Perhaps it is becoming clear to all of us that the micro-struggle at Radford University is a mirror of the nation-wide and world-wide struggle. The two percent of the world’s population to control 40 percent of its wealth have, in the past century, managed to colonize all the living spaces of the Earth with the immense power of private accumulations of wealth to dominate, exploit, and dehumanize the majority and destroy the ecology of the planet.
They have colonized not only all the economic systems of the world (with few exceptions), raped the Earth of its vital resources, polluted the biosphere beyond recognition, and led us toward the global collapse called “climate change.”
They have also colonized the political processes of the world. Note Sunday’s Roanoke Times article that details the huge contributions R. J. Kirk has given to political war chests of those politicians he wants to promote and control. They have colonized the mass media to the point where they are even brazen enough to call Fox News “news” and no one laughs them right out of business.
In his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Brazilian born philosopher Paulo Freire asserts that “the oppressor classes” are themselves dehumanized by their dehumanization of others (treating them as a means rather than as ends in themselves). Their consciousness involves a “to have” model of being human: “The oppressor consciousness tends to transform everything surrounding it into an object of its domination. The Earth, property, production, the creations of men, men themselves, time—everything is reduced to the status of objects at its disposal.” This is the very negation, he says, “of their ontological vocation to be more fully human.”
Higher education, if it means anything, means that the process of study in the professions, in the natural and social sciences, or in the humanities integrates student’s lives into the larger framework of our “ontological vocation to be more fully human.” It does so in terms of developing intellectual integrity, critical thinking, pursuit of truth, and a lifelong growth in wisdom and understanding.
The last bastion of this defense of the integrity of our human project may well be higher education. However, in the past several decades, the corporate and business elite have targeted higher education in their drive to turn everything into “an object of its domination.”
The wealthy elite hate (yes I mean hate) those aspects of education that develop our fundamental humanity. They intuitively know that the more we grow in wisdom and human integrity the more we are radicalized to challenge their system of oppression, exploitation, and dehumanization.
It is no accident that the RU Board of Visitors is made up of several CEOs of corporations including a billionaire who has nothing but scorn for our fundamental humanness, intellectual honesty, or any of the higher human pursuits, all of which are entirely beyond his comprehension—a billionaire who wears a turkey hunting outfit to the BOV Academic Affairs Committee meeting.
It is no accident that he wants a university that trains students for jobs but does not develop their critical ability to challenge the system of exploitation behind these jobs. The struggle with the global system of domination and exploitation has come to RU.
Most of us will be here longer than the temporary appointees to the Board of Visitors and longer than the current Provost and President. However, the struggle is neither temporary nor superficial. It is a struggle for the very soul of Radford University and the soul of ourselves as serious educators. And it requires an organized, committed, and sustained resistance that is designed to bring in new faculty and recruit ever-more permanent faculty to stand for quality higher education at our university.
The campus American Association of University Professors (AAUP) chapter could serve as the vehicle for this sustained, organized resistance since it is on-going, funded by dues, and linked to a national organization engaged in the same struggle. But whatever vehicle we create or choose for this prolonged resistance, it must be designed for permanency. The fight will not go away, and new faculty and students coming to RU in future years need to be assured that the majority of faculty from the past have courageously and honestly defended their right to higher education through preserving the integrity of Radford University.
They have the right as human beings to experience education premised on our common “ontological vocation to be more fully human.”
Dr. Glen T. Martin is a professor in the Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies at Radford University and President of the RU AAUP chapter.
12 responses so far ↓
1 Roudy Red // Apr 26, 2009 at 2:29 pm
What a wonderfully reasoned piece. It provides context to what this RU revolt is all about. It charges all concerned to take back humane control of the parts we can influence–RU today, tomorrow the nation. Who knows after that.
Thank you, Glen.
2 Dixy // Apr 26, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Absolutely
3 NRJMike // Apr 26, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Whatever. The so-called RU revolt is nothing more than another attempt to transform the university to an institution at the next level. Raise the standards, cut programs and focus on fewer so that excellence can be attained. Create a situation where Radford will become a sought after placement rather than a school for students who couldn’t get in anywhere else. Dedmon transformed the school back in the 70s, and broke a lot of eggs in the process, but the institution you have now is the result of his vision. Kyle is trying to do the same thing. Maybe she is wrong in the vision, or maybe she is not trying to achieve it using the right means. But the goal is to make Radford U a higher quality institution and the usual reactionary suspects are against it. So, Mr. AAUP, what have you done to advance such a goal? Rather than gripe and complain and blame boogeymen, why don’t you take an active role? Oh, I forgot, you weren’t properly respected and consulted, so you will just sit back and fire a missive or two instead of creating opportunity for involvement. Unless, of course, you don’t actually have anything useful to say.
4 NRJMike // Apr 26, 2009 at 7:51 pm
And by the way, aren’t you the professor who makes his students purchase his personally-written textbook? No, must be somebody else, because that would certainly be be exploitive, wouldn’t it?
5 Planet RU // Apr 26, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Hey, NR Mike:
In one of your blogs, you defend an Irish singer who reflects the fact that “people the world over were very tired of the conservative and bullying policies of the Bush administration and happy to see a return to policies of watching out for the little guy…”
So when the RU administration bullies the faculty and students — in the name of attaining excellence, of course — you can’t have just a little sympathy?
