NEW FRONTIERS IN EDUCATION, CULTURE, AND POLITICS The Corporatization of Student Affairs Serving Students in Neoliberal Times Daniel K. Cairo · Victoria Cabal New Frontiers in Education, Culture, and Politics Series Editor Kenneth J. Saltman Educational Policy Studies University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago, IL, USA New Frontiers in Education, Culture, and Politics focuses on both topical educational issues and highly original works of educational policy and theory that are critical, publicly engaged, and interdisciplinary, drawing on contemporary philosophy and social theory. The books in the series aim to push the bounds of academic and public educational discourse while remaining largely accessible to an educated reading public. New Frontiers aims to contribute to thinking beyond the increasingly unified view of public education for narrow economic ends (economic mobility for the individual and global economic competition for the society) and in terms of efficacious delivery of education as akin to a consumable commodity. Books in the series provide both innovative and original criticism and offer visions for imagining educational theory, policy, and practice for radically different, egalitarian, and just social transformation. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14741 Daniel K. Cairo • Victoria Cabal The Corporatization of Student Affairs Serving Students in Neoliberal Times Daniel K. Cairo Victoria Cabal Office of the Vice President for Equity David Eccles School of Business Diversity and Inclusion University of Utah University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT, USA Salt Lake City, UT, USA New Frontiers in Education, Culture, and Politics ISBN 978-3-030-88127-6 ISBN 978-3-030-88128-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88128-3 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. 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Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover credit: gremlin/getty images This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland A cknowledgments We want to thank the people who made this book possible. To friends and colleagues whose ongoing conversations push us to think and consider the possibilities and impact of our research, and who continue to teach us that thinking is a collective process. To Dr. Amy Bergerson for her countless hours reading and editing our work and for her wisdom and guidance throughout the research process. We would also like to acknowledge Dr. Karnell McConnell-Black our Ed.D. research colleague for his contribution to the original study; and to our Ed.D. committee members Dr. Laurence Parker and Dr. Kathryn Coquemont for their thoughtful guidance throughout our research process. To our families and friends for giving us the space and time needed to research and write and for cheering us on along the way. Dan would like to thank his husband Derrick Maylone for countless hours of labor, love, and dedication to our home so that Dan could dedi- cate time to this manuscript; and for his patience every time Dan brought up how you could apply a neoliberal lens to everything, such as drag queens. Dan would like to thank both his mother Hilda Cairo and his adoptive parent Kevin King for the deep lessons of love, solidarity, and what it means to be in community with people which informed the spirit of this research and manuscript. Victoria would like to acknowledge her mother Lucy Cabal for always teaching her to keep moving adelante and strive to achieve goals she never knew possible. She would like to thank her partner Matthew Daufenbach v vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS for all the meals he cooked to allow for late night writing, and the various pep talks that kept her going. She would like to acknowledge her family and friends for their encouragement, love, and for constantly listening to her research topic. We would like to thank Dr. Kenneth Saltman and Dr. Pauline Lipman for their advice and guidance on turning our research into a book for pub- lication. Lastly, we would like to thank our mentors Dr. Pauline Lipman and Dr. Christelle Estrada who have shaped our understanding of educa- tional equity and social justice. c ontents 1 Introduction 1 References 9 2 “Are we all neoliberal now?” 13 Neoliberalism 14 Neoliberalism in Student Affairs 15 Classical Liberalism 16 The New in Neoliberalism 18 Neoliberal Common Sense 19 The Neoliberal Ecological System (Neoliberalism, “it’s behind me isn’t it”) 20 Conclusion 31 References 31 3 Corporatization of Higher Education and Student Affairs 37 The Emergence of Corporatization in Higher Education 38 Neoliberalization of Higher Education 38 Impact of Corporatization on Student Affairs 50 Conclusion 52 References 52 4 Student Success 57 Student Success 58 Conclusion 67 References 67 vii viii CONTENTS 5 The Impact of Corporate Values on Student Affairs: The Case Study 71 Methodology 72 Student Affairs Trends Guiding Our Research 80 Conclusion 81 References 83 6 Neoliberalism in Student Affairs: A “Both/And” Proposition 85 Owning Exceptional Care 85 Conclusion 128 References 129 7 Challenging Corporate Values Through Good Sense Solutions 133 Individual 136 Micro-system 138 Meso-system 140 Exo-system 142 Macro-system 145 Conclusion 147 References 149 8 Post-Script: The Failed Promise of Neoliberalism: Uncertainty 2020 and Beyond 153 The Failed Promises of Neoliberalism 156 The Silver Lining in Neoliberalism’s Failed Promises 163 References 163 Appendix A 167 Appendix B 169 Appendix C 171 CONTENTS ix Appendix D 175 Appendix E 177 Appendix F 183 Index 185