How universities have become increasingly contentious since the Sixties, from the viewpoint of a former Princeton provost and Harvard president

From his days at Princeton University as a member of the faculty, dean, and provost, and his time as a faculty member and president at Harvard University, Neil L. Rudenstine has been uniquely positioned to observe the changes that have occurred in higher education over the past few decades. In this book, he draws on his various roles to present an educator’s inside account of the modern university. More than that, Our Contentious Universities is a personal history of how our current campus climate of antagonism evolved, beginning with the late 1960s and up to our contemporary moment.

Starting with his perceptions of the anti-Vietnam War events at Columbia, Princeton, and Berkeley, as well as descriptions of what occurred at Harvard, Michigan, and other institutions, Rudenstine identifies a pattern that was characterized by students protesting against institutions because of purported university support for the Vietnam War. Not surprisingly, once the Vietnam War ended, the protests ceased. In contrast, Rudenstine reveals how contemporary campus conflicts essentially differ in nature from the Sixties protests. Since the issues that spark these present protests—such as climate change, conservative judicial opinions, lack of gun control legislation, the Hamas-Israeli war—are clearly not readily soluble problems, there can be no easily defined end to the action. Rudenstine also depicts how universities themselves have changed substantially over the past few decades. The institutions have not only evolved into a collection of decentralized quasi-autonomous departments in competition with other centers and initiatives for resources but also nurtured a highly diverse population of faculty and students with a variety of backgrounds and perspectives already at odds before they even encounter each other on campus.

Combining an analysis of how universities transformed with an examination of how protests changed, the book argues that, opposed to the external causes of student protest in the Sixties, it is actually the internal sources of division and conflict that now characterize our universities that are at the root of their contentious campus environments.

Presents an educators inside account of student protests - and other forms of university contentiousness - from the late 1960s to 2023 in American higher education

Draws on personal experiences and provides detail anti-Vietnam war events at Columbia, Princeton and Cal-Berkeley
Rudenstine analyzes the way in which universities changed, and in which protests changed, reveals a pattern that is helpful in understanding "contentiousness" in our institutions

Argues that universities themselves had changed substantially in the decades from the 1960s to the 2000s, growing larger and more fractured while also become highly diverse socially,

Rudenstine has had a distinguish career in higher education, including stints as faculty, Dean, as well as Provost at Princeton, and his time as faculty member and President at Harvard