6 Just another student // Apr 26, 2009 at 10:42 pm
“Whatever.” Why don’t you just take the debate level a little lower, NRJMike, and add an “Like, OMG” to that opening? It’s hard to take someone seriously when they open their comments with a juvenile sneer.
What exactly would you define as “the next level?” What does that mean? Is it an institution that has an opportunity for free discourse? Is it an institution that offers more opportunities for students and a broad spectrum of possible majors? Is it an institution where students and their input are respected? Where faculty are encouraged to research and become the top of their respective fields?
If you’ve paid any attention to the “revolt,” you’ll see that these things are exactly what the current administration does NOT want. They do NOT want people to challenge them or offer alternative solutions. They do NOT want a faculty comprised of free-thinking and independent professionals. And, most damningly, they don’t want students who ask questions and pursue answers; they want a complacent student body that keeps its head bowed and its mouth shut.
In my time at Radford, I saw more and more students coming, not because RU was their last choice, but because it was their first. They wanted what RU offered, and they were happy to be here . . .
Until now.
Now they just want to get away–but they’re terrified that their degrees won’t mean anything when they go. That people will look at them and say, “Oh, you majored in [anthropology, biology, geology, insert embattled program here]? Gee, I heard they don’t even have that program anymore.” How can they claim that they had a solid education by caring professionals, when a prospective employer is going to take one look at them and wonder what kind of “lame-duck” education they really got?
Radford’s students deserve better. And if that isn’t a reason to demand that Penny and the BOV take this situation seriously, I don’t know what is.
7 NRJMike // Apr 27, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Planet RU: I didn’t really defend the singer for spouting politics in her intro as much as I complained about the hick conservative who had to make a scene. And I do have sympathy for what is happening, but I don’t necessarily disagree with it. Marshall Hahn transformed VT from a VMI-like school to the major university it is today. Dedmon did the same (to a lesser extent of course) with Radford in the 70s, and now Kyle is trying to make another transformation. Sure, it’s best to let everybody in the tent if possible, but for some people, particularly professors, they are never happy unless they are controlling the process. And my comment to Dr. Martin was why didn’t he try to contribute to the process rather than griping. And it is particularly silly for him to spout about such things when he makes his students purchase a textbook he wrote.
Just another student: I sympathize with the plight of the students in this affair, but it’s no different than it ever is for students. But at least it looks like somebody got the school to reverse its decision on the appalachian studies program. Hooray for that. But otherwise, if you think that students predominantly come to RU as a first choice, you must be in Martin’s philosophy class…
8 Just another student // Apr 27, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Nope, I’m not in that class. I do have a lot of friends who are independent, motivated, and intelligent. They chose RU because they liked the place; I’m very sorry that hasn’t been your experience.
I am, however, baffled by your seemingly-personal grudge against Dr. Martin. Seriously, what’s the deal? If it isn’t personal (and at this point, I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t be), you seem committed to the assumption that A) anybody NOT a professor has RU’s best interests at heart while B) professors don’t. You’re going with the same “CHANGE IS GOOD” mantra that Penny has been spouting since her coronation, and, as any Coca-Cola connoisseur can tell you, that ain’t necessarily so.
Keep in mind that Dedmon, while controversial at the time, did have a background in academics that puts Penny and the current BOV to shame. I can’t speak for the man–no one can, unless you have a really good ouija board–but I would wager that he understood the value of a university education as something more than just a product, a pretty piece of paper purchased at a drive-thru window.
9 NRJMike // Apr 27, 2009 at 7:56 pm
I’m glad you’re not in that class, but that doesn’t change the fact that too many students are. No, I don’t attend RU, but I have lived around here longer than you have probably been alive, and I know a thing or two about the history and the culture. Yes, I do have a grudge against Dr. Martin because he uses his so-called philosophy class not to give his students an education about philosophy and philosophers, but to thrust his own personal views of the world on his captive audience, and in the process make a few extra bucks on the side by forcing them to purchase his textbook. Most schools, at least ones of quality, have a rule against that. Furthermore, his students have been shortchanged because he neglected their education in favor of attempted indoctrination. But mostly, I think it is incredibly hypocritical of such a person to rail against exploitation while engaged in such behavior.
10 Grumbling at RU // Apr 29, 2009 at 11:21 am
NRJMike – I don’t know Dr. Martin or what your particular gripe with him might be. Your complaints might be perfectly valid. But to say he didn’t try to “contribute” to the process shows that you don’t actually know what’s happened at RU.
Faculty, with the exception of a hand-picked chosen few, have been completely shut out of these processes. That is particularly true of faculty in the liberal arts, social sciences, and natural sciences. There has been, quite literally, NO opportunity to contribute.
11 NRJMike // Apr 29, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Grumbling – my superficial gripe with Martin is that in one breath he decries exploitation and in the next he requires his students to purchase a textbook that he wrote and presumably receives financial compensation for each sale. That alone eliminates any degree of moral authority he wishes to claim. Secondly, all he has done is sit back and gripe. Why play by the admin’s rules? Is he just going to sit back and wait for an invitation to make his feelings known? Providing a whine-fest in this venue is not helpful if he truly wants to make something happen. He knows that there are ways to get an audience if he really wants one. Apparently he would rather be a whining martyr than an activist.
12 Grumbling at RU // Apr 30, 2009 at 7:41 am
NRJ – Again, I do not know Dr. Martin at all. So I’ll neither defend nor attack him.
But on the count of faculty being able to get an “audience” with anyone who matters in the RU administration.. You’re just plain wrong there. This administration is not available to faculty, plain and simple.
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