The university system increasingly resembles a corporate or business enterprise for a variety of reasons, largely economic but also societal. While this shift has benefited many academic units in terms of resource allocation, it has tended to marginalize the humanities and social sciences, say leading academic humanists.

These issues, among others, will be addressed by some of the foremost thinkers in academic humanities today during a two-day conference on the Cornell University campus, "The Idea of the University," sponsored by the Society for the Humanities at Cornell (SHC).

Conference events will be Friday, Oct. 18, 2 to 4 p.m., and Saturday, Oct. 19, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with all sessions in 700 Clark Hall. The conference is free and open to the public.

Dominick LaCapra, director of the SHC and the Bowmar Professor of Humanistic Studies at Cornell, will provide opening remarks on Friday, to be followed by guest speakers, including Cornell President Hunter Rawlings and Neil Rudenstine, Harvard University president emeritus. Saturday's speakers include: Stanley Fish, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of English and criminal justice at the University of Illinois-Chicago; Catharine Stimpson, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and University Professor at New York University; and Daniel Fallon, chair of the Carnegie Corp's education division. Joining the concluding panel discussion will be Cornell Provost Biddy Martin and President Emeritus Frank H.T. Rhodes. (See complete schedule, below.)

"While there are many good historical, sociological and economic studies of the university, there is relatively little good critical analysis of its current state and how it came about," said LaCapra in describing the importance of the conference, which, he said, is intended to help fill that gap. "Another closely related issue is the nature of a liberal arts education given the structure of the contemporary university and its relation to the larger social, economic and political world," LaCapra added.

The conference is part of SHC's yearly theme-focused fellowship programs that attract innovative scholars from around the world. SHC was established at Cornell in 1966 to support research and encourage imaginative teaching in the humanities. It is intended to be, at once, a research institute, a stimulus to educational innovation and a continuing society of scholars.

SHC promotes research on central concepts, methods and problems in the humanities and encourages serious and sustained discussion between teachers and learners at all levels.

For more information about the conference, contact Mary Ahl at SHC, (607) 255-4068 or mea4@cornell.edu.

The Idea of the University conference schedule:

Friday, Oct. 18

2 p.m. – Greetings: Dominick LaCapra, SHC director

2 p.m. – Introduction: Cornell President Hunter Rawlings.

2:45 p.m. – Speaker: Neil Rudenstine, senior adviser, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and president emeritus, Harvard University, "The Idea of a University: Newman to Now: Altered but Persistent Principles."

4 p.m. – Speaker: Daniel Fallon, Carnegie Corp. education division chair, "On the Past, Present and Future of the Liberal Arts."

Saturday, Oct. 19

10 a.m. – Speaker: Stanley Fish, dean of Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois-Chicago, "Take This Job and Do It: The Work of a Dean at the University in Ruins."

11:15 a.m. – Speaker: Catharine Stimpson, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, New York University, "The Idea of the Corporate University."

2:30 p.m. – Speaker: Bruce Robbins, professor of English and comparative literature, Columbia University, "Merit: An Idea of the University."

4-6 p.m. – Concluding panel discussion with presenters Cornell Provost Biddy Martin and President Emeritus Frank H.T. Rhodes.