Composition as Management Science: Toward a University without a WPA

Abstract

Our basic claim is this: Though institutions are certainly power ful, they are not monoliths; they are rhetorically constructed human designs (whose power is reinforced by buildings, laws, traditions, and knowledge-making practices) and so are change able. In other words, we made 'em, we can fix 'em. Institutions R Us. Further, for those of you who think such optimism is politically naive and hopelessly liberal and romantic, we believe that we (and you, too) have to commit to this hypothesis anyway, the alternative?political despair?being worse.