What's Going On at UAardvark?

by Lawrence S. Wittner, Allen Ballard (Photographs), Rita Petithory (Design)

What's Going On at UAardvark? is a fast-paced political satire about how an increasingly corporatized, modern American university becomes the site of a rambunctious rebellion that turns the nation's campus life upside down.

Along the way, there are hilarious encounters with a playboy university president, bizarre U.S. military commanders, poetry-writing Hells Angels, foul-mouthed, decadent students, an unusually avaricious corporate titan, gun-toting "Christian Patriots," a schizophrenic FBI director, hypocritical politicians, a witch-like union leader, and a host of other zany characters. All in all, What's Going On at UAardvark? sets readers off on a laugh-filled romp through what has become a serious issue in contemporary America: the corporate takeover of higher education.

This second edition of the acclaimed novel contains a preface by the author in which he reflects upon nationwide developments since the appearance of the first edition in the spring of 2013. In it, he asks, provocatively: "When it comes to bizarre behavior on college and university campuses - or, for that matter, in the United States - how can a writer possibly stay ahead of the curve?"

In fact, he does a good job of this. Readers of What's Going On at UAardvark? should prepare themselves for plenty colorful characters, laughs, and surprises.

Praise for What's Going On at UAardvark?

"Lawrence Wittner has channeled the spirits of Kurt Vonnegut, Charlie Chaplin, Woody Allen, Jon Stewart, the Serb kids who overthrew Milosevic, and at least two of the Three Stooges into this delightfully dystopic, comic novel. If you enjoy the bursting of pretensions and political pratfalls, you'll love this story."
-Professor Tom Hastings, Portland State University, and former President,
Peace and Justice Studies Association

"Observers of academic life will recognize key aspects of the contemporary U.S. university scene in this dystopian send-up - the campus takeover by Fortune 500 corporations; MBA modeling of the college 'product' and 'brand'; a campus president who relishes revenge against a brighter faculty; the bored and drugged student body; the abolition of liberal arts courses; and the effort to eliminate full-time, tenured faculty. The uproarious revolt that occurs against this new university model will inspire wishful thinking among many of us."
-Professor Sandi Cooper, President, Faculty Senate, City University of New York

"Humorous, insightful... In this farcical novel, Wittner... shows what can happen when school administrators begin invoking business models... A well-paced university novel, certain to provide academics with many knowing chuckles."
-Kirkus Reviews

"What's Going On at UAardvark? offers a satiric look at the contemporary university, full of humorous caricatures."
-The Satirist"

250 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Raised in Brooklyn, NY, Lawrence Wittner attended Columbia College and, in 1967, received his Ph.D. in History from Columbia University. Thereafter, he taught at Hampton Institute, at Vassar College, at Japanese universities (under the Fulbright program), and (starting in 1974) at SUNY/Albany, where he rose to the rank of Professor History before his retirement in 2010. A prolific, award-winning writer, he is the author of nine books and has edited or co-edited another four. He has also written hundreds of articles and book reviews for scholarly journals, as well as for popular publications such as the Huffington Post. His latest published books are his memoirs (Working for Peace and Justice) and a satirical novel about corporatization and rebellion at an American public university (What’s Going On at UAardvark?). A long-time activist in social movements, he is currently a national board member of Peace Action (the largest peace organization in the United States) and the executive secretary of the Albany County Central Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.

Reviews

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

The chapters are short and the pace brisk throughout, yet this is not so much diverting as it is disheartening, or exasperating. This satire on the "business-friendly" American university sector doesn't really make one laugh at the outlandish direction taken by so-called educational institutions of higher learning. The book reads in some respects like a series of Carol Burnett sketches (for those of you too young to know them, look 'em up!) that somehow don't come off with any punch lines, so that there is precious little psychological release or comic relief offered by this short novel. And yet, with the right re-touching, this book could easily be made into a television script, and the telling may well improve with a tv adaptation. In the meantime, for university department hi-jinks on television, we have "The Chair" (2021 tv series) to consider.

Lawrence S. Wittner shows well enough how the complicity of universities with their corporate funders—leading to campuses such as at UAardvark with its "Petroleum Quad, Insurance Quad, Chevron Hall, and Koch Industries Hall" (chp 2, p.9)—makes a shambles of the wonted independence of the Fourth Estate. Universities are supposed to be a check on power, historically, no? Similar to the Fifth Estate, or the independent press.

The main problems appear to be threefold (inferring from the story here, strictly relevant to the American university context): how the academic faculty are relegated to the status of minions; how the business model has imposed an unaccountable and unqualified CEO over the whole, creating "executive tyranny" (chp.39, p.217); and that the faculty union is ineffective—when such a union exists at all on campus. The story told here—fictional as it may be—would appear to apply to both publicly- or privately-funded institutions, whether colleges or universities (the author works at a state university, according to the liner note). One suspects that the details in the novel are based on reality, but there are no references to actual news sources that may have inspired the story-line. (Perhaps a critical edition can provide some facts, barring the libel problem, if any should arise.) Even as fiction, the criticisms may hit too close to home for some readers, or as Wittner puts it: "Many recognized similarities between the corporatization of UAardvark and developments on their own campuses." (chp.34, p.187) Some readers may well recognize that their local college or university is as complicit with the military-industrial-complex (MIC) as is UAardvark, albeit in ways different than those depicted here. As to limitations of the novel, the horizon is purely American; there is no attempt at a cross-cultural perspective. But across the pond, in the U.K., where the Fourth Estate is arguably in a better position, the University Senate is the governing body, and only tenured academics have a vote in the direction that their educational institution is taking, while any administrator is relegated to carrying out the policy agreed upon by the whole—pretty much the exact opposite of the situation in most American universities. Not to say there haven't been some effective attempts at lampooning the British university, notably, Porterhouse Blue by Tom Sharpe (originally published 1974, and later made into a TV mini-series, Porterhouse Blue for Channel 4 in the UK). If it's more of the campus novel that you're looking for, there is one title that must be mentioned: the not-so-funny novel set in South Africa, Disgrace, by J. M. Coetzee (published in 1999, and adapted into a film in 2008).

[Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is going on is more real than one might think. This hilarious political satire shows a bit of light onto how universities are falling victim to greed and corporate involvement from within administration and where the money is pocketed. Great satirical writing! Some references will be easily recognizable to many academics and students in academia.

The book is fast-paced, very entertaining in its portrayal of the infiltration of corporations in places of learning. A revolt is bound to happen, but how, when and by whom? The characters, or perhaps more correctly caricatures in the book are probably in evidence already. In fact, they are so well-drawn I felt myself back working in university joking with my friends about what we perceived at the time. I'll leave it to the readers to enjoy those who populate this book.

Lawrence S. Wittner gives us lots of laughs and 'monkeys in a barrel' while presenting a story that is already an issue in many places of learning. Revolts? Yes, if they are not here yet they will be. Congratulations on presenting with great tongue-in-cheek humour what the future could and quite possibly will be. A word of warning, wear a thick skin when you read, but take the caricatures with their personalities as they come.

[Robyn Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely one of the best satirical novels I have read in years

The satire continues today. Our college campuses are 'ruled' by who donates how much on an annual basis. Reading this reminds us to look at higher learning institutions to really assess if the are actually accomplishing what they claim they are. I think not.

[DH · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wittner uses his decades of academic experience to skewer every faction of university dysfunction. Read in one sitting for optimum amusement!

[Ann Riall · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was funny in the beginning, but the shtick became too heavy handed.