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Reading the comments here, it seems that even very prestigious universities are full of academic pettiness and dysfunction which deny all of us the output of br
by mlsu 3y ago
Reading the comments here, it seems that even very prestigious universities are full of academic pettiness and dysfunction which deny all of us the output of brilliant people like Katalin Karikó.
It leaves me wondering: why do we not create any new universities? Why doesn't a Carnegie of our age create a new university? Brin University? Zuck University? This seems like a no brainer.
I think it might seem difficult to attract new talent to an "unestablished" university. But what if you make a simple promise: we will never, ever get in your way, the way that universities do today. We will never pressure you to publish subpar results. We will never nit-pick your purchase of a laptop. Have vision! Pursue things that are promising to you! We trust you, smart person, and we will give you autonomy to do what you think is promising. Based on what is discussed here, it seems like that would be extraordinarily compelling to the most optimistic, least cynical, and probably at least a handful of the most brilliant researchers out there. If the winning move is not to play the game, don't play.
I don't know. It just seems like there is a narrow-mindedness at play. A sense that "why try to fix this -- we'll never beat UPenn. Maybe not, but isn't it worth a try, based on how dysfunctional academia is? All it takes is the will.
- lupire 3y agoToday they make companies. Karikó went private to great success.
- waterheater 3y agoLook into the difficulties faced by the University of Austin [1] (not the University of Texas at Austin). This is a project which explicitly seems to be pushing back against the current toxic academic environment, yet a major issue they are encountering seems to be degree accreditation. To get "recognized" these days, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) [2] will need to agree that your school teaches things correctly. Of course, the AAUP is responsible for the current toxic academic environment, so it's a catch-22. Zuck University almost certainly will be fully aligned with the AAUP. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Austin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Austin [2] https://www.aaup.org/ https://www.aaup.org/
- ubermonkey 3y agoU of Austin is having difficulty because it's defined from the jump as a right-wing institution.
- Slava_Propanei 3y ago[dead]
- gedy 3y agoI'm honestly interested in what defines them as "right wing". All I'm seeing is media describe them as "anti-woke" and "anti-cancel culture".
- jackmott 3y ago[dead]
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- alwayslikethis 3y agoBelief in free speeh and other traditional values of academic inquiry is considered right wing at best, harmful at worst.
- ubermonkey 3y agoCancel culture is just a term for "if you say something terrible, there may be consequences." Being opposed to consequences for saying or doing terrible things is, apparently, a key tenet of the American right. When someone uses the term "anti-woke," what they are signaling is an opposition to things like fairness, awareness of systemic racism and sexism, and the ability of LGBTQ folks to live openly without fear. As with the prior paragraph, though, opposition to these things is a key position of the American Republican party. Q.E.D.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- etrautmann 3y agoUnless the organization is fundamentally structured with difference incentives, I'm not sure it'll achieve a different outcome. It's a hard but necessary challenge to prioritize research, which requires that every research group advocate the utility of their work and be evaluated in comparison with others.
- ip26 3y agoI agree, the funding model would have to be different. I think there may actually some schools that already do it, but you don’t hear about them much because the research-funded model ultimately drives prestige. A school that just provides a really great education is simply less likely to be famous.
- etrautmann 3y agoYes, there are many different purposes of a modern university. There are plenty of non-R1 universities that focus more on education. No model is "better", but it might be more or less appropriate for different students or professors depending on their goals.
- mlsu 3y agoWell, no, I'm not talking about education. I'm talking about research. I'm saying, can we create a research university that would displace Harvard, MIT, etc. by allowing our brightest researchers to actually do fundamental research instead of churn out incremental grants? Even the smartest people (who are, without a doubt, at MIT and such places) seem to have a hard time just actually pursuing research. Especially research that is not legible to the byzantine bureaucracy of Academia (tm). Increasingly it seems that it's despite these institutions that good research gets done, not because of them. Teaching is another matter as well and is certainly related. The most learning I ever did was at community college. I'd really like to know why we keep tolerating a system of research and teaching in which researchers can't research and teachers cannot teach.
- nvm0n2 3y agoThat's been done dozens of times, we just call them corporate labs instead of universities. And it works fine. There's no reason to care about the university as an institutional form, they just suck in so many ways that are all resolved by proper companies.
- Sai_ 3y agoAzim Premji University? Wealthy people are definitely setting up universities except they are outside the US. The center of gravity of academia is shifting eastward imho. Lagging indicators like patents per capita and Nobel prizes will also follow in a generation or so.
- mlsu 3y agoYes, this is what I'm worried about. The US ought to treat this malaise as an issue of basic national security.
- Sai_ 3y agoThey were treating the malaise by importing people but now, with widespread internet access and isolationist politics, I fail to see how US can continue to be the default destination for academics across the board.
- Fomite 3y agoThey often fund new departments or centers within existing universities, because despite all the complaining about overhead rates, setting up an organization required to house, support, accept funding for, etc. research is non-trivial. My current position is in a department like that - it's funded heavily from several $Person'sName Foundation