The Co-option of the University and the Privileging of Annihilation

It is a popular belief in modern democratic societies that the universities are unique as sites of teaching, inquiry, research, and writing which, above all, are marked by their independence from the various forces which influence so much of the life outside of the academy. Unfortunately, the popular belief is wrong; and is particularly wrong where the universities in question are defined, as most are wont to define themselves, as ‘research universities’, and where the disciplines are those most in demand by military/industrial interests, or most given to pretences of prediction and control, and sought after by those policy communities of the state which seek power in, and over, human affairs, both at home and abroad. In plain terms, if independent inquiry in the ‘elevant’ areas of the mainstream American research universities, and under the conditions outlined, is predicated upon the independence of the individual university, then, on an everyday basis, those universities have been, and remain, hopelessly compromised.