Our institutions of higher education are sadly behind the times. Various campus commotions suggest that the students want a change. Curriculum shifts suggest that the faculties want a change. Financial stringency suggests that university presidents and trustees want a change. And public criticism of university policies suggests that the public wants a change. I have a modest proposal for solving all these problems at once, a proposal fully in keeping with both the spirit of free enterprise and the most progressive modern trends: Let the universities "go public, ie, sell stock to investors.
The advantages are many. Alumni, for example, would subscribe heartily. They have hitherto given money to their universities with nothing gotten in return. If their contributions bought stock they would have voting rights in return, and they could elect trustees and officers and establish policies. Under the present system, too, if alumni did not approve of university