U.S. higher education has been much in the news lately, and not in a good way. The growing polarization and acrimony, moreover, seem likely to get worse under current government policies toward higher education. In Libertarian Land, all colleges and universities are private. Governments
I look at universities like dance clubs. The doorman knows what vibe the club wants to achieve, and accordingly gives entrants a thumbs up or down. Admissions policies might seem brutal and arbitrary, but they are key to creating the "experience" that the customer is paying for (besides the pride of being admitted). Fortunately, Berghain and Harvard have plenty of competition.
I could imagine a libertarianish world where the government may need some research done that would be more efficiently done in a private, academic lab, and so could hire the job out. Can a private University say to Uncle Sam - yes, we will take the contract, and here is the price, but read the fine print becasue it says that buying this product from us, a private company, gives you no rights to interfere in any way in how we run our business. (Do I get to tell my hairstylist whether he can spank his children?) Is that too fantastical to imagine? What kind of changes in federal law would be necessary for such a world to exist?
exactly!
I look at universities like dance clubs. The doorman knows what vibe the club wants to achieve, and accordingly gives entrants a thumbs up or down. Admissions policies might seem brutal and arbitrary, but they are key to creating the "experience" that the customer is paying for (besides the pride of being admitted). Fortunately, Berghain and Harvard have plenty of competition.
I could imagine a libertarianish world where the government may need some research done that would be more efficiently done in a private, academic lab, and so could hire the job out. Can a private University say to Uncle Sam - yes, we will take the contract, and here is the price, but read the fine print becasue it says that buying this product from us, a private company, gives you no rights to interfere in any way in how we run our business. (Do I get to tell my hairstylist whether he can spank his children?) Is that too fantastical to imagine? What kind of changes in federal law would be necessary for such a world to exist?