Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Corporatization of Student Affairs Serving Students in Neoliberal Times Daniel K Cairo Full Chapter PDF
The Corporatization of Student Affairs Serving Students in Neoliberal Times Daniel K Cairo Full Chapter PDF
The Corporatization of Student Affairs Serving Students in Neoliberal Times Daniel K Cairo Full Chapter PDF
https://ebookmass.com/product/serving-herself-the-life-and-times-
of-althea-gibson-ashley-brown/
https://ebookmass.com/product/the-handbook-of-student-affairs-
administration-4th-edition-ebook-pdf/
https://ebookmass.com/product/serving-herself-the-life-and-times-
of-althea-gibson-1st-edition-ashley-brown/
https://ebookmass.com/product/the-handbook-of-student-affairs-
administration-5th-edition-george-s-mcclellan/
Prosecuting Domestic Abuse in Neoliberal Times:
Amplifying the Survivor's Voice 1st ed. Edition Antonia
Porter
https://ebookmass.com/product/prosecuting-domestic-abuse-in-
neoliberal-times-amplifying-the-survivors-voice-1st-ed-edition-
antonia-porter/
https://ebookmass.com/product/pilbeams-mechanical-
ventilation-7th-edition-j-m-cairo-cairo/
https://ebookmass.com/product/elementary-geometry-for-college-
students-7th-edition-daniel-c-alexander/
https://ebookmass.com/product/the-rise-of-neoliberal-feminism-
catherine-rottenberg/
https://ebookmass.com/product/grays-anatomy-for-students-with-
student-consult-online-access-3rd-edition/
NEW FRONTIERS IN EDUCATION, CULTURE, AND POLITICS
The Corporatization
of Student Affairs
Serving Students in Neoliberal Times
Daniel K. Cairo · Victoria Cabal
New Frontiers in Education, Culture, and Politics
Series Editor
Kenneth J. Saltman
Educational Policy Studies
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL, USA
New Frontiers in Education, Culture, and Politics focuses on both topical
educational issues and highly original works of educational policy and
theory that are critical, publicly engaged, and interdisciplinary, drawing on
contemporary philosophy and social theory. The books in the series aim to
push the bounds of academic and public educational discourse while
remaining largely accessible to an educated reading public. New Frontiers
aims to contribute to thinking beyond the increasingly unified view of
public education for narrow economic ends (economic mobility for the
individual and global economic competition for the society) and in terms
of efficacious delivery of education as akin to a consumable commodity.
Books in the series provide both innovative and original criticism and offer
visions for imagining educational theory, policy, and practice for radically
different, egalitarian, and just social transformation.
The Corporatization
of Student Affairs
Serving Students in Neoliberal Times
Daniel K. Cairo Victoria Cabal
Office of the Vice President for Equity David Eccles School of Business
Diversity and Inclusion University of Utah
University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Salt Lake City, UT, USA
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2021
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the
publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect
to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made.
The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and
institutional affiliations.
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Acknowledgments
We want to thank the people who made this book possible. To friends and
colleagues whose ongoing conversations push us to think and consider the
possibilities and impact of our research, and who continue to teach us that
thinking is a collective process.
To Dr. Amy Bergerson for her countless hours reading and editing our
work and for her wisdom and guidance throughout the research process.
We would also like to acknowledge Dr. Karnell McConnell-Black our
Ed.D. research colleague for his contribution to the original study; and to
our Ed.D. committee members Dr. Laurence Parker and Dr. Kathryn
Coquemont for their thoughtful guidance throughout our research
process.
To our families and friends for giving us the space and time needed to
research and write and for cheering us on along the way.
Dan would like to thank his husband Derrick Maylone for countless
hours of labor, love, and dedication to our home so that Dan could dedi-
cate time to this manuscript; and for his patience every time Dan brought
up how you could apply a neoliberal lens to everything, such as drag
queens. Dan would like to thank both his mother Hilda Cairo and his
adoptive parent Kevin King for the deep lessons of love, solidarity, and
what it means to be in community with people which informed the spirit
of this research and manuscript.
Victoria would like to acknowledge her mother Lucy Cabal for always
teaching her to keep moving adelante and strive to achieve goals she never
knew possible. She would like to thank her partner Matthew Daufenbach
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
for all the meals he cooked to allow for late night writing, and the various
pep talks that kept her going. She would like to acknowledge her family
and friends for their encouragement, love, and for constantly listening to
her research topic.
We would like to thank Dr. Kenneth Saltman and Dr. Pauline Lipman
for their advice and guidance on turning our research into a book for pub-
lication. Lastly, we would like to thank our mentors Dr. Pauline Lipman
and Dr. Christelle Estrada who have shaped our understanding of educa-
tional equity and social justice.
Contents
1 Introduction 1
References 9
4 Student Success 57
Student Success 58
Conclusion 67
References 67
vii
viii Contents
Appendix A167
Appendix B169
Appendix C171
Contents ix
Appendix D175
Appendix E177
Appendix F183
Index185
List of Figures
xi
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
Kezar et al., 2019; Kuh et al., 2005, 2006; Strayhorn, 2008, 2019; Tinto,
1993, 2003) for the next generation of the profession.
Chapter 2 offers the historical and ideological context to name and
understand neoliberalism as an ideological project that is changing who
we are as people, arguing that neoliberalism is no longer just a political
and economic ideology (Harvey, 2005; Ong, 2006). This chapter outlines
the ideological underpinnings of classical liberalism and its vigorous proc-
lamation for individuality, free markets, governance, and subjectivity while
outlining the role of the state (Braedley & Luxton, 2010; Dean, 2010).
