Student loan debt is approaching $1 trillion. Tuition is skyrocketing. Americans owe more on student loans than on their credit cards. It is a disaster that will get only worse under the “reforms” and state and federal funding cutbacks being proposed.

In the January–February issue of Academe, Jeffrey Williams compares student debt to indentured servitude. It’s a ball and chain not just around students, but also for the ideal of higher education: “One of the goals of the planners of the American university system after World War II was to displace what they saw as an aristocracy; instead they promoted equal opportunity in order to build America through its best talent. The new tide of student debt reinforces rather than dissolves the discriminations of class.”

Student debt is not the only financial issue looming in higher education. AAUP president Cary Nelson explains why the humanities may have more to lose in the current budget wars than either the sciences or a number of technical fields. “Who will bankroll poetry?”

This wide-ranging issue includes Matthew Woessner’s provocative piece thatrethinks the plight of conservatives in academe; David Siegel’s challenge to faculty thinking that corporate intercourse is an inherently nasty business; and a translation of a white paper funded by a German corporate foundation that calls for more scientific research purity and commitment to “science for humanity.” Research articles examine the differences among faculty communities and the pressing need to ensure the success of Latino and Latina faculty and students.