Through close readings of university fiction, college films, sculptures, and life writing by academics, Derek F. DiMatteo defines a distinct genre of academic protest literature that reveals how contemporary scholars and artists confront the increasing corporatization of higher education in the USA.

This book analyzes representative works by Mohsin Hamid, Jane Smiley, Alex Kudera, John Singleton, Justin Simien, Margaret De Lima, and Michael Dubson among other writers that protest against academic capitalism's deleterious effects on the public good, BIPOC students and faculty, contingent faculty, and