The chapter will offer a definition of neoliberalism by outlining a historical
timeline that will allow researchers to understand liberalism, Keynesian
economics, and the return to a reimagined (neo) liberalism.
More importantly, this chapter offers a theoretical framework for how
neoliberalism establishes hegemonic power via common sense and offers a
tool to make sense of what often feels like a nebulous ideology: the neo-
liberal ecological model. The neoliberal ecological model highlights how
common sense is used to construct new ways of viewing the world—a
world in which neoliberal values of individualism, competition, account-
ability, and metrics are asserted as pragmatic and logical that has been
vetted by popular thinking, “it works intuitively, without forethought or
reflection … giving the illusion of arising directly from experience … and
answering the needs of common people” (Hall & O’Shea, 2013, p. 9).
Chapter 3 brings the researcher in concert with the literature on the
history of higher education and the student affairs profession. The chapter
explores the emergence of neoliberal ideology in the academe and its
impacts (Giroux, 2002, 2007; Kezar et al., 2019; Schrecker, 2010;
Slaughter et al., 2004). To help the reader conceptualize how neoliberal-
ism became the dominant paradigm in higher education the chapter
explores how higher education has changed since market values became
the common sense answer to higher education woes (Hall & O’Shea,
2013; Harvey, 2005). The chapter provides background on the emer-
gence of corporatization in higher education through the shift of private
organizational values into public spaces such as colleges and universities
(Anderson & Cohen, 2018; Besley & Peters, 2006; Cannella & Koro-
Ljungberg, 2017; Cannella & Miller, 2008; Giroux, 2002, 2007; Hachem,
2018; Olssen & Peters, 2005; Saunders, 2010; Slaughter et al., 2004),
laying out a timeline of institutional shifts.
The chapter then brings the neoliberal analysis down to the granular
level to examine the impact of corporate values to the student affairs
1 INTRODUCTION 5
support the development of the whole student (Nuss, 2003), is now nar-
rowed along these same metrics of success (Hirt, 2007). This narrowed
vision of the profession is resulting in tensions impacting the daily lives of
professionals and students. As student affairs continue to strive to do more
with less and develop efficiency metrics, institutions continue to see stag-
nant results that only drive these narrowed lines further.
As researcher practitioners, we share how the corporatization of the
profession has created pressure to achieve ever-moving targets of “suc-
cess” metrics. This constant pressure for professionals, who entered into
student affairs to engage the holistic development of students, has resulted
in a constant state of exhaustion. Student affairs professionals seek to meet
deadlines, provide “high-quality” services, extend student support beyond
the 40-hour work week, and produce ever-increasing measures of “suc-
cess.” In this culture of winning (Berg et al., 2016), student affairs profes-
sionals find themselves dreaming of task-oriented jobs that allow them to
have an “end” to their day. The corporate organization is asking student
affairs not only to support students, but also to give their lives to the insti-
tution in the name of competing in the rankings game. It is not enough to
show up to work as your best self; instead, student affairs is expected to
show up to perform in order to meet expectations that will only increase
once they have been met. Many believe student affairs is an integral cog in
the system, and yet, those who work in student affairs often fear the sys-
tem, based on neoliberal bureaucracy and short-term profits, will easily
replace or reduce them if “performance” is not met (Anderson & Cohen,
2018; Giroux, 2007; Saunders, 2010; Slaughter et al., 2004), thus feeding
the student success monster. As a result, success is defined according to
this unsustainable yardstick and many student affairs professionals lose
touch with why they entered the profession to begin with.
Chapter 5 introduces our case study site and method of analysis. The
chapter articulates the rationale for selecting a qualitative case study meth-
odology (Creswell & Poth, 2017; Stake, 1995; Yin, 2009) and its connec-
tion to understanding how student affairs professionals experience
neoliberal normalization via corporate values. This chapter provides a
background of the research site as an example of institutional pressures to
perform to neoliberal norms. A history of the rapid institutional growth
experienced at the case study site provides context for the corporate influ-
ences shaping an institution trying to “meet students where they are.” We
examine complexities around institutional commitments for students to
“come as they are,” alongside the pressures of trying to attune to
1 INTRODUCTION 7
models which shape the discourse of constant growth, branding, and see-
ing students as consumers, all add to participants’ sense of professional
tensions. The tensions result in a rhetoric of care with customer service
and education as a product. Lastly, student affairs is not often talked about
as actual labor, but naming it as such makes visible the labor that is valu-
able to the institution given the need for accountability measures.
Findings in this chapter indicate professionals feel pressured to do more
with less, wear multiple hats which can lead to burnout, and struggle to
find time to meet growing expectations. The data indicate that under-
standing and defining student success in a culture of metrics, accountabil-
ity, and results offer ongoing tensions and complexities for current and
future student affairs professionals along the five themes explored. The
data illustrate the tension in which student affairs practitioners engage as a
result of the neoliberal influence in higher education. These tensions sur-
face as important contributions to the student affairs practice and they are
indicative as they challenge neoliberalism as a singularity. We articulate the
tensions not from a singular perspective but rather as complexities across
the corporatization of student affairs, institutional culture, personal
responsibility rather than a collective responsibility, and student success
while exploring the synergy between metrics and corporate values.
Chapter 7 explores how to exist while also resisting the neoliberal influ-
ence in student affairs through good sense solutions. As established in
Chap. 2, neoliberalism consolidates power through common sense.
