Presented by: Chan Lee
Abstract: This presentation explores the question: Can the university be free from money? In an era when higher education is deeply entangled with global capitalism and high-tech industries, universities risk losing their public mission and moral autonomy. Research priorities are increasingly dictated by corporate funding, market metrics, and technological competition, while the ideals of truth, democracy, and the public good recede. This talk critically raises the question of how academic institutions can survive — and ethically renew themselves — in the sea of capital. It argues that universities must reclaim their role as communities of inquiry dedicated to understanding and cultivating human knowledge rather than producing marketable outcomes. The presentation concludes by proposing an alternative vision of the university as a site of democratic learning and moral imagination beyond economic instrumentalism.