Academia in Anarchy - Economic Diagnosis 0854680306; 978-0854680306

Table of contents :
PART ONE
1 Setting the Scene 3
2 Students: Consumers Who Do Not Buy 17
3 Faculties: Producers Who Do Not Sell 34
4 Taxpayers: Owners Who Do Not Control 62
PART TWO
Preface to Part Two 89
5 The Coming of Confrontation 91
6 The Economics of Violence 112
7 The Strategy of Terror 132
8 Prediction and Prophecy 150
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 178
INDEX 181

Citation preview

ACADEMIA IN ANARCHY

An Econumic Diagrwsis ��

Jaines M. Buchanan & Nicos E. Devletoglou © 1970 by Basic Books, Inc.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 73-103088 SBN 465-00012-6 Manufactured in the United States of America Designed by Vincent Torre

BASIC BOOKS, INC., PUBLISHERS NEW YORK

LONDON

�

Intimidation and threats remain outlaw weapons in a free society. A fundamental governing principle of any great university is that the rule of reason and not the rule of force prevails. Whoever rejects that principle forfeits his right to be a member of the academic community. The university administrator who fails to uphold that principle jeopardizes one of the central pillars of his institution and weakens the very foundation of American education.

RICHARD M. NIXON

Preface

Almost everyone, whether inside or outside the university, has his own description of what is happening to this once­ stable institution of society. There are also as many pre­ scriptions as to what should be done to improve things as there are men who make them. If anything, the chaos in discussion exceeds that in the events discussed. What seems to be needed most at this point is less talk from the top of soft heads and more thought in hard heads. There can be little doubt that we should stop making proposals for re­ form before we understand what we are observing. Pre. scription follows, it does not precede, explanation. And the feature most wanting is an explanation of the turmoil. To provide explanatory visions is the function of theory in all its applications. We certainly need not shun theory here. Alone among the social sciences, economics has a general theory. It starts with a model of behavior which explains many aspects of the modem world, although by no means all. Should we not expect an economic vision of academia to be helpful? This book is an application of simple eco­ nomic theory to the university chaos that is developing everywhere. ix

Preface nt and we hol� permane W e are professional economists . The fir.st eqmps u s to a�­ positions on university faculties ly this ond eq mps us to a_pp _ ply economic reasoning; the sec third quality eqmps .us to reasoning to the university. A bc e�­ rectly to our increasingly ,�h a� apply economics di action" is. een where the vironment. W e have both b tions o� and permanent posi Both of us have h eld visiting guished hot spots, th e U .m­ two of t he world' s more dis tin omics. don School of E con versity of Cal if ornia and the Lon y of mb er of the f acult Buchanan was a permanent me es. He resign�d his alif orni a, Los Angel the U niversity of C 1968-1969. �e expe�enced post during the academic year ent s offices m ��­ economics dep artm the bomb ing of the ­ f 1967, Buchanan was V1S1t vember 1968. I n the spring o School of Economic s, just ing Pr�fessor at the London that year. es of disruptions in March of after the initial seri er ity of ofessor at the U niv � Devletoglou was Visiting Pr spnng of ing the winter and C alifornia, Los Angele s, dur e . y . of th anent member of the facult fu.. · He is a perm 19""1 est r . He took an active inte London School of Economics School in 1967 and .19�8 ,. es­ in the episodic events at the mtimida­ en the p atte�n of pecially in the fall of 1968, wh udents" crystallized. tion by activist minority "st the camand at first-hand, Both of us ob served, j ointly o Black he assassination of tw . ssi. on" pus shock that followed t UCLA "students' discu , Panther students during a e w ithin a s tone s lac p k too at h t t en v an e in January, 196