Shaking Up Higher Ed

Is it time to remake American higher education? Columbia University’s Mark Taylor says it’s time to end tenure and bring on a revolution. He joins us.

American higher education – with its vigorous colleges and universities – has long been the pride of the nation, the engine of the economy, the envy of the world.

Now, it’s got issues. Soaring costs, structural questions, competition abroad. We had a Wall Street bubble and bust. A housing bubble and bust.

My guest today says we have a bubble in higher ed, and may get a meltdown there, too. Too much that’s unsustainable – including, he says, tenure. We're hearing an urgent call to remake American universities for a new century.
-Tom Ashbrook
Guests:

Mark Taylor, chair of the Religion Department at Columbia University. His new book is "Crisis on Campus: A Bold Plan for Reforming Our Colleges and Universities." You can read an excerpt.

Cary Nelson, professor of English and Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and president of the American Association of University Professors. He's author of "No University is an Island: Saving Academic Freedom."