Short Commentary: Under Fire: Academic Managerialism in the Art and Design School (Essay‪)‬

As the United States (US) financial sector experienced 'meltdown' in 2008, a different but not unrelated 'meltdown' continued its decades-long impact on art and design education in the US. Seemingly hanging in the balance has been culture itself, rationed so that it becomes a source of conformity, not critical dissent. Symptoms of ongoing 'meltdown' in US art and design education at the tertiary level are many. Rising costs have continued to threaten access. This has come just as the recent economic reshuffle, largely manufactured in the US, has led to a decrease in student bursaries and student employment opportunities used to defray cost. Delayed progress towards degrees and diplomas--if not complete cessation--has followed. Also, central administration's talk of 'financial exigency' has hung in the air along with the possibility that 'shock' treatment--as Naomi Klein (2007) might describe it--will follow. This 'shock' has included academic management unilaterally taking drastic steps, like abolishing tenure, increasing teaching loads and institutional service requirements, all while actually and effectively cutting pay, hiring contingent faculty to do what tenured or tenure-track academics once did, and feverishly introducing new online courses (even in art and design schools) in the name of 'efficiency'.