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A review by glowe2
Broke: The Racial Consequences of Underfunding Public Universities by Laura T. Hamilton, Kelly Nielsen
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Broke looks at two University of California campuses (Riverside and Merced) who serve a high number of underrepresented students (URS) but are under-funded compared to the more presitigous sister campuses such as Berkeley or UCLA. Full Disclosure: I work at the UC Merced campus where one of the authors (Laura Hamilton) is a faculty member. The book delves into how the neoliberal politics of austerity hinder the development of a new university, i.e. a university who serves a high number of URS. There are also chapters on how Riverside and Merced have developed unique identities within the framework of the UC system. While both campuses have a minority-majority student body, the organizational framework of universities is geared toward serving white students and the majority of administrators are white as well. All in all, a very interesting and thoughtful book which is well worth the read.