The Junkyard of Ideas

One of the consequences of neoliberalism in higher education is increasing focus on the achievement of status and prestige. As noted earlier, this has resulted in a shift from academic-focused missions to prestige-focused missions. One of the results of this shift in university mission is increasing pressure on faculty to produce higher levels of scholarship, particularly at institutions seeking to raise their status. Deborah Rhode aptly describes this as “upward drift” and notes that “an increasing number of schools have sought to enhance their reputations by supporting research.”1