Governmentality in higher education : a critical analysis of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

In this dissertation, the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) serves as a nodal point through which to examine the power relations shaping the direction and practices of higher education in the twenty-first century. Theoretically, my analysis is informed by Foucault’s concept of governmentality, briefly defined as a technology of power that influences or shapes behavior from a distance. This form of governance operates through apparatuses of security, which include higher education. Foucault identified three essential characteristics of an apparatus—the market, the milieu, and the processes of normalization—through which administrative mechanisms and practices operate and govern populations. In this project, my primary focus is on the governance of faculty and administrators, as a population, at residential colleges and universities. I argue that the existing milieu of accountability is one dominated by the neoliberal assumption that all activity—including higher education—works best when governed by market forces alone, reducing higher education to a market-mediated private good. Under these conditions, what many in the academy believe is an essential purpose of higher education—to educate students broadly, to contribute knowledge for the public good, and to serve as society’s critic and social conscience (Washburn 227)—is being eroded. Although NSSE emerged as a form of resistance to commercial college rankings, it did not challenge the forces that empowered the rankings in the first place. Indeed, NSSE data are now being used to make institutions even more responsive to market forces. Furthermore, NSSE’s use has a normalizing effect that tends to homogenize classroom practices and erode the autonomy of faculty in the educational process. It also positions students as part of the system of surveillance. In the end, if aspects of higher education that are essential to maintaining a civil society are left to be defined solely in market terms, the result may be a less vibrant and, ultimately, a less just society.

Inhibition of FcepsilonRI-dependent mediator release and calcium flux from human mast cells by sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like lectin 8 engagement

BACKGROUND: Sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like lectins (Siglecs) are a family of glycan-binding inhibitory receptors, and among them, Siglec-8 is selectively expressed on human eosinophils, basophils, and mast cells. On eosinophils, Siglec-8 engagement induces apoptosis, but its function on mast cells is unknown. OBJECTIVE: We sought to study the effect of Siglec-8 engagement on human mast cell survival and mediator release responses. METHODS: Human mast cells were generated from CD34+ precursors. Apoptosis was studied by using flow cytometry. Mast cell mediator release or human lung airway smooth muscle contraction was initiated by FcepsilonRI cross-linking with or without preincubation with Siglec-8 or control antibodies, and release of mediators was analyzed along with Ca++ flux. RBL-2H3 cells transfected with normal and mutated forms of Siglec-8 were used to study how Siglec-8 engagement alters mediator release. RESULTS: Siglec-8 engagement failed to induce human mast cell apoptosis. However, preincubation with Siglec-8 mAbs significantly (P < .05) inhibited FcepsilonRI-dependent histamine and prostaglandin D(2) release, Ca++ flux, and anti-IgE-evoked contractions of human bronchial rings. In contrast, release of IL-8 was not inhibited. Siglec-8 ligation was also shown to inhibit beta-hexosaminidase release and Ca++ flux triggered through FcepsilonRI in RBL-2H3 cells transfected with full-length human Siglec-8 but not in cells transfected with Siglec-8 containing a tyrosine to phenylalanine point mutation in the membrane-proximal immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motif domain. CONCLUSION: These data represent the first reported inhibitory effects of Siglec engagement on human mast cells.

PARTICIPANT IMPACTS FROM A PARTICIPATORY WATER MODELING WORKSHOP IN THE SONORA RIVER BASIN, MEXICO

Much of the research in the field of participatory modeling (PM) has focused on the developed world. Few cases are focused on developing regions, and even fewer on Latin American developing countries. The work that has been done in Latin America has often involved water management, often specifically involving water users, and has not focused on the decision making stage of the policy cycle. Little work has been done to measure the effect PM may have on the perceptions and beliefs of decision makers. In fact, throughout the field of PM, very few attempts have been made to quantitatively measure changes in participant beliefs and perceptions following participation. Of the very few exceptions, none have attempted to measure the long-term change in perceptions and beliefs. This research fills that gap. As part of a participatory modeling project in Sonora, Mexico, a region with water quantity and quality problems, I measured the change in beliefs among participants about water models: ability to use and understand them, their usefulness, and their accuracy. I also measured changes in beliefs about climate change, and about water quantity problems, specifically the causes, solutions, and impacts. I also assessed participant satisfaction with the process and outputs from the participatory modeling workshops. Participants were from water agencies, academic institutions, NGOs, and independent consulting firms. Results indicated that participant comfort and self-efficacy with water models, their beliefs in the usefulness of water models, and their beliefs about the impact of water quantity problems changed significantly as a result of the workshops. I present my findings and discuss the results.

Vom gesellschaftlichen Engagement für den Islam zum islamischen Engagement für die Gesellschaft – Verschiebungen In Tariq Ramadans Plädoyer für eine ganzheitliche Moderne

Tariq Ramadan (born 1962) is not only a leading thinker of Islamic Reformism, but also the most prominent Muslim actor in the ongoing reconfiguration of secularity in Europe. As a guiding back- ground, the introduction to this paper establishes that by now a public role for religion in secular societies is widely accepted, albeit attached to conditions (1). After an insight into the self-posi- tioning of Ramadan, followed by a comprehensive overview of secondary literature (2), I argue for two – discernible rather than clear-cut – phases to be identified within his discourse over 16 years: Considering secular societies as devoid of values, Ramadan promotes a distinct Islamic alternative that grounds its (modern) principles (allegedly) in revelation only, and also includes specific norms of Islamic law (3). Later, the Islam to be realized consists almost exclusively of ethics – of which the basic values are shared by, and even to be established with, all members of society (4). Ramadan’s continuous plea for a holistic modernity is elaborated on at the end of this paper (5).