The University Unfettered

An unparalleled account of how a typical public university really works, this book makes a timely and distinctive case for the nonelite institutions that educate the vast majority of America’s college students.

Ian F. McNeely is professor of history and senior associate dean for undergraduate education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A specialist in German history and the history of knowledge, he is the author of three prior books, including Reinventing Knowledge: From Alexandria to the Internet, with Lisa Wolverton (2008).

Holden Thorp, editor in chief, Science family of journals:
As market forces and the pursuit of prestige push public universities to increasingly resemble their private counterparts, historian Ian McNeely takes us on a trip through the specific ways that private-sector approaches, from funding models to administrative practices, have chipped away at foundational public missions. McNeely shows that by rebalancing public investment and reinforcing the values of access and equity, public universities can still return to their roots and serve as engines of societal progress.

Mitchell Stevens, Stanford University:
It’s hard to imagine a better guidebook through the labyrinth that is the public research university of our time. Loved, reviled, and chronically misunderstood, this institution deserves every ounce of the informed criticism and wry wit McNeely serves up in these pages. Any serious discussion of the present and future of higher education in America will be well informed by The University Unfettered.

Elizabeth H. Simmons, executive vice chancellor, University of California, San Diego:
McNeely deftly interprets an exceptional period in the history of a large public research institution to engage the reader with pervasive questions about the state of higher education, from choices about budget models, learning assessments, and research rankings to the twin impacts of shared governance collaboration and entrepreneurial competition.

Steven Brint, University of California, Riverside:
Ian F. McNeely’s The University Unfettered peers under the hood of a modern research university to examine how the intricate machinery operates. McNeely captures both the creative energy and sometimes damaging compromises needed for the university to ride today’s cultural and regulatory currents and sustain the enterprise.