What’s Going On at UAardvark?
What’s Going On at UAardvark? is a faced-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. What’s Going On at UAardvark? paints a fascinating portrait of key aspects of 21st century American life. This portrait includes not only the powerful role of big business and its military allies in setting the agenda for major institutions, but the joy-filled possibilities for overcoming this pattern of domination.
All in all, What’s Going On at UAardvark? sets readers off on a comic 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?"
"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." (Full review: What's Going On at UAardvark?)
—Kirkus Reviews
"What’s Going On at UAardvark? offers a satiric look at the contemporary university, full of humorous caricatures, as it tries to offer hope to discouraged progressives."
—The Satirist
"What’s Going On at UAardvark? is a must for anyone attending or teaching college."
—New Politics
"Administrative malfeasance, corporate greed, and faculty passivity spin out of control at UAardvark. . . . The bad guys are mercilessly lampooned."
—LA Progressive
"Through his skillful weaving of the seemingly absurd with the probable, Wittner concocts a telling indictment of what is happening to public higher education."
—Dissident Voice
"There might not be an antidote for the corporate takeover of everything that either moves or stands still in America. [But] What’s Going On at UAardvark? makes a stab at it."
—Solidarity Notes
"What’s Going On at UAardvark? is a raucous romp of a novel that stands authority on its head and teaches the mechanics of a modern-day uprising. It's a funny amd irreverent critique. . . . You may just laugh out loud."
—Industrial Worker
“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 & 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