Dawn L. Rothe

Neoliberalism’s impact on our everyday lives, culture, and institutions is powerful and ubiquitous. One might suspect that higher education, especially non-profit colleges and universities, would be less affected and more resistant to the expansion of market-driven logic and the hyper-capitalist ethos of neoliberalism, but much evidence points to college and university subscription to the tenants of this ideology and practice. This is especially the case as state policy leaders, particularly conservative and neoconservative Republicans, are aggressively disinvesting in higher education, reducing or removing completely governmental responsibility to ensure an educated population in favor of market-driven forces. While we provide a brief overview of the corporatized universities of today and its problematic nature, we focus on the impact of corporate donations on universities, with particular attention to the private prison industry’s intertwinement with higher education, and specifically the relationship between the GEO Group and Florida Atlantic University.

The Trump Administration has engaged in a systematic rolling back of protections, regulations, and a host of other social safety net programs for vulnerable people, leaving over half of the population in dismay while others celebrate archaic triumphs. In this context, our focus is limited to the Trump Administration’s efforts—through law and words—to turn back the clock for women. We examine the reinforcement of overt forms of inequality rooted in patriarchy through domestic law as well as Trump’s misogynistic attitude and language toward women. Given that his words hold a greater significance now that he is President of the United States, he has a “gold-plated” pulpit to share and spread his misogynistic hostile rhetoric and propaganda: anti-women objectification, devaluing, and demonization through hegemonic “wordfare” while feeding and fueling sexism across the country. We conclude by suggesting that Trump’s rhetoric and that of other leading political figures are contributing to a darker time for those not in the white elite heteronormative order with short and long term implications and harm. We caution that the current dangers posed by these attacks are entering us into an endemic misogynist normal: retroactively moving the Country back in time at a dangerous speed.