The University

About the Book

The twenty-first century is lurching chaotically into a perilous and uncertain future. Once vibrant and creative, the University—now large, anachronistic, and bureaucratic—has all but exhausted its capabilities to respond to challenges and threats from within and without. Years of hypocrisy and power politics have taken their toll on the would-be “second Caltech.” Now, everything is going wrong. A cynical attempt to fire a popular young teacher, Alistair Higham, explodes as students, parents, alumni, and the professors’ professional organization come to the aid of the teacher. Investigation by the professional organization brings other injustices to light. It seems likely that the University will be censored and will lose its accreditation. The neighborhood around the University rises in protest over the latter’s ham-handed attempt to have a block of lower-middle-class houses razed to make room for a parking lot. Tight connections with industry make the University a partner in dumping toxic wastes in poor Mexican American neighborhoods and in mining in mountain wildernesses. Eventually, a crafty liaison with the oil industry comes to a head as the University is revealed to be an indirect participant in genocide in Quetzalgalpa, a remote and war-ravaged Central American country

About the Author

Kenyon B. Dc Greene grew up in Hollywood, California. He attended UCLA, where he received all his degrees. His Ph.D. is in physiological psychology, an interdisciplinary field connecting biology and psychology. He studied chemistry and geology almost to the bachelor’s level. He has worked as a human factors scientist, specializing in the design of complex, computerized command-and-control systems, at System Development Corporation. Northrop Corporation, and Aerospace Corporation. He has taught at the Universities of California. Montana, and Southern California. He has authored over 100 articles and seven books, lie is intimately familiar with the real world through travels to and work in over 212 countries on all seven continents.