PULLMAN – David Demers, a WSU communication associate professor, has signed a contract with Algora Publishing of New York City to publish in 2011 his 11th academic book, “The Ivory Tower of Babel: Why the Social Sciences Have Failed to Live Up to Their Promises.”Demers has been working on the book since the late 1990s and finished writing it during his 2008-2009 sabbatical.
The book played an instrumental role in a national award he received earlier this year from the Society of Collegiate Journalists, which honored him for risks he has taken to draw attention to free speech violations at two U.S. universities.
Algora specializes in publishing books for the “crossover” market, which includes both the scholarly and educated general public markets. The Ivory Tower book asserts that the social sciences have become more estranged and autonomous from the public policymaking arena, partly because of:
- growth of the corporate university model (extreme emphasis on generating revenues through grants and other means)
- failure of universities to reward faculty who get involved in the public policymaking process
- overemphasis on rewarding faculty for publishing rather than for solving social problems
Demers currently is writing a book titled “The Last Professor of the Enlightenment: An American Odyssey,” which broadens the theme of the Ivory Tower book to include an assessment of U.S. universities in terms of their commitment to the ideals of free speech, due process, academic freedom and democratic decision making.
Demers worked as a newspaper reporter and market researcher before choosing the academic life.One of his previous books is “History and Future of Mass Media,” which was published in 2007 by Hampton Press Inc.
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