Visiting Scholar to Discuss “What’s at Stake in the Assault on Higher Education”

Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Michael Bérubé will deliver a public lecture, “What’s at Stake in the Assault on Higher Education,” at 7:30 p.m. April 4 in the Baldwin Hall Little Theatre.

Bérubé’s lecture will discuss the defunding of higher education since 1980 and resulting boom in student debt, now estimated at more than $1 trillion. He will address how higher education in the U.S. has, during that period, been redefined as a private investment rather than a public good – and with what consequences.

While at Truman, Bérubé will visit multiple classrooms to discuss his scholarship in literature and disability studies, join faculty involved in campus curricular discussions, meet with student and faculty members of Phi Beta Kappa to discuss issues of academic freedom, and lead a roundtable discussion with faculty and students about disability studies.

Bérubé, recent president of the Modern Language Association, an international organization with more than 26,000 members in 100 countries, is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Literature and director of the Institute for Arts and Humanities at Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of eight books, including “Public Access: Literary Theory and American Cultural Politics”; “Life as We Know It: A Father, A Family, and an Exceptional Child”; “What’s Liberal About the Liberal Arts?”; and, most recently, “The Secret Life of Stories: From ‘Don Quixote’ to ‘Harry Potter,’ How Understanding Intellectual Disability Transforms the Way We Read.”

Phi Beta Kappa member Susan Thomas, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Truman, will introduce Bérubé’s lecture.

This visit is made possible by the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholars program, which has been offering undergraduates the opportunity to meet with some of America’s most distinguished scholars since 1956. Since its founding, the program has sent 636 scholars on 5,188 two-day visits.

Founded in 1776, the Phi Beta Kappa Society is the nation’s oldest and most recognized academic honor society. Its mission is to champion education in the liberal arts and sciences, to recognize academic excellence, and to foster freedom of thought and expression.

Bérubé’s visit to Truman is sponsored by the Phi Beta Kappa, Delta of Missouri Chapter, the Department of English and Linguistics, the School of Arts and Letters, the Office of the Provost and part of the For Words English and Linguistics Events Series.