The Future of the Research University and the Fate of the Humanities

The American research university has received a great deal of attention during the past decade or so, mostly by concerned observers who believe that the research university is in danger of losing its crucial role in the American system of higher education (Ehrenberg; Cole, Barber, and Graubard; Whiston and Geiger). Under these circumstances, a discussion of its future and its potential impact on the development of the humanities in particular, appears to be a difWcult and potentially not-very-rewarding task. If the skeptics are correct in their analysis, the university's future is at best uncertain, which means that the fate of the humanities as part of the research university is equally uncertain. Among the critics of the more recent evolution of the university we find, for instance, Bill Readings, who has argued that the new university (by which he means mostly the research university) is more interested in the excellence of its administration and its national reputation than in its commitment to the subject matter of teaching or research. The "university of excellence" strives for public recognition without much regard for the values that once defined the idea of a university. By contrasting the contemporary American or international university with Humboldt's ideal of the university, Readings gets the fuel for his highly suggestive and far-reaching polemic without paying too much attention to the actual evolution of the American research university during the twentieth century and its more recent difficulties. However, these problems must be examined in more specific terms than Readings's rather general charges allow (for a critical assessment, see LaCapra).

Therefore I propose to begin with a brief account of the present state of the American research university by examining the more recent development of its central elements before I address the complex question of its future and its likely impact on the humanities. This present state has frequently been described in terms of a crisis, especially in the humanities (Hohendahl 2000), yet we should keep in mind that the social sciences have not necessarily done better, and even the natural sciences, although they have traditionally been considered the successful core of the modern research university (Geiger 1986, Geiger 1993), these days find themselves in a discouraging financial environment. The very notion of research as a process of cognitive learning unhindered by pressures that are unrelated to the idea of scientific work can no longer be taken for granted. Observers such as Charles M. Vest and Neal Lane have pointed out that the methods and expectations of doing research in the academy have definitely changed during the past two decades.

The use of the term "crisis" for these changes still presupposes the notion that we can overcome the present problems and then return to a state of normalcy that would look more like the past than the dreaded present. However, it seems to me that such a return to a status quo ante is unlikely; in other words, many of the changes that have occurred have to be understood as irreversible transformations. The research university of the twenty-first century will, I believe, significantly differ from the model of the mid-twentieth century that we still in many ways consider the norm. Furthermore, I feel that the changes of the past twenty years are a reasonably good indication of the direction in which the research university will develop.

In the following analysis I want to focus on selected aspects of this transformation. I will do this in the form of theses rather than by way of a full and systematic analysis. In these theses I will address several issues, among them the political and social environment of the university, its organizational structure, and the definition of research in different fields. What I want to show is that the function of the research university has been altered. In particular, cultural, social, and political expectations have changed and therefore also the climate in which the institution has to operate. Needless to say, the humanities have not remained unaffected by these transformations.

The history of the American research...