Universities and the Public Good: Research, Education, and Democracy since 1945

As the controversies currently engulfing colleges and universities around the globe indicate, institutions of higher education remain sites of conflict and contestation among competing social, cultural, economic, and ideological forces. These conflicts have deep historical roots. During the heyday of the so-called liberal consensus after World War II, universities on both sides of the Atlantic were celebrated as symbols of enlightened liberalism, promoting a democratic ethos and social responsibility. The 1960s saw these traditions tested and reinterpreted amidst generational conflicts over the ideals and realities of participatory democracy. By the early 1980s, higher education institutions faced twin challenges: a conservative backlash and the rise of neoliberal economic ideologies. To better understand higher education’s role in the current international political climate, the proposed conference provides an opportunity to reflect on the history of colleges and universities in North America and Europe since 1945. Characterized as “world institutions” whose dedication to scientific and humanistic endeavors seemed to align with a universalistic liberalism, colleges and universities nevertheless responded to global opportunities and pressures from their own particular perspectives and perceived societal roles.