Sponsored by Academic Search
CIC institutions are part of a diverse US higher education ecosystem confronting a dramatic renegotiation of the academic social contract. The academic social contract is an implicit agreement in which private colleges and universities provide myriad services to society in exchange for public subsidy, autonomy, and prestige. In this session, experts in the history and sociology of education will discuss the origin and evolution of the academic social contract; summarize the political, economic, and competitive dynamics that have eroded the contract from its zenith during the twentieth-century Cold War; and challenge independent colleges and universities to take proactive leadership in addressing the most pressing civic challenges of our time.