However, this chapter challenges the student affairs professional to iden-
tify the healthy nucleus of common sense assumptions and offers a frame-
work of good sense to highlight the ruptures in neoliberal rhetoric. Good
sense “is constructed out of critical engagement with issues of the day”
(Harvey, 2005, p. 39). We argue that it is within the limitations and con-
tradictions of common senses that good sense can be used to interrupt the
pervasiveness of neoliberal discourse within student affairs. Relevant
examples are the shift of how the neoliberal university has transformed
students into customers and reduced student development practice to a
transactional model. We offer that critical engagement of good sense anal-
ysis invites practitioners to stop and critically examine if common sense
models truly deliver on what they claim. The literature on student persis-
tence has always centered relationships as the basis for connecting students
to institutions and engaging students in learning (Astin, 1999; Chambliss
& Takacs, 2014; Kezar et al., 2019; Kuh et al., 2005, 2006; Strayhorn,
2008, 2019; Tinto, 1993, 2003). We argue good sense needs to be the
1 INTRODUCTION 9
References
Anderson, G. L., & Cohen, M. I. (2018). The new democratic professional in edu-
cation: Confronting markets, metrics, and managerialism. Teachers
College Press.
Astin, A. (1975). Preventing students from dropping out. Jossey-Bass.
Astin, A. W. (1999). Student involvement: A developmental theory for higher
education. Journal of College Student Development, 40(5), 518.
Berg, L. D., Huijbens, E. H., & Larsen, H. G. (2016). Producing anxiety in the
neoliberal university. The Canadian Geographer, 60(2), 3–37.
Besley, A. C., & Peters, M. (2006). Neoliberalism, performance and assessment of
research quality. South African Journal of Higher Education, 20(6), 814–832.
Braedley, S., & Luxton, M. (2010). Competing philosophies: Neoliberalism and
challenges of everyday life. In S. Braedley & M. Luxton (Eds.), Neoliberalism
and everyday life (pp. 3–21). McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Cannella, G. S., & Koro-Ljungberg, M. (2017). Neoliberalism in higher educa-
tion: Can we understand? Can we resist and survive? Can we become without
neoliberalism? Cultural Studies, Critical Methodologies, 17(3), 155–162.
Cannella, G. S., & Miller, L. L. (2008). Constructing corporatist science:
Reconstituting the soul of American higher education. Cultural Studies,
Critical Methodologies, 8(1), 24–38.
Capper, C. A. (2015). The 20th-year anniversary of critical race theory in educa-
tion: Implications for leading to eliminate racism. Educational Administration
Quarterly, 51(5), 791–833.
Carbado, D. W. (2013). Interracial diversity. UCLA Law Review, 60(5),
1130–1183.
Chambliss, D. F., & Takacs, C. G. (2014). How college works. Harvard
University Press.
Cope, R., & Hannah, W. (1975). Revolving college doors: The causes and conse-
quences of dropping out, stopping out, and transferring. Wiley-Interscience.
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2017). Qualitative inquiry and research design:
Choosing among five approaches. Sage.
Dean, M. (2010). Governmentality: Power and rule in modern society. Sage.
Eaton, P. W. (2016). The competency-based movement in Student Affairs:
Implications for curriculum and professional development. Journal of College
Student Development, 57(5), 573–589.
10 D. K. CAIRO AND V. CABAL
Geiger, R. L. (2019). American higher education since World War II: A History
(Vol. 116). Princeton University Press.
Giroux, H. A. (2002). Neoliberalism, corporate culture, and the promise of higher
education: The university as a democratic public sphere. Harvard Educational
Review, 72(4), 425–463.
Giroux, H. A. (2007). Beyond neoliberal common sense: Cultural politics and
public pedagogy in dark times. Journal of Advanced Composition,
27(1/2), 11–61.
Habley, W. R., Bloom, J. L., & Robbins, S. (2012). Increasing persistence (1 Aufl.
ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Hachem, A. H. (2018). Higher education in the era of illusions: Neoliberal narra-
tives, capitalistic realities, and the need for critical praxis. Journal of Critical
Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs, 4(1), 2.
Hall, S., & O’Shea, A. (2013). Common-sense neoliberalism. Journal of Politics
and Culture, 55, 8–24.
Harvey, D. (2005). A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford University Press.
Hirt, J. B. (2007). The student affairs profession in the academic marketplace.
Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 44(2), 482–501. https://doi.
org/10.2202/1949-6605.1794
Kezar, A., DePaola, T., & Scott, D. T. (2019). The gig academy: Mapping labor in
the neoliberal university. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Kuh, G. D., Kinzie, J., Schuh, J. H., & Whitt, E. J. (2005). Student success in col-
lege: Creating conditions that matter. John Wiley & Sons.
Kuh, G. D., Kinzie, J. L., Buckley, J. A., Bridges, B. K., & Hayek, J. C. (2006).
What matters to student success: A review of the literature (Vol. 8). National
Postsecondary Education Cooperative.
McClellan, G., & Stringer, J. (2016). The handbook of student affairs administra-
tion (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Brand.
Noble, J., & Sawyer, R. (2002). Predicting different levels of academic success in
college using high school GPA and ACT composite scores. ACT Research
Report Series, 2–26.
Nuss, E. M. (2003). The development of Student Affairs. In S. Komives &
D. Woodard (Eds.), Student services: A handbook for the profession (pp. 65–88).
John Wiley & Sons.
