We asked too much of the American university

Photo by Ajay Suresh via Wikimedia CommonsThe story of the rise and possible impending fall of the American university system is, in many ways, the story of modern America. As the country’s unifying institutions withered, one new institution attempted to step into the void: the American university. This expansion inadvertently but inevitably thrust a new role on American universities — that of a broad socially unifying institution. But American universities were accustomed to taking on big new duties. The federal government and companies also funded university research, of course, through grants and sponsorships.