Ellsworth/Fabricating, 8.Satisfaction Not Guaranteed: COVID-19, Higher Ed and the Politics of "Experience"

Following Baldrick-Morrone’s argument, Lawson examines the use of the category “experience” in higher education discourse, specifically in response to challenges posed by COVID-19. Lawson contends that institutions employ terms such as “experience” in public statements to highlight positive aspects while omitting problematic and complex dimensions of the college environment which works to frame what counts as an authentic “experience” and reifies the “college experience” as a self-evident, desirable commodity.