Olssen, M., & Peters, M. A. (2005). Neoliberalism, higher education, and the
knowledge economy: From the free market to knowledge capitalism. Journal of
Educational Policy, 20(3), 313–345.
Ong, A. (2006). Neoliberalism as exception: Mutations in citizenship and sover-
eignty. Duke University Press.
Pritchard, M. E., & Wilson, G. S. (2003). Using emotional and social factors to
predict student success. Journal of College Student Development, 44(1), 18–28.
1 INTRODUCTION 11
“We need to push completion. It’s contingent on funding for us from the
legislature and so it starts to feel um really transactional um that’s
that. … It makes me think, what have we lost at the transaction of yeah
we want to get to 45% completion, but in doing so you still got to make
sure that you know every student matters and we got to take the time to
help them”
—Research site student affairs administrator
“I’ve been told by the [university president] straight up that they are
looking to Student Affairs to be a model for exceptional care, partly
because of two reasons: one, it’s the nature of our discipline. We are the
counselors, social workers, advisors, nurturers, mentors. It’s not like
people opt into student affairs because they don’t want to work with
people, like um, we are a customer service orientated people by
discipline”
—Research site student affairs leader
The two quotes above highlight the tension in which student affairs pro-
fessionals find themselves in the current social-political moment of higher
education: the tension of trying to meet the demands of graduation rates
along with trying to hold on to what we value most as a profession. But
who we are as a profession is drastically changing. After conducting a case
study at a large public four-year institution in the West, we identified that
Neoliberalism
If we want to understand the complexity of living in the twenty-first cen-
tury, we have to understand neoliberalism and how it shapes the contem-
porary human experience. Neoliberalism has been around since the 1970s
as an ideological and political project aimed at “unleashing and liberating
the process of capital accumulation” (Braedley & Luxton, 2010, p. 3) and
has rapidly evolved into market fundamentalism (Harvey, 2005). It is mar-
ket fundamentalism because states, governing bodies, higher education,
corporations, and nonprofits apply a market mentality with one inherent
goal: profit. Society focuses on being competitive in a market which, at
times, leads to a complete disregard for people, communities, or countries
(Anderson & Cohen, 2018; Apple, 1996; Besley & Peters, 2006; Brown,
2015; Cannella & Koro-Ljungberg, 2017; Cannella & Miller, 2008;
Giroux, 2002, 2007; Harvey, 2005; Kezar, 2011, 2014; Lipman, 2004,
2011; Olssen & Peters, 2005; Ong, 2006; Saltman, 2014; Saunders,
2010). Neoliberalism is also redefining “democracy as choice in the mar-
ket and freedom as personal freedom to consume” (Lipman, 2011, p. 10).
But 50 years of neoliberalism is also changing who we are as people—it is
shaping our beliefs, values, identities, and relationships (Lipman, 2011).
Writing on neoliberalism suggests that this change aims to produce a new
social imaginary (Giroux, 2007; Lipman, 2011) but we argue that the
social imaginary where market mentality is the norm has been achieved.
What is hard to imagine now is a world in which a market mentality, con-
sumption, and metrics are not the norm. Neoliberalism is not textbook
capitalism where capitalism is thought of as a delicate balance of supply
and demand, nor do people have the option to just opt-out of the neolib-
eralization of our communities, schools, and working environment.
2 “ARE WE ALL NEOLIBERAL NOW?” 15
Classical Liberalism
Liberalism is a political ideology associated with democracy and individual
freedoms seen as quintessential American values. Liberalism was the gov-
erning political ideology of the seventeenth century until the twentieth
century (Brown, 2015; Dean, 2010; Robertson, 2008; Thorsen & Lei,
2006). There are various forms of liberalism; various rationalities and
knowledge that inform and produce liberal thought (Dean, 2010; Thorsen
& Lei, 2006). The seventeenth century was known as the time of classical
liberalism with two prominent champions, John Locke and Adam Smith
(Brown, 2015; Dean, 2010; Robertson, 2008; Thorsen & Lei, 2006).
Neoliberalism was born from classical liberalism (Brown, 2015; Dean,
2010; Robertson, 2008; Thorsen & Lei, 2006). Under classical liberalism,
freedom, democracy, and property rights set the tone for governing via
laws and institutions but also through the economy—creating distinct lib-
eral economic subjects (Dean, 2010; Robertson, 2008; Thorsen & Lei,
2006). The Wealth of Nations introduced the notion of the “invisible
hand” of capitalism which positioned the state as a passive sovereign in the
economy.
2 “ARE WE ALL NEOLIBERAL NOW?” 17
Adam Smith argued that the state did not need to regulate or intervene
in the markets given that peoples’ own self-interest would regulate the
markets. Smith believed that the best outcome for the state would “be
provided by the pursuit of individual self-interest in the exchanges in the
market” (Dean, 2010, p. 135). In classical liberalism, individual freedom
and freedom to freely participate in the market became synonymous, with
the latter taking precedence. Thus, classical liberalism stood in direct
opposition to collectivism such as “individuals have freedom from depen-
dence on others, the individual is the proprietor of his own person and
capacities, and human societies consist of a series of market relations, and
political society is constructed to protect an individual’s property and
goods” (Robertson, 2008, p. 13). Classical liberalism rests on the idea
that individuals guide markets, not the state. But what is often missing
from texts that connect liberalism and neoliberalism is the glaring absence
of colonialism as state intervention to expand and create markets.
