Coercion, possibility, or context? Questioning the role of private foundations in American higher education

Bibliographic Data

ID2933570
AuthorsNana Osei-Kofi (0000-0001-5169-5701, Iowa State University, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume31
Issue1
Pages17-28
Publication date2010-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDiscourse Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0159-6306 • E-ISSN: 1469-3739
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01596300903465393
OpenAlexW2066698143
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited23

As an academic, I grapple with the role of private foundations in higher education; on the one hand, as a critical scholar-activist committed to radical social and economic change, and on the other hand, as a participant in foundation-funded academic projects. I recognize the contradictory position I occupy within an institution that has historically served the status quo. In this paper I attempt to deal with the question of whether foundation funds, historically made possible by our unjust social system, have the capacity to contribute to the systemic social and economic changes I – alongside like-minded colleagues – strive to realize. Specifically, I look at the role of foundations in American higher education for the purpose of agitating hegemonic ideas and challenging us to ask difficult questions about our day-to-day practices. Keywords: philanthropyuniversitiesscholar-activistssocial changehistory Notes 1. Throughout this essay I use of the terms private foundations, philanthropic foundations and philanthropy interchangeably. 2. The 1914 Ludlow Massacre was the culmination of a strike in a Rockefeller-owned Colorado coal, where the militia, sent in by the State Governor and Rockefeller, killed 25 people including 12 children (see Zinn, Citation1999). 3. See, for example, Richardson and Fisher (Citation1999). 4. I recognize the inadequacy of the term 'political left' as well as 'the left', for the purposes of this discussion I use these terms to signify a wide range of political positions that fall left-of-centre

Hegemony · Institution · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Status quo · Academic Freedom and Politics · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · Law · Public Administration · University Challenges and Reforms