starting with his perceptions of the anti-Vietnam War events at Columbia, Princeton, and Berkeley, as well as descriptions of what occurred at Harvard, Michigan, and other institutions, Rudenstine identifies a pattern that was characterized by students protesting against institutions because of purported university support for the Vietnam War. Not surprisingly, once the Vietnam War ended, the protests ceased. In contrast, Rudenstine reveals how contemporary campus conflicts essentially differ in nature from the Sixties protests. Since the issues that spark these present protests--such as climate change, conservative judicial opinions, lack of gun control legislation, the Hamas-Israeli war--are clearly not readily soluble problems, there can be no easily defined end to the action. Rudenstine also depicts how universities themselves have changed substantially over the past few decades. The institutions have not only evolved into a collection of decentralized quasi-autonomous departments in competition with other centers and initiatives for resources but also nurtured a highly diverse population of faculty and students with a variety of backgrounds and perspectives already at odds before they even encounter each other on campus.

Combining an analysis of how universities transformed with an examination of how protests changed, the book argues that, opposed to the external causes of student protest in the Sixties, it is actually the internal sources of division and conflict that now characterize our universities that are at the root of their contentious campus environments.

About the Author
Neil L. Rudenstine graduated from Princeton University (1956), was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, earned his PhD in English Literature at Harvard, and remained on Harvard's faculty until 1968. After two decades as Professor, Dean, and Provost at Princeton, he was President of Harvard University from 1991 to 2001. He was a trustee of the Barnes Foundation and was chair of the boards of ARTstor, the New York Public Library, the Rockefeller Archive Center, as well as vice-chair of the board of the J. Paul Getty Trust. His several books include Sidney's Poetic Development; English Poetic Satire (with G.S. Rousseau); In Pursuit of the PhD (with W. G. Bowen); and Pointing Our Thoughts. He lives in Massachusetts.

Our Contentious Universities: A Personal History

Description

Recently Viewed Products

Recently viewed products

Secure Payment

Online Offers

Quick Refunds

Curated Items