Colonialism is the actual hand of capitalism. Colonialism’s state interven-
tion created wealth accumulation by dispossession of lands, resources, and
peoples which contributed to the growth and wealth of individuals, corpo-
rations, and American Imperialism (Young, 2001). Capital accumulation
under classical liberalism produced great wealth for corporations and some
people in the United States but the Great Depression signaled an end to
classical liberalism.
Classical liberalism “failed” the state by its inability to support its citi-
zens during the Great Depression. The World Wars ended the Great
Depression by creating economic growth. Having suffered greatly under
classical liberalism, economist John M. Kayes proposed a new model that
replaced the state role in the economy from laissez-faire to a strong wel-
fare state (Harvey, 2005; Quadagno, 1987; Robertson, 2008). A strong
welfare state gave way to policies such as the New Deal that created social
safety nets like social security and Medicaid and was seen as the golden era
of the welfare state that was seen as a “marriage between economic liberal-
ism and social democracy” (Robertson, 2008, p. 14). Keynesian econo-
mists “hypothesize that social expenditures for social welfare could
stimulate aggregate demand and even out the instability of the business
cycle, confidence in continued expansion shaped the theories of the wel-
fare state” (Quadagno, 1987, p. 110). But the welfare state had ongoing
critics that argued that the excessive government spending “impinged on
the profitability of the capitalist sector by acting as a disincentive both to
work and to invest” (Quadagno, 1987, p. 110). The social unrest of the
18 D. K. CAIRO AND V. CABAL
solving new problems” (Hall & O’Shea, 2013, p. 9). But because com-
mon sense is constantly evolving, it is also a contested area.
The construction of consent taps into different values held by different
constituents. Neoliberal hegemony coalesces power by an overlap of ideo-
logical interest held together by a common sense thread (Padroni, 2007).
For example, Milwaukee’s school voucher program was successful because
a coalition of groups with varying ideological differences, such as neoliber-
als, neoconservatives, authoritarian populists, middle-class professionals
with managerial backgrounds, and African American mothers all rallied
behind the voucher program around a unifying civil and cultural common
sense discourse: parents’ choice. Parental choice over schools turned par-
ents into consumers shopping for better schools for their children
(Saltman, 2000). The coalition in this new conservative movement saw
opportunities for religious freedom, less government intervention, better
choices than public schools that disenfranchised kids, or the opportunity
to shop for schools that were Afro-Centric (Padroni, 2007). Hall and
O’Shea (2013) argue that,
Ong, 2006). The neoliberal subject inside the ecological system has their
social identity thus exploited and explained through market possibilities.
status quo that favors dominant groups and maintains a hierarchy of power
(Hayes, 2012; Son Hing et al., 2011). Meritocracy maintains the status
quo because, in actuality, the starting line is not equal (Hayes, 2012;
Young, 1958).
For example, higher education argues that those with the best merit—
understood as class rank, test scores, and grade point average—are more
desirable candidates in the recruitment and admission process (Alon &
Tienda, 2007; Habley et al., 2012). However, meritocracy does not equal-
ize biases and give everyone a fair chance; instead, it creates a system of
inequality and inspires deep competition in those that have access to the
best schools and those that can pay for tutors and resources to boost their
ACTs, test scores, or grade point average (Hayes, 2012). Yes, hard work is
important. We are not indicting hard work, but rather we aim to question
how hard work is valued in a system that maintains inequalities by pre-
tending that socioeconomic status, racial, and gender biases do not matter
for social mobility (Hayes, 2012; Son Hing et al., 2011).
students often ask “what is going to be on the test?” We also see neoliberal
values of success communicated through the media.
The media produces and reinforces neoliberal values by broadcasting a
social imaginary of capital gain, economic success, hard work, innovation;
a social imaginary where individuals get ahead given their own talents,
hard work, and grit. Media often tells the story of the underdog where the
subject is resilient and triumphant; but the reality of living in precarious
social, political, and financial insecurity makes triumph the exception, not
the norm. Classic underdog stories are reimagined through a neoliberal
lens. In 1962 Stan Lee first wrote the story of Spider-Man, a high school
teenager who is bitten by a radioactive spider and gained superpower abili-
ties. Spider-Man resonated with young people because, for the first time,
the superhero lived within the angst of what it meant to be a teenager such
as social tensions of being in high school, popularity, awkwardness, grow-
ing up, and changing social relationships (Superheroes, 2013). There is a
significant difference between the first Spider-Man film in 2001 from The
Amazing Spider-Man film of 2012: the high schools and internships. The
high school in 2001 was the stereotypical high school where Parker was
just like every other teenager while the 2012 film introduced what could
be argued as the magnet school given the access to top-of-the-line high
school internships. Peter Parker gets the opportunity to attend a high
school connected (via internship) to a science curriculum and state-of-the-
art facilities to support scientific and technological innovation. Magnet
schools are selective enrollment schools that matriculate students with the
best test scores and grade point averages. Magnet schools are the neolib-
eral invention of school reforms where neighborhood schools are closed
down because they are underperforming with no mention of the perfor-
mance tied to the disinvestment in public education.
In Chicago, 200 public schools were closed from 2002 to 2018 because
of underperformance and under-enrollment (Lutton et al., 2018). The
school closures in Chicago are seen to cause socio-geographic inequalities
in access to education (Lee & Lubienski, 2017). In The Amazing Spider-
Man Black and Brown kids saw state-of-the-art facilities promoting the
promise of market-driven education while living the realities of market-
driven school closures in their neighborhood. The fantasy within Spider-
Man is no longer just about shooting webs and fighting science super
villains, but also the opportunity of attending a school with adequate
facilities and rich science and technology curricula that prepared you to
30 D. K. CAIRO AND V. CABAL
Conclusion
Forty years of living within neoliberal social policies indicate that the mar-
ket mentality of neoliberalism can be identified in all spheres of influence
in the transformation of individual subjectivities, identities, and restruc-
turing of social relationships. As student affairs professionals, we engage in
neoliberal common sense when we speak and structure our practice around
metrics and benchmarks that take the front seat of the student experience.
