The Ideal of the University is a lucid, comprehensive analysis of the rationale, principles, and presuppositions that make contemporary universities what they are. The book begins with four sharp, carefully delineated models of a university. After analyzing such controversial issues as the role of grading in the university and the "myth" of value neutrality. Wolff turns to the crucial question of how the university should be governed. He argues for a radical reconstruction based on a "social contract" that would place ultimate authority in the hands of the faculty and students. The book...