Activism Against Standard: Who Saves University?

Abstract

The strong pressure that is now, more than ever, being exerted on higher education is abating its capability to work directly towards the common good from the place of a knowledge-based organization. This result affects the relationship between the university and the third sector via the implementation of service learning, action research and other models of synergy. From the analysis of scientific publications and interviews of both academic managers and activist professors, this document describes two complex profiles (MOR and SRIP) which help make sense of the reactions of university members when facing those pressures. These reactions show four dichotomous criteria: attitudes facing hegemony (market trend versus social trend), reactions to pressure (obedience versus resistance), academic impartiality (neutrality versus positioning), and positions on pragmatism (realism versus idealism). Thereby, MOR profile is defined by (M)arket style, (O)bedience, and (R)ealism, whereas SRIP profile is defined by (S)ocial trend, (R)esistance, (I)dealism, and (P)ositioning. This document describes consequences in university-third sector work, and proposes ways to solve these problems.