Buying In or Selling Out?: The Commercialization of the American Research University

Universities were once ivory towers where scholarship and teaching were unbiased and free from commercial pressure and special interests––or so we tell ourselves. Whether they were ever as pure as we think, it is certain that they are pure no longer. Administrators benefit from patents by commercializing faculty discoveries; they pour money into sports with the expectation that these spectacles will somehow bring in revenue; they sign contracts with soda and fast-food companies, legitimizing the dominance of a single brand on campus; and they charge for distance learning courses that they market widely. In this volume, edited by Donald G. Stein, university presidents and other leaders in higher education comment on the many connections between business and scholarship when intellectual property and learning are treated as marketable commodities. Some contributors write about the benefits of these connections in providing much needed resources. Others emphasize that the thirst for profits may bias the type and quality of research. They fear for the future of basic research when faculty are in search of immediate payoffs. The majority of the contributors acknowledge that commercialization is the current reality and has progressed too far to turn back. They propose guidelines for students and professors to govern commercial activities. Such guidelines can increase the likelihood that quality, openness, and collegiality will remain core academic values.