The University administration recently released some documents arguing for the University to become a private school. The so-called “White Papers” are deeply problematic and symbolic of a recent social trend of privatization. If a major university pursues this path it will set a dangerous trend.
Let’s review what happens if the University becomes private. State investments in buildings would disappear. Public trust would be gone. And a violation of the principles of inclusion would occur. This would be especially harmful because the state of Oregon specialized its institutions -— Oregon State is agriculture and engineering, while the University is liberal arts and law. If this institution privatizes, it will seriously inhibit the state’s resources to offer a balanced education.
The movement toward privatization comes with risks of exclusivity. The public institution sets a qualification, and anyone that meets that standard can enroll. The private institution can turn down students and is motivated by one primary goal: money. That means each student will be charged more not for the institution, but for the owners. This increased cost and the enrollment preference towards wealthy donors will be an unbearable yoke on poorer students, creating a de facto exclusion. This process of exclusion will limit the poor, persons of color and students with families.
Almost every building on the campus has been built with state funds, loans and partial investments. This process has been gradual with the understanding that the University will offer in return a quality education to all the citizens of Oregon. So if the University walks away, it violates its agreement to keep the shared resources of the state of Oregon for the benefit of all. If the University becomes private, it should pay the state of Oregon every penny, plus interest on all the public investments made in the past. These investments were given with the understanding that they would be kept public. If the state is not reimbursed, the University will have committed larceny for taking public goods, extortion for every time it demanded state funds to provide education and perjury for any time the University appeared before state committees saying it was improving an agency of the state. All the recruitment and improvement for departments in the public name would no longer be for the people of Oregon. These would become costly programs for the wealthiest of Oregon, reinforcing class hierarchy. This in no way would be a move toward progress. The private sector does not give us freedom. Instead, it’s just another form of enslavement, where we are all beholden to the “invisible hand.” You can make all the arguments about donors lowering the cost of education, but there is a reason why Harvard and other Ivy League schools do not suffer from too much enrollment. Work does not justify our lives. We create meaning. Turning to private enterprise to grant equality denies all of private enterprise’s history, which prolonged slavery, indentured servitude, and poor wages and conditions. The public sector can be regulated and is subject to greater scrutiny. What little sovereignty students, faculty and staff have now will be diminished over time with privatization. Abolish private enterprise!