Higher education has seen better days. With rampant grade inflation, an uncertain economic landscape, and student debt approaching two trillion dollars, the national conversation over “diploma mills” and “worthless degrees” has reached a fever pitch. The attacks on higher education cut across the political spectrum, from progressive criticisms of corporatization to conservative claims of leftwing indoctrination.Despite the alarm, little attention has been paid to what professors themselves think of today’s higher ed woes. In a wide-ranging discussion, sociologists Mark Horowitz and Anthony Haynor will report on their recently published national survey of college professors. They will describe the forces undermining academic standards, while sharing provocative and disturbing evidence from their survey. In the end, they argue that the only potential solution to eroding standards is a quixotic one: a renewed national commitment to financing higher education as a public good.

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Mark Horowitz, PhD, is Associate Professor of Sociology at Seton Hall University. His research interests include biosociology, political economy, and the sociology of knowledge. He has published across disciplinary fields, in such journals as Current Anthropology, Sociological Spectrum, and Review of Radical Political Economics.Anthony L. Haynor, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Seton Hall University. His research interests include civilizational prospects, integrated human science, and the Catholic intellectual tradition. He has published on social theory, transhumanism, and Catholic social thought, and is author of Social Practice: Philosophy and Method

Sat., April 22, 5 p.m.
7 Saxon Woods Rd., White Plains, NY