ACADEMIA Letters

Analects of Higher Education

Brij Mohan

Education facilitates, promotes, and strengthens the process of becoming. It is also the best
antidote to social atavism. It has been my privilege to be an educator on the two sides of the
Atlantic. The long journey has not been without bumps and challenges. An introspective ap-
praisal offers some reflective musings that may save educational institutions from themselves.
Like the temple, churches, and other holy institutions, the Ivory Tower enjoys the ‘holy
cow’ status. But transparency and accountability are increasingly declining. Hegemonic hi-
erarchies, directly and indirectly, influence much-revered donors who render the temples of
learning into factories of careerists, managers, and professionals. Market needs determine the
products. Scholarship for truth and unselfish ends may not ensure survival, let alone recogni-
tion and reward. A culture of paternalism, racism, and mediocrity partakes of a falsely fabled
‘town and gown’ nexus.
The academic milieu has been the microcosm of my world. I have seen the rise and fall of
‘academic freedom’ in the labyrinths of campus politics. The caveman was uncivil, perhaps
even barbarous, but innocent. The modern men and women in power suits are anything but.
Embarrassed by the dualism of my success and failure as an intellectual, teacher, re-
searcher, and administrator, I look back at academiaas a rear mirror of my being. My stu-
dents have always been on my side. Perhaps I wasn’t that bad a teacher. My colleagues,
those who took me for granted, were both angry and bigoted. I always respected legitimate
hierarchical authority. But power-obsessed groups took undue advantages of my “otherness.”
Inadvertently, of course, I rebelled against it at my own expense without making a dent.
Some of the maladies that infect academic bodies involve both structural and functional
causes. Certain questions and answers will delineate basic problems: Why do universities
operate as corporations? Academic leaders need not be CEOs and fundraisers. Perhaps MBAs
would do better.

Academia Letters, June 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Brij Mohan, brijmohan128@gmail.com

Citation: Mohan, B. (2021). Analects of Higher Education. Academia Letters, Article 1221.
https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1221.

1
 I always wondered why highly paid university administrators don’t teach anymore. Maybe
they can’t. If teaching were their calling, they wouldn’t seek out academic bureaucracy.
Sadly, much of campus politics centers around such jobs with fiscal appointments (FY); nine-
months-based (AY) jobs don’t pay summer salaries. Why can’t both faculty and administrators
rotate around a unified model without a dichotomous track? The illusion of power blinds us
all. Tenured faculty are haves; non-tenured ones are have-nots in abeyance to join the coveted
club. Predatory mentorship and race, gender, sexual orientation-based patronage promote
conflicts, sycophancy, spurious scholarship, and mediocrity at the expense of public interest.
Demise if dissent is perhaps the first and gravest casualty of a pervasive crisis. A culture
of fear permeates the academic world which is reflective of complex societal dysfunctional-
ity. A pervasive cultural war goes far beyond America. In India where 1.3bn people have
a lot many existential woes to survive, forces of reaction can incite and inflame mindless is-
sues. The decline of civility particularly endangers democratic institutions that allow different
flames to enlighten, and many flowers to bloom in the garden of knowledge. In America, can
you imagine a classroom full of students with permit-less concealed guns discussing violent
crimes, race matters, new tribalism, and populism?
About two decades ago, I pleaded for subsidizing the entire higher education system. This
would hardly cost a fraction of the world’s largest military spending. It was long before we
knew about the progressive views of senator Bernie Sanders and the French economist Thomas
Piketty. Commoditization of education in a hopelessly stratified society is a recipe for dan-
gerous inequalities. Higher education should not be complicit in manufacturing systemic
inequalities and injustices.
The Enlightenment paradox is fraught with the perils of human ingenuity. It’s my con-
viction that universities are the most successful and proactive institutions that promote and
harness the seeds of construction. Since institutional meltdown is one of the leading factors in
the decline of civil culture, overall deconstruction of higher education assumes paramountcy.
The digital revolution and ravages of the corona 19 pandemic have globally forced an ex-
istential paradigm shift. A multi-trillion-dollar plan for America’s infrastructure renewal is
encouraging with many of its priorities. However, the exclusion of university deconstruction
is unsettling.
Copyright: Author 2021
[1] This article, submitted with humility and pride, spans through six decades of academic
service. Thoughts and recollections flashed past my mind– not without anguish and pain—
reminding me of a long journey–1960 to 2000– through the halls and corridors of several
institutions that I am deeply indebted to. My education gave me a purpose and identity. It also
offered me courage and convictions. Serving higher education was my choice and I have no

Academia Letters, June 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Brij Mohan, brijmohan128@gmail.com

Citation: Mohan, B. (2021). Analects of Higher Education. Academia Letters, Article 1221.
https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1221.

2
regrets. My observations and reflections are not directed against any individual or institution.
These are introspective musings.

Academia Letters, June 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Brij Mohan, brijmohan128@gmail.com

Citation: Mohan, B. (2021). Analects of Higher Education. Academia Letters, Article 1221.
https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1221.