Rowan Williams on the usefulness of universities

In his typically articulate way, Rowan Williams describes the trend that is spreading throughout the world of academia. And not just academia. My husband spoke last night of how at his work, which is now part of a very large multinational, the push is for EVERYONE to be generating revenue. Yes, everyone can save the company money, and thereby contribute to the bottom line, but how does a bookkeeper generate new revenue, rather than merely ensuring that revenue is not lost through faulty systems and sloppy records? How does a cleaner 'upsell' the clientele? Installing pay toilets? Charging for toilet paper? Many of the positions in a large corporation do not, and indeed ought not (as a potential conflict of interest) be pushed to generate revenue. That's why the corporate metaphor exists: you are part of a body, and not everyone gets to be the hand that takes in the cash. As a classroom teacher, I was not allowed (and rightly so) to become a private tutor to my own students in the subject that I taught them during school hours. I did tutor one student in Greek and Latin etymology in preparation for her taking part in the National Spelling Bee (in which she was a runner up--her brother won a couple of years later, as you can see in a theatrically-released documentary). But I could not have tutored her Latin per se. It would have been a conflict of interest, encouraging me to skimp on my teaching during the day, and rake in the dosh from panicked parents in the evening. (I'm exaggerating slightly....) The university is poorly served if a business model is enforced. There are lessons to be learned from business, but business also has lessons to learn from universities. And businesses clearly are in many cases flunking their exam.

Rowan's article can be found here:
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.aspx?storyCode=2012699