Academic Duty

The university is under attack from all sides. Parents and students resent the escalating costs of education and wonder where the money is being spent. Aspiring scholars feel betrayed by an institution that prepares them for nonexistent jobs. Critics on the right condemn teachers who negelect "the canon" while critics on the left condemn the creeping corporatism on campus. Politicians seek greater control over the conduct of research and add new conditions to the use of government funds. Academics themselves are increasingly uneasy in an environment that fosters competition, discourages co-operation and has made "publish or perish" a condition of survival. This book aims to examine teaching, graduate training, research and their ethical context in the research university. Aware of the numerous pressures that academics face, from the persuit of open inquiry in the midst of culture wars, to confusion and controversy over the ownership of ideas and the scramble for declining research funds and facilities, the author explores the whys and wherefores of academic misconduct. The author also suggests that meaningful reform cannot take place until more rigorous standards of academic responsibility are embraced by both faculty and the administration.