The Corporatization of Student Affairs: Serving Students in Neoliberal Times

Cairo and Cabal provide a depthful and incisive look at the ways neoliberalism has shaped work in student affairs. This book offers an historically rich and detailed account of the tensions that arise for laborers in that community, and some of the ways student affairs workers have been able to do the work they are passionate about in developing the "whole student" while butting up against the constraints of a neoliberal leadership style that has placed efficiency and time-to-graduation constraints in front of the educative needs of students. A must read for anyone in student affairs, critical pedagogues, and critical studies about administration of the modern university!
- Ryan King-White, Towson University

This volume explores the tensions between the student affairs foundation of holistic student development and the changing culture of corporatization. While there is ample evidence of neoliberalism in the academic affairs of higher education there is very little to no research to understand how neoliberalism is driving the corporatization of student affairs. This book argues that understanding neoliberalism in student affairs is crucial to student success and the student experience. The authors provide contextualized examples for understanding our positionality within the neoliberal system, as well as practical recommendations on resisting market values as common sense, thereby helping to preserve the profession and to imagine a new one centered on people, equity, and justice.

Daniel K. Cairo serves as Special Assistant for Strategy and Operations to the Vice President of Equity Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Utah where he leads campus strategies that situate equity and belonging as key cornerstones to student success . He also served as Interim Dean of Students, Assistant Dean of Students, and Director of the Student Diversity and Inclusion Center at Westminster where he led a strategy for first-generation and low income students that garnished the college as a First Forward Institution by NASPA. Lastly, he also served as Assistant Director at the Campus Advocacy Network at the University of Illinois at Chicago.