They're Certainly Behaving like a Cartel

When you use the word "cartel," most people think of one of two things:  those groups responsible for the trafficking of illegal drugs, or OPEC.  I still think of the latter, mainly because I first heard the word used in reference to them.  


Lately, some people--including a couple who have left comments on my posts-- have referred to higher education, or the education system generally, as a cartel.  While it may not apply to pre-college education, as most local school systems and K-12 schools have no competition, it may well apply to colleges and universities.  After all, post-secondary institutions that ostensibly compete with each other actually consult with each other, and with governments and various professional associations, to decide on who can and can't enter various professions, or who can go to law school or other professional schools.


Another image that people have of cartels is one of violence. Those groups use not only physical violence and extortion, but also other forms of intimidation, to cow people into not bearing witness against them.  


The educational and professional cartels, like their counterparts in other endeavors, want to keep their monopoly on keys to the gateway, if you will.  And, just as cartels react ruthlessly to anyone who stands up to them or is otherwise "bad for business, so will members of the higher-education cartel.


Over the past couple of days, I've been reading about an example of what I've just described.  The Thomas Cooley Law School has been described by various people in the legal profession as well as scambloggers as the worst law school in the United States.  The U.S. News And World Report, in its annual ratings of colleges, universities and graduate and professional schools, consigned TCLS to the fourth, or bottom, tier of American Law Schools.


In retaliation, the school has started a lawsuit against four bloggers who, supposedly, defamed it.  C. Cryn Johannsen mentioned the suit in one of her blogs; the authors of Lawyers Against the Law School Scam and Restoring Dignity to the Law also mention it, and the chilling effect it could have if it's carried out.   Cryn and "Lawyers" expressed concern that they, too, could become objects of such a suit;
Restoring Dignity seems not to have much concern because he (she?) is more confident that Cooley was over-reaching in this case.


Still, even he/she expressed concern.  And, isn't that one purpose of a cartel:  to manipulate people through fear.