Paying For The Party

Paying For The Party

Adult nonfiction
"A third of American graduates matriculate at four year public
universities, founded with the intent of helping those who aspire to
improve their circumstances. Historically tax payers have funded
these schools with the understanding that they serve the public, and
public institutions have offered stepping-stones for many low-income,
immigrant, and minority individuals. It is an open question at this
historical moment whether they are still serving this function or will
continue to do so in the future."
It's a question I've pondered a lot on lately. In our nation,
where the gap between the haves and have nots has widened to an abyss,
many factors are weakening the ability of land grant colleges to
bridge the chasm. Justin Morrill's dream is being massively
betrayed. So when I learned about Elizabeth Armstrong and Laura T.
Hamilton's Paying For The Party: How College Maintains Inequality I
got my hands on a copy.
During the 2004-2005 school year the authors and their team of
graduate and undergraduate students lived in a residence hall with a
party dorm reputation at a public research university. Over five
years they continued to interview their 53 subjects. During that year
they were in for a big surprise. Their initial focus had been college
as "a place for learning about sexuality." The dimension of class kept
popping up. Most privileged students stayed in their parents'
affluent situations. Few lesser privileged students achieved upward
mobility. Although public universities were founded as equalizers,
reduced funding has pushed them, for the sake of survival, into wooing
the well off who can pay their own way. This has created a "mismatch"
between what they offer and what everyone else needs.
"The title of this book reflects the cost of this mismatch.
When universities divert resources to attracting and serving affluent,
socially oriented students--'paying for the party,' if you will--other
students and families bear the cost. They place their faith in a
system that does not serve them well, and pay the price with a lower-
quality and limited career options. American society also loses, as
the potential of students from ordinary means remains unrealized."
Paying for the party is meticulously researched. The subject is
quite complex. Armstrong and Hamilton do a wonderful job of
describing the strands and how they relate to one another. The
liberal interspersing of their subjects' experiences during and after
college, though, is what really makes the book come to life.
The authors have strong concerns not only for the underserved
populations, but for the future of land grant colleges. The book was
published in 2013. It remains all too relevant. In fact, with
legislators increasingly seeing higher education as an increasingly
easy place to make austerity cuts and social stratification in
overdrive, we have even more cause for concern.
On a personal note, the last Saturday in April, between an accepted
students day and the Healthy High race, Wells was a hive of activity.
We had 750 for brunch!!! Many were first timers who had lots of
questions. Well our brunch team shone. We gave the crowd a first
rate dining experience. I was serving. We had some wonderful people
come through. It was one little girl's fifth birthday. She was all
smiles when I told her where the ice cream was.
A great big shout out goes out to all on that brunch team, especially
the chefs who were really hustling to put out enough food.
jules hathaway


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