Bright college years

by Anne Matthews

On one level, the world of higher education is still, as Matthews puts it, "a chunk of the twentieth century dropped live and squabbling on the threshold of the twenty-first." But behind the stately trees and lovely towers a powerful hidden life has taken root, as academe is buffeted by the same economic and demographic forces that are drastically reshaping the rest of society. What's going on in there? And while we're at it, what exactly, these days, is college for? Tracking and mapping the academic year, Matthews casts a searchlight in turn on those who learn, those who teach, and those who arrange, especially the makers and managers of money and image whose methods shape higher education more strongly every year. In the process, she goes behind the scenes at every type of school: enormous state universities like Texas or Arizona, where finding French class requires a map and a bus ticket; sleek country-club schools like Vanderbilt or USC, where student allowances can exceed faculty