Searching for Utopia: universities and their histories

133 Pages·2012·0.587 MB·English

by  Gray, Hanna Holborn

Searching for Utopia
Universities and Their Histories
Hanna Holborn Gray
university of california press
Berkeley Los Angeles London
center for studies in higher education
Berkeley

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support
of the Atkinson Family Imprint in Higher Education of
the University of California Press Foundation, which was
established by a major gift from the Atkinson Family Foundation.
Searching for Utopia
the clark kerr lectures on
the role of higher education
in society
1. The American Research University from World War II to World Wide Web:
Governments, the Private Sector, and the Emerging Meta-University, by
Charles M. Vest
2. Searching for Utopia: Universities and Their Histories, by
Hanna Holborn Gray
3. Higher Education: The Play of Continuity and Crisis, by Neil J. Smelser
Searching for Utopia
Universities and Their Histories
Hanna Holborn Gray
university of california press
Berkeley Los Angeles London
center for studies in higher education
Berkeley
The Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley,
is a multidisciplinary research and policy center on higher education oriented to
California, the nation, and comparative international issues. CSHE promotes discussion
among university leaders, government offi cials, and academics; assists policy making by
providing a neutral forum for airing contentious issues; and keeps the higher education
world informed of new initiatives and proposals. The Center’s research aims to inform
current debate about higher education policy and practice.
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For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2012 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gray, Hanna Holborn.
Searching for Utopia : universities and their histories / Hanna Holborn Gray.
p. cm.—(Clark Kerr lectures on the role of higher education in society ; 2)
Includes bibliographical references.
isbn 978-0-520-27065-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-520-95170-9 (ebook)
1. Education, Higher—Aims and objectives—United States. I. Title.
LA227.4.G737 2012
378.73—dc23
2011036637
Manufactured in the United States of America
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In keeping with a commitment to support environmentally responsible and sustainable
printing practices, UC Press has printed this book on Rolland Enviro100, a 100%
post-consumer fi ber paper that is FSC certifi ed, deinked, processed chlorine-free, and
manufactured with renewable biogas energy. It is acid-free and EcoLogo certifi ed.
contents
Preface vii
Introduction
1
1. The Uses of the University Revisited
7
2. The University Idea and Liberal Learning
31
3. Uses (and Misuses) of the University Today
61
Conclusion
93
Notes 97
Select Bibliography 113

preface
The lectures assembled in this volume were presented as
the Clark Kerr Lectures on Higher Education at the University
of California in fall 2009. I am grateful to all who made my
visit to Berkeley so interesting and rewarding, and above
all to Judson King, director of the Center for Studies in
Higher Education. I should like also to acknowledge my indeb-
tedness to William G. Bowen, Mary Patterson McPherson,
and Judith Shapiro for their helpful comments; to Charles
M. Gray for innumerable and always enlightening discussions;
and to the readers for the University of California Press for
their suggestions.
At several points, I have drawn closely on some of my earlier
essays. In chapter 2, the discussion of Eliot, Harper, and Wilson
follows in part from “The Leaning Tower of Academe,” Bulletin
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 49 (1996): 34–54; and
that of the desirability of requiring courses in Western civiliza-
tion from “Western Civilization and Its Discontents,” Historically
vii