Swinburne Lecture 21 November 2008 - Centre for the Study of ...

ʻThe “Idea of a University” was a village with its priests. The “Idea of a Modern University”
was a town – a one-industry town – with its intellectual oligarchy. “The Idea of a
Multiversity” is a city of infinite variety. Some get lost in the city; some rise to the top within
it; most fashion their lives within one of its many subcultures. There is less of a sense of
community than in the village but also less sense of confinement. There is less sense of
purpose than within the town but there are more ways to excelʼ.
~ Clark Kerr, The Uses of the University, 1962 (2001), p. 31