The Still Divided Academy: How Competing Visions of Power, Politics, and Diversity Complicate the Mission of Higher Education

295 Pages·2011·3.71 MB·English

by  Stanley Rothman

The Still
Divided Academy

The Still
Divided Academy
How Competing Visions of Power,
Politics, and Diversity Complicate
the Mission of Higher Education

Stanley Rothman, April Kelly-Woessner,
and Matthew Woessner
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
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Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2011 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rothman, Stanley, 1927–
The still divided academy : how competing visions of power, politics, and diversity
complicate the mission of higher education / Stanley Rothman, April Kelly-Woessner,
and Matthew Woessner.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4422-0806-3 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4422-0808-7 (electronic)
1. Education, Higher—Aims and objectives—United States. 2. Education, Higher—
Political aspects—United States. 3. Education, Higher—Social aspects—United States.
4. Universities and colleges—United States—Administration. 5. Academic freedom—
United States. I. Kelly-Woessner, April. II. Woessner, Matthew. III. Title.
LA227.4.R675 2011
378.73—dc22
2010029031
 ™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
To
Seymour Martin Lipset
for his groundbreaking work in the empirical
study of conflict in the American university
To our children,
Isaac Woessner and
Rachel Woessner

Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
1 Introduction 1
2 Visions of the University 15
3 Perceptions of Power and Control in the American University 41
4 Politics and Culture Wars 63
5 Campus Diversity 107
6 Academic Freedom, Tenure, and the Free Exchange of Ideas 157
7 Conclusion 193
Appendices:
1: List of Questions Used in the NAASS Survey 213
2: Professor’s Assessment of Institutional
Success in Educating Students 239
3: University Rankings by Tier 241
4: Models of Trust for Students, Faculty, and Administrators 245
5: The Impact of Varying Exclusion Methods on College
Satisfaction Results 247
6: Why Professors Think Academic Tenure Is Important 251
Notes 253
References 259
Index 271
About the Authors 281
vii

Preface
This book, as well as the survey on which it is based, was first proposed by
Professor Stanley Rothman in the fall of 1998. As the director for the Center
for Social and Political Change at Smith College, Rothman teamed with Sey-
mour Martin Lipset of George Mason University, Everett Ladd of the Univer-
sity of Connecticut, and Neil Nevitte of the University of Toronto to conduct
a study of higher education in the United States and Canada.
The North American Academic Study Survey (NAASS) was conducted by
The Angus Reid Group in 1999 and included surveys of professors, administra-
tors, and students. In part, the study was a follow-up to Ladd and Lipset’s earlier
work in The Divided Academy and Rothman’s earlier work in American Elites.
Rothman, Lipset, and Nevitte published some findings from the survey in 2002
and 2003 with articles in The Public Interest, the International Journal of Public
Opinion Research, and Academic Questions. These articles explored the impact
of racial diversity on college and university campuses. Following the deaths of
Ladd and Lipset, Rothman invited his former coauthor, S. Robert Lichter,
president of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, to join the research project.
Together, Rothman, Lichter, and Nevitte published an article in The Forum in
2005 that investigated the relationship between political views and professional
advancement among college faculty. Rothman and Lichter continued this line of
research with a book chapter in The Politically Correct University: Problems,
Scopes, and Reforms (Maranto, Redding, and Hess 2009).
While Rothman was successful in publishing some significant findings
from the survey, the deaths of Ladd and Lipset, along with Rothman’s own
illness, delayed further work on the project. Both Nevitte and Lichter, while
instrumental in the earlier articles, were constrained by long-standing profes-
sional responsibilities that prevented them from devoting the time required to
complete the project. As such, important findings from the NAASS remained
ix