Two Cheers for Higher Education: Why American Universities Are Stronger Than Ever—and How to Meet the Challenges They Face by Steven G. Brint (review)

In this exceptionally well-researched book, Steven Brint provides a historical account of the developments that higher education in the United States has experienced since 1980. University and college administrators, as well as governing board members, would greatly benefit from this book because it offers a comprehensive perspective on how the American system of higher education developed in the late twentieth- and early twenty-first centuries and the challenges it currently faces.

Although not unaware of the shortcomings in higher education—from student loan debt to the ongoing attrition of state funding for colleges and universities, from the decline in enrollment to the increase of the ranks of adjunct faculty, from the controversies associated with free speech to growing online competition—Brint, throughout his book, uses various indicators to provide a confident and optimistic take on how American higher education has responded to these challenges. For example, the amount of research and development dollars that have gone to universities between 1980 and 2010 went up nine times in constant dollars—not only funding by federal agencies but also by private donors. Likewise, the number of research outputs by universities went up exponentially. Another indicator he uses is growing enrollment; he argues that if the sector were doing extremely poorly, people wouldn't want to go to college where in fact, between 1980 and 2015, enrollment has nearly doubled at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Brint argues that "Beyond the din of the latest protests about sexual violence on campus or controversial speakers causing an uproar, some remarkably positive trends have left American universities bigger, stronger, and in a more influential position than ever before."¹

Brint delineates three "logics of development," or ideas that have guided institutional practices and enabled them to expand and increase in prominence. The first and most established of these logics is academic professionalism—the traditional discipline-based system of knowledge creation and output. Then, beginning in the 1980s colleges and universities began to experience external pressures related to both innovation and diversity—those ultimately led to the second and the third logics that currently shape American higher education. The push to use and grow university research for advancing economic development through the invention of new technologies with commercial potential was made possible by investments by the federal government, private donors, and individual families. This push led to the second logic of development, namely, an alternative system of academic innovationism, including market-driven partnerships, especially with scientific and technological innovators outside the academy. The growing commitment to diversity and to use colleges and universities as instruments of social inclusion and equity led to the third logic of development, namely, social inclusion—the incorporation of once-marginalized groups through financial aid and diversity initiatives.

Together, these three interconnected "logics of development" contributed to the growing intellectual and financial prominence of American colleges and universities. Brint also explains the challenges brought about by these logics. For example, the goal of and commitment to social inclusion also caused tension between proponents of diversification and meritocracy. Similarly, academic professionalism was challenged by major patrons' (private donors and corporations) desire for innovation and economic mobility while academic entrepreneurs ignored their department and campus responsibilities and came with "nontraditional" (i.e., commercial) research agendas.

While Brint's argument in favor of American higher education focuses in large part on rates of research production and technological innovations, he is not blind to its shortcomings. Here is where the puzzling "Two Cheers" of the title begins to make sense. In chapter five, "Multiplying Status Locations," Brint discusses the fact that despite the college-for-all era (discussed in detail in chapter four), there is a growing inequality across the American higher education system—within and across institutions. For example, within institutions there is a...