Shape and Shaping of the College and University in America

This book presents the issues, controversies, and key players that formed and enabled the American college and university to endure as a critical institution of the nation and society.

Stephen J. Nelson is professor of education and educational leadership at Bridgewater State University and senior scholar in the Leadership Alliance at Brown University.

Chapter 1 Religion in the Nation and the Academy Chapter 2 The University: What is It and How Does Its Center Hold? Chapter 3 Contentious Compatibility and the Common Good: The University as Servant and Critic in a Democracy Chapter 4 The Purpose of the College: Clashes over Liberal Education and Ideas that Prevail Chapter 5 The Rise of the University: The Influence of Progressivism and the Social Gospel Chapter 6 Battles over Liberty, Academic Freedom and Free Speech Chapter 7 The Disuniting of America and the University: A Reprise of Academic Freedom and the Threat of Balkanization in the Quest for Pluralism and Diversity Chapter 8 The Contemporary Ideological World of the McCarthy Era to Present: Political Rightness and Wrong-Headedness Chapter 9 A Coda: The Concept of a University in America and the Culture We Deserve