Even though we continuously talk about the holistic student experience,
the goal is to do everything we can to ensure our students succeed in neo-
liberal culture. As student affairs professionals, we often get pushback
when critiquing neoliberalism, leaving one to wonder “are we all neolib-
eral now”? Our research indicates that yes, as student affairs professionals
we are all neoliberal, but our research also indicates that we are not; we are
more than mere neoliberal subjects. Student affairs practitioners also care
about community and experiences that support the moral and ethical
development of our students. They understand that the metrics of gradu-
ation and retention must be the goalpost but also that the goals should
not dictate the student experience. The foundations of our profession
serve as anchors to a student experience that goes beyond GPA, gradua-
tion, and retention. Our study offers insight into the delicate daily nego-
tiations of existing in a both/and proposition of being agents of
neoliberalism and actively resisting neoliberalism for the sake of students.
References
Alon, S., & Tienda, M. (2007). Diversity, opportunity, and the shifting meritoc-
racy in higher education. American Sociological Review, 72(4), 487–511.
Anderson, G. L., & Cohen, M. I. (2018). The new democratic professional in edu-
cation: Confronting markets, metrics, and managerialism. Teachers
College Press.
Apple, M. W. (1996). Cultural politics and education (Vol. 5). Teachers
College Press.
32 D. K. CAIRO AND V. CABAL
Apple, M. W. (2006). Educating the “right” way: Markets, standards, god, and
inequality. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
Beilin, I. (2016). Student success and the neoliberal academic library. Canadian
Journal of Academic Librarianship., 1, 10–23.
Berg, L. D., Huijbens, E. H., & Larsen, H. G. (2016). Producing anxiety in the
neoliberal university. The Canadian Geographer., 60(2), 168–180.
Besley, A. C., & Peters, M. A. (2006). Neoliberalism, performance and assessment
of research quality. South African Journal of Higher Education., 20(6), 814–832.
Braedley, S., & Luxton, M. (2010). Competing philosophies: Neoliberalism and
challenges of everyday life. In S. Braedley & M. Luxton (Eds.), Neoliberalism
and everyday life (pp. 3–21). McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Brenner, N., & Theodore, N. (2002). Cities and geographies of “actually existing
neoliberalism”. In N. Brenner & N. Theodore (Eds.), Spaces of neoliberalism:
Urban restructuring in North America and Western Europe (pp. 2–32).
Blackwell Publishing.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by
nature and design. Harvard University Press.
Brown, W. (2015). Undoing the demos: Neoliberalism’s stealth revolution. The
MIT Press.
Brubaker, S. J. (2020). Identifying influences on interpersonal violence in LGBTQ
relationships through an ecological framework: A synthesis of the literature.
Intimate Partner Violence and the LGBT+ Community, 53–67.
Cannella, G. S., & Koro-Ljungberg, M. (2017). Neoliberalism in higher educa-
tion: Can we understand? Can we resist and survive? Can we become without
neoliberalism? Cultural Studies. Critical Methodologies, 17(3), 155–162.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1532708617706117
Cannella, G. S., & Miller, L. L. (2008). Constructing corporatist science:
Reconstituting the soul of American higher education. Cultural Studies,
Critical Methodologies, 8(1), 24–38.
Connell, R. (2010). Understanding neoliberalism. In S. Braedley & M. Luxton
(Eds.), Neoliberalism and everyday life (pp. 22–36). McGill-Queen’s
University Press.
Cravey, A. J. (1998). Women and work in Mexico’s maquiladoras. Rowman &
Littlefield.
Darling, N. (2007). Ecological systems theory: The person in the center of the
circles. Research in Human Development., 4(3–4), 203–217.
Dean, M. (2010). Governmentality: Power and rule in modern society. Sage
Publications.
Dominguez, R. F. (2009). U.S. college student activism during an era of neolib-
eralism: A qualitative study of students against sweatshops. The Australian
Educational Researcher., 36(3), 125–138.
2 “ARE WE ALL NEOLIBERAL NOW?” 33
Lutton, L., Vevea, B., Karp, S., Cardona-Maguigad, A., & McGee, K. (2018). A
generation of school closings. WBEZ 91.5. Chicago. https://interactive.wbez.
org/generation-school-closings/
McLachlan Professor Emeritus of Applied Philosophy, H. (2020, September 6).
Why ‘there’s no such thing as society’ should not be regarded with moral revul-
sion. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/
why-theres-no-such-thing-as-society-should-not-be-r egarded-with-moral-
revulsion-136008
Morgan, I., & Amerikaner, A. (2019, January 8). Funding gaps 2018: An analysis
of school funding equity across the US and within each state. US Official News.
Novilla, M., Barnes, M., De La Cruz, N., Williams, P., & Rogers, J. (2006). Public
health perspectives on the family: An ecological approach to promoting health
in the family and community. Family & Community Health, 29(1), 28–42.
https://doi.org/10.1097/00003727-200601000-00005
Olssen, M., & Peters, M. A. (2005). Neoliberalism, higher education, and the
knowledge economy. From the free market to knowledge capitalism. Journal of
Educational Policy., 20(3), 313–345.
Ong, A. (2006). Neoliberalism as exception: Mutations in citizenship and sover-
eignty. Duke University Press.
Oza, R. (2012). The making of neoliberal India: Nationalism gender, and the para-
doxes of globalization. Routledge.
Paat, Y. (2013). Working with immigrant children and their families: An applica-
tion of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory. Journal of Human Behavior
in the Social Environment, 23(8), 954–966. https://doi.org/10.108
0/10911359.2013.800007
Padroni, T. C. (2007). Market movements: African American involvement in school
voucher reform. Routledge.
Pittenger, S. L., Huit, T. Z., & Hansen, D. J. (2016). Applying ecological systems
theory to sexual revictimization of youth: A review with implications for
research and practice. In Aggression and violent behavior, 26 (pp. 35–45).
Collateral Damage: Corporatizing Public Schools, a Threat to Democracy.
Priestley, M. (2019). Sick of study: Student mental ‘illness’ and neoliberal higher
education policy. Durham University, School of Education.
Quadagno, J. (1987). Theories of the welfare state. Annual Review of Sociology.,
13(1), 109–128.
Renn, K. A., & Arnold, K. D. (2003). Reconceptualizing research on college stu-
dent peer culture. The Journal of Higher Education, 74(3), 261–291.
Robertson, L. S. (2008). “Remaking the world”. Neoliberalism and the transfor-
mation of education and teachers’ labor. In M. F. Compton & L. Weiner
(Eds.), The global assault on teaching, teachers, and their unions: Stories of resis-
tance (pp. 11–27). Palgrave Macmillan.
2 “ARE WE ALL NEOLIBERAL NOW?” 35
ARTICLE 83.
According to the intention of Article 82 the following shall
be considered "Head Officials": The State Attorney, Treasurer,
Auditor, Superintendent of Education, Orphan-Master, Registrar
of Deeds, Surveyor-General, Postmaster-General, Head of the
Mining Department, Chief Director of the Telegraph Service,
and Chief of Public Works.
ARTICLE 84.
The President shall be Chairman of the Executive Council, and
in case of an equal division of votes have a casting vote. For
the ratification of sentences of death, or declarations of
war, the unanimous vote of the Executive Council shall be
requisite for a decision. …
ARTICLE 87.
All resolutions of the Executive Council and official letters
of the President must, besides being signed by him, also be
signed by the Secretary of State. The latter is at the same
time responsible that the contents of the resolution, or the
letter, is not in conflict with the existing laws.
ARTICLE 88.
The two enfranchised burghers or members of the Executive
Council contemplated by Article 82 are chosen by the Volksraad
for the period of three years, the Commandant-General for ten
years; they must be members of a Protestant Church, have had
no sentence in a criminal court to their discredit, and have
reached the age of thirty years.
ARTICLE 89.
The Secretary of State is chosen also by the Volksraad, but is
appointed for the period of four years. On resignation or
expiration of his term he is re-eligible. He must be a member
of a Protestant Church, have had no sentence in a criminal
court to his discredit, possess fixed property in the
Republic, and have reached the age of thirty years. …
ARTICLE 93.
The military force consists of all the men of this Republic
capable of bearing arms, and if necessary of all those of the
natives within its boundaries whose chiefs are subject to it.
ARTICLE 94.
Besides the armed force of burghers to be called up in times
of disturbance or war, there exists a general police and corps
of artillery, for which each year a fixed sum is drawn upon
the estimates.
ARTICLE 95.
The men of the white people capable of bearing arms are all
men between the ages of sixteen and sixty years; and of the
natives, only those which are capable of being made
serviceable in the war.
ARTICLE 96.
For the subdivision of the military force the territory of
this Republic is divided into field-cornetcies and districts.
…
ARTICLE 97.
The men are under the orders of the following officers,
ascending in rank: Assistant Field-Cornets, Field-Cornets,
Commandants, and a Commandant-General.
CONSTITUTION OF SWITZERLAND:
Amendments.
{170}
CONSTITUTION OF UTAH.
COOMASSIE,
KUMASSI:
Occupation by the British.
Siege and relief.
COPTIC CHURCH:
Authority of the Pope re-established.
COREA.
COSTA RICA.
CRETE:
Recent archæological explorations.
Supposed discovery of the Palace of Minos and
the Cretan Labyrinth.
Fresh light on the origin of the Alphabet.
CRETE: A. D. 1896.
Conflict between Christians and Mussulmans,
and its preceding causes.
CRETE: A. D. 1897.
Fresh conflicts.
Reports of the British Consul-General and others.
Greek interference and demands for annexation to Greece.
Action of the Great Powers.
Blockade of the island.
CRETE: A. D. 1897.
Withdrawal of Greek troops.
Acceptance of autonomy by the Greek government.
CRETE: A. D. 1897-1898.
Prolonged anarchy, and blockade by the Powers.
Final departure of Turkish troops and officials.
Government established under Prince George of Greece.
CRETE: A. D. 1901.
Successful administration of Prince George of Greece.
CRISPI, Signor:
Ministry.
CRISPI, Signor:
Parliamentary investigation of charges against.
See (in this volume)
ITALY: A. D. 1898 (MARCH-JUNE).
CROKER, "Boss."
CROMER, Viscount:
Administration in Egypt.
----------CUBA: Start--------
Map of Cuba and West Indies.
CUBA: A. D. 1868-1885.
Ten years of insurrection.
The United States and Spain.
The Affair of the Virginius.
End of Slavery.
"In February, 1873, when King Amadeus resigned his crown and a
republic was proclaimed in Spain, the United States made haste to
give the new government recognition and support, which led to
friendly relations between the two countries for a time, and
promised happy results. The Spanish republicans were being
urged to give the Cubans self-government and end slavery in
the whole Spanish domain, and they were lending, at least, a
considerate ear to the advice. But negotiation on that topic
was soon disturbed. On October 31, 1873, the steamer
'Virginius,' sailing under American colors and carrying a
United States registry, was captured on the high seas by the
'Tornado,' a Spanish war vessel, and on the afternoon of the
first of November taken into the port of Santiago de Cuba. The
men and supplies she bore were bound for the insurgents, but
the capture did not occur in Cuban waters. General Burriel,
the commandant of the city, summoned a court-martial, and, in
spite of the protests of the American consul, condemned to
death—at the first sitting—four of the passengers—General W.
A. C. Ryan, an Irish patriot, and three Cubans. They were shot
on the morning of November 4. On the 7th twelve other
passengers were executed, and on the 8th Captain Fry and his
entire crew, numbering 36, making the total number of
executions 53." This barbarous procedure caused hot excitement
in the United States, and demands for reparation were made so
sharply that the two countries came near to war. In the end it
was shown that the "Virginius" was sailing under the American
flag without right, being owned by Cubans and controlled by
them. The vessel was surrendered, however, but foundered off
Cape Fear, while being conveyed to the United States. Her
surviving passengers were released, and an indemnity was paid
for all who were put to death. The brutal officer who took
their lives was never brought to justice, though his
punishment was promised again and again. On the settlement of
the Virginius question, the government of the United States
resumed its efforts to wring concessions to the Cubans from
Spain, and sought to have its efforts supported by Great
Britain and other European powers. Cold replies came from all
the cabinets that were approached. At the same time, the
Spanish government met the demand from America with promises
so lavish (April, 1876), going so far in appearance towards
all that had been asked, that no ground for intervention
seemed left. The act of Secretary Fish, in proposing
intervention to foreign powers, was sharply criticised as a
breach of the Monroe doctrine; but he made no defense.
J. H. Latané,
The Diplomatic Relations of the United States
and Spanish America,
chapter 3.
CUBA: A. D. 1895.
Insurrection renewed.
Early in 1895 a new uprising of the oppressed Cubans was
begun, and on the 7th of December, in that year, T. Estrada
Palma, writing as their authorized representative, presented
to the State Department at Washington a statement setting
forth the causes of the revolt and describing its state of
organization at that time. The causes, he wrote, "are
substantially the same as those of the former revolution,
lasting from 1868 to 1878, and terminating only on the
representation of the Spanish Government that Cuba would be
granted such reforms as would remove the grounds of complaint
on the part of the Cuban people. Unfortunately the hopes thus
held out have never been realized. The representation which
was to be given the Cubans has proved to be absolutely without
character; taxes have been levied anew on everything
conceivable; the offices in the island have increased, but the
officers are all Spaniards; the native Cubans have been left
with no public duties whatsoever to perform, except the
payment of taxes to the Government and blackmail to the
officials, without privilege even to move from place to place
in the island except on the permission of the governmental
authority. Spain has framed laws so that the natives have
substantially been deprived of the right of suffrage. The
taxes levied have been almost entirely devoted to support the
army and navy in Cuba, to pay interest on the debt that Spain
has saddled on the island, and to pay the salaries of the vast
number of Spanish officeholders, devoting only $746,000 for
internal improvements out of the $26,000,000 collected by tax.
No public schools are within reach of the masses for their
education. All the principal industries of the island are
hampered by excessive imposts. Her commerce with every country
but Spain has been crippled in every possible manner, as can
readily be seen by the frequent protests of shipowners and
merchants. The Cubans have no security of person or property.
The judiciary are instruments of the military authorities.
Trial by military tribunals can be ordered at any time at the
will of the Captain-General. There is, beside, no freedom of
speech, press, or religion. In point of fact, the causes of
the Revolution of 1775 in this country were not nearly as
grave as those that have driven the Cuban people to the
various insurrections which culminated in the present
revolution. …
{172}
{173}
CUBA: A. D. 1896-1897.
Captain-General Campos succeeded by General Weyler.
Weyler's Concentration Order and other edicts.
Death of Antonio Maceo.
Weyler succeeded by Blanco.
"Article 1.
All inhabitants of the district of Sancti Spiritus and the
provinces of Puerto Principe and Santiago de Cuba will have to
concentrate in places which are the headquarters of a
division, a brigade, a column, or a troop, and will have to be
provided with documentary proof of identity, within eight days
of the publication of this proclamation in the municipalities.
"Article 2.
To travel in the country in the radius covered by the columns
in operation, it is absolutely indispensable to have a pass
from the mayor, military commandants, or chiefs of
detachments. Anyone lacking this will be detained and sent to
headquarters of divisions or brigades, and thence to Havana,
at my disposition, by the first possible means. Even if a pass
is exhibited, which is suspected to be not authentic or granted
by authority to person with known sympathy toward the
rebellion, or who show favor thereto, rigorous measures will
result to those responsible.
"Article 3.
All owners of commercial establishments in the country
districts will vacate them, and the chiefs of columns will
take such measures as the success of their operations dictates
regarding such places which, while useless for the country's
wealth, serve the enemy as hiding places in the woods and in
the interior.
"Article 4.
All passes hitherto issued hereby become null and void."