John Protevi, associate professor of the Department of French Studies, delivered his lecture titled “The Turning Point : The Crisis in Public Higher Education in Historical Perspective” in the Howe Russell Complex building Tuesday.Protevi contradicted the neo-liberalistic idea higher education benefits only those with degrees. Education should be available to the entire state, and everyone must benefit from it, he said.”The key is to think of public education as an investment in the future,” Protevi said. Protevi said he regarded public education as having widespread economic and social benefits and the government as an organized expression of community decisions.He referred to the history of universities and mentioned higher education is currently in the “corporate university phase.”The public good of education has been superceeded by a desire for profit during this phase of public education, he said.Education has become a commodity, and universities have transformed into credentializing agencies and students are now “consumers of services”, Protevi said.”We cannot argue for the ivory tower,” Protevi said. “We must make an economic argument against education as only a private investment and for education as a public good.”He said he feels the state must accept the notion of a corporate university by restoring collegiality with faculty and state governance.The lecture comes in the wake of a news issue regarding a “whining University staff.”Protevi said one of the motivations for his lecture was the nationwide budget cuts in states and universities which has proved to be a hindrance for public education.—-Contact Sumit Kumar at [email protected]