These trends are troubling enough at mega-universities, where athletes are a tiny fraction of the student body.
Leaving aside the exceptional circumstances found at a few mega-universities, most classes in my experience vary in size from 15 to 35, making discussion, not lecture, the obvious way to proceed.
The over-pessimistic fear, however, is that we might then need far fewer institutions and faculty, that massive and chaotic consolidation could occur across the academic landscape, and that only a few mega-universities, fueled by large and impersonal online courses, will be left standing.
There's a reason mega-firms, universities and other large institutions have internal communications directors.
Almost overnight, the post-fees universities have become mega-businesses, geared to attracting ever-greater numbers of paying "customers" and competing against one another.
TOP-QUALITY teaching, stringent admissions criteria and impressive qualifications allow the world's best universities to charge mega-fees: over $50,000 for a year of undergraduate study at Harvard.
With the mega-amendment (Art. 6), the universities come under direct political control as their financial management passes to the government.
The mega-amendment kills off the independence of universities.
All this takes place in an environment in which universities organize oversized and alienating mega-sized classes to save money.
There will be a march in Mexico City on October 31st, coinciding with the Day of the Dead holidays, and a "mega march" is scheduled for November 5th, the day that Mexico's universities and colleges are planning a national strike.
