The Ideal of the University

I'm reading Robert Paul Wolff's The Ideal of the University and I find it fascinating. I won't write a review or essay here--just a couple of quotations--but I'm wondering if others have read it and what kind of reputation Wolff has (exposing my ignorance). It was written in '69 (he was at Columbia in '68 for all the fun) and this edition has a "new" intro written in '92. Still seems quite relevant to me, to use a word from that era.

In '92 introduction, he says (referring to the inevitable disappointment that follows every revolution, and drawing on Marcuse):
". . . the great works of art, literature, philosophy, and music of our cultural tradition plan an essential, and rather surprising, role. Regardles of their manifest content and apparent purpose, these works, which we customarily consider the appropriate content of a liberal education, play a continuingly subversive role. They keep alive, in powerful and covert ways, the fantasies of gratification, the promise of happiness, the anger at necessary repression, on which radical political action feeds."

Elsewhere::

"But when administrators attempt to apply the principle of efficiency to the operation of their institutions, they have a natural tendency to measure efficiency in terms of whatever they can quantify, rather than measuring it in terms of what is genuinely related to the real goals or values of the institution."

Well, it's hard to argue with that. But it bears thinking about.

Arguing that administrative decisions should be made subjectively, not objectively:
"Ironically, paradoxically, there are some human activities in which subjectivity is more efficient than objectivity, in which calculation kills and instinct inspires. Art and love are notoriously of such a nature. I believe that education is also."

Sam?

He also argues that grading is commonly associated with three activities: criticism, evaluation, and ranking. And says that evaluation and ranking--where "grading" lies--are extrinsic to education proper. Of course, he also says, "It should be obvious that there is no easy way to disentangle education from the essentially extraneous processes of evaluation and rankng."

I'm about to begin the section which asks, "Why Should a University Be Governed At All?" Interesting stuff.