A L S O_ T O D A Y Who needs college? By Zachary Karabell Has higher education become an exercise in futility for most Americans? Comics Tom Tomorrow: Don't believe the liberal media!

Why Ivory Tower? BY CAROL LLOYD | Anyone who has stepped onto a college campus in the last few years knows that the university is undergoing a radical transformation. Tenure is threatened by the bottom-line principles of newly corporatized administrations, while an army of part-time, temporary, poorly paid laborers is descending on most campuses to fill the need for new teachers. Meanwhile, as tuition escalates, students are emerging from university with crushing debts; graduate students, often saddled with six-figure student loans, are finding it increasingly difficult to find work within the academy. And all this as corporations have begun to funnel money into universities, decorating the once-hallowed halls with their sponsorship banners. Into this turbulent landscape comes a generation of computer-wise, sex-savvy young people who have been raised in the era of the anti-collegiate fables of the two Bills. Bill Gates, our culture's big success story, was a college drop-out, while Bill Clinton, a Rhodes scholar, undid his stellar career with his zipper. Increasingly, these students are treating college like consumers who want the most for their money. As Zachary Karabell argues in "Who needs college?" the college experience, while increasingly common and considered obligatory to getting a good job, also seems increasingly obsolete to many college students. With these sea changes in mind, we have set out to create a publication for all the citizens and expats of the ivory tower: the undergraduates, the graduate students, the graduate drop-outs, the unemployed scholars, the returning students, the professors, the staff -- and we outsiders who marvel and sometimes scoff at the goings-on in this fascinating microcosm of American culture. Most publications attempt to reach academics or undergraduate college students, but since all the citizens of a campus -- young and old, debauched and erudite -- inhabit the same little world, we wanted to speak to all of them. Our stories will range from incisive pieces on intellectual figures to career advice for the beleaguered undergraduate; from profiles of student agitators to coverage of bizarre scholarly conferences. Every Monday, (except this one), in the Seven Deadly Sins, one of our college columnists will examine the underside of college life: sex, drugs, alcohol, cheating, materialism, pretension and sloth. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, an array of personal essays, reported articles and think pieces will take on matters ranging from intellectual controversies to youth subculture, student life and university politics, offering a lucid, irreverent glimpse at the changing face of the academy. From Oral Roberts University to Fresno State to the Ivy League, we'll trace the trends, obsessions and troubles of college life within and beyond the classroom. On Wednesdays, in Career, we'll offer features, how-to articles and tales from the front about the world of work outside the ivy walls. We'll spotlight the uses and abuses of internships, the path to happy entrepreneurship, good companies to work for and other invaluable tips on translating your knowledge of 16th century ballet into a paycheck. This, along with our Internship Database, will offer the work-hungry (or just plain hungry) student an invaluable resource for finding the job of his or her dreams. On Fridays, in Recess, we'll corral the best from Salon's entertainment, technology and travel departments to offer college students a one-stop source for the latest developments in movies, music, digital culture and globe-trotting. And every day we'll offer new links to great university and student-related stories on the Web, as well as spotlighting one of Salon's stories from another department. Coming up, look for our report on the First International World Pornography Convention, an inside glimpse into the carnival of academics, researchers and porn stars who are determined to put pornography studies on the map of legitimate disciplines. In our article on Ufology, we'll meet the scholars from prestigious schools who are risking reputation and tenure to study alien invasions of planet earth. And in "Going Adjunct," a graduate student besieged by violent fantasies explores the new academic feudal system and its effect upon the psyches of the new serfs. We hope you enjoy Ivory Tower! SALON | Sept. 14, 1998