Andrew Golis

As of late, because of Larry and a whole host of important decisions coming up (the Curricular Review, Allston planning, etc.), many progressives have been calling for the “democratization” of Harvard. I’m trying to work through the issue because I’m not really sure what I think.

I think this OpEd from this morning’s Crimson does a good job of summarizing the major arguments for democratization. It makes four main points:

First, schools that practice, rather than simply espouse, participatory democracy do not assume that a few individuals make the decisions while the others in the school community study physics, teach classes, clean floors, or serve meals.[...]

On this point I would somewhat agree, in as much as those who want to be involved should be able to be at some level. However, for students at least, most probably like having an elected council to think about this stuff so they don’t have to. Teachers have the faculty council, and as I noted on Tuesday there are some clear problems with giving up major power to them. Workers, whether cleaning or making food, do need to be more involved. I’m not sure if that should be through unions or Harvard systems…

Second, rather than pluck promising students from troubled communities to propel them up the social ladder, democratic schools build long-term partnerships with communities near and far to together address their respective needs.[...]

While this seems like a great idea, I’m not sure it’s what a college is really supposed to do.

Third, schools committed to democracy more than prestige can accordingly devote their alumni networks to sustaining students’ nurturing relationships with communities as much as, if not more than, fundraising and social climbing.[...]

The problem here is that the very fact that Harvard spends its money on prestige is what gives the diploma value to its students. Focusing on altruistic ends would essentially be suicide unless it is a part of a massive shift in cultures in major American universities. If Harvard can lead it, I’m all for it.

Fourth, schools can democratize by popularizing more than professionalizing knowledge.

I’m not really sure what to make of this last bit. Thoughts?

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 17th, 2005 at 2:05 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.