This book examines the successful no-confidence movement led by faculty at Saint Louis University in 2013 in an effort to unseat the university president, considering the reasons for success when similar movements often fail. Through a series of chapters written by faculty from many disciplines at the university, it uses a particular episode of faculty protest to shed light on wider issues concerning the circumstances in which faculty are likely to be motivated to protest, the institutional frameworks that make protest possible and the strategies that get results. As such, it will appeal to scholars of social movements with interests in protest and mobilization in the field of education.
Author(s): Ellen Carnaghan and Kathryn E. Kuhn
Series: The Mobilization Series on Social Movements, Protest, and Culture
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2020
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
Contributors
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 Introduction: Power and protest at an American university
Contentious politics
Power
Protest
Conclusion
Notes
Part I Power
Chapter 2 The rise and decline of a university
Introduction
Neoclassical growth theory and the rise of Saint Louis University
Why institutions fail
Growth under extractive institutions
Critical juncture at Saint Louis University
Going forward
Post revolution
Notes
Chapter 3 Postscript to a deanship
Introduction
The beginning of the end
The shifting narrative
The sound of silence
The cost of silence
Aftermath
Lessons learned
Notes
Chapter 4 Unmasking administrative evil in academia
Unmasking evil in an administrative setting
Passive administrative evil in academe
Recommendations for combatting and avoiding administrative evil
Conclusion
Notes
Part II Protest
Chapter 5 The power of the powerless faculty member
Protest in autocratic regimes and universities
Interviewing activists
Why did faculty get involved? How activists see it
Costs and benefits
Perceived opportunities for change
Social networks
Costs and benefits of network mobilization
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 6 Contested frames and the role of the media in the no-confidence movement
Context
Master frames
Precipitating factors and the emergence of rhetorical and claims-making frames
Mobilization and the use of frames
Contested frames and frame confusion
The end of the contest
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 7 Almost empty places: Jesuit mission and identity as rhetorical Topoi
Jesuit mission and identity: a brief history
Mission as identification
Mission as an almost empty place
The mission as thought
Notes
Chapter 8 (K)No(wing) confidence: A feminist epistemological consideration of suspicion, credibility, and reflexivity in progressive movements for political change
Feminist epistemologies
Who are we?
Comfort norms
How Jesuit values support the demand for niceness
How narrow professional roles support hierarchies of leadership and knowledge
How comfort norms limit the agenda
Concluding thoughts: looking forward
Notes
Chapter 9 Contentious faculty: Theory and practice
Mobilizing faculty protest
Actor and identity constitution
Trajectories of contention
Contentious faculty
Notes
Coda: The idea of a university
Notes
References
Index
