Beyond the Ivory Tower: Social Responsibilities of the Modern University

328 Pages·1982·17.66 MB·english

by  Derek Bok

Beyond the Ivory Tower

Derek Bok
BEYOND the
IVORY TOWER
Social Responsibilities
of the Modern University
Harvard University Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England
CopyrightC 1982bythePresident and FellowsofHarvardCollege
All rights reserved
Printedin the UnitedStatesofAmerica
This bookhasbeendigitallyreprinted. Thecontentremainsidentical
tothatofpreviousprintings.
LibraryofCongress CataloginginPublicationData
Bok, DerekCurtis.
Beyondthe ivorytower.
Includes index.
1. Education,Higher-UnitedStates-Aimsand
objectives. 2. Academicfreedom-United States.
I. Title.
LB2331.72.B64 378'.01 '0973 81-20278
ISBN0-674-06899-8(cloth) AACR2
ISBN0-674-06898-X(paper)
FOR MY MOTHER

Contents
Introduction 1
PARTI BASICACADEMICVALUES
1. Academic Freedom 17
2. Institutional Autonomy and the Demands
ofthe State 37
3.The Purposes ofthe University
and Its Responsibilities to Society 61
PART II ACADEMIC RESPONSESTOSOCIALPROBLEMS
4. Access to the University and the Problem
ofRacial Inequality 91
5. The Moral Development ofStudents 116
6. Academic Science and the Quest
for Technological Innovation 136
7. The Social Responsibilities ofResearch 169
8. Technical Assistance Abroad 195
PARTIII ADDRESSINGSOCIALPROBLEMS
BYNONACADEMIC MEANS
9. The University and the Local Community 217
10.Taking Political Positions 243
11.Accepting Gifts 266
12. Boycotts and Other Efforts to Avoid
Outside Relationships 280
Conclusion 299
Index 3//
Acknowledgments
MANY FRIENDS and colleagues have read and criticized different
portions ofthis book. Rather than single out the specific contri
butions made by each, let me simply express my appreciation for
the help I have received from Harvey Brooks, Clarke Byse, Mal
colm Gillis, Stanley Hoffmann, Robert Klitgaard, Helen Ladd,
Herman Leonard, Robert Leone, Oliver Oldman, Edwin O.
Reischauer, Michael Roemer, Walter Rosenblith, Henry Ro
sovsky, Daniel Steiner, Michael Walzer, Donald Warwick, and
Jerome Wiesner. I am also grateful to Frank Packer,Jay Rosen
gard, and Scott Tonneslan, who helped me find material on the
problems of academic science and technological innovation; to
Susan Davis, who performed a similar service on the subject of
technical assistance abroad; and especially to David Ogden, who
assisted me with the research on several chapters. To Hilary Bok,
Burton Dreben, Charles Fried, Gunnar and Alva Myrdal, and
Uoyd Weinreb, lowe a particular debt for undertaking to read
the entire manuscript.
I am likewise grateful to the publishers for permission to use
material from earlier versions ofChapters 2 and 5: "The Federal
Government and the University," The Public Interest, 58 (Winter
1980), copyright by National Affairs, Inc., and "Can Ethics Be
Taught?" Change, October 1976. Both have been substantially re
vised for this book.
I have also benefited beyond all reasonable expectation from
the loyal assistance ofmy officecolleagues, Florence Gaylin, Eliz
abeth Keul, Margaret Murphy, Coye Richards, Janet Sullivan,
and Elizabeth Woodward, who have given meextraordinarysup
port. Above all, I am grateful to my wife, Sissela, who has read
each chapter more than once and has given me greater help and
intellectual stimulation than I could possibly describe in words.
Beyond the Ivory Tower