Opinion The rampant corporatization and "administrification" of American higher-education institutions has turned students into mere consumers. April 27, 2026 — 8 min read Pro-Palestine silent student protest at the Natural Sciences Building at Purchase College, New York, on March 7, 2024. (all photos Hakan Topal) In a faculty meeting last year at Purchase College in New York, a colleague in the administration referred to students as "consumers." It was a casual statement, and I pushed back. The exchange was brief, but it has deeply bothered me ever since. Not because the intention was sinister. Because their statement was precise. Once you call students consumers, you have already restructured every relationship on which the university depends. Definitions matter. Terms like participant, member, student, client, user, customer, citizen, and constituent carry distinct social logics. A participant or member belongs to a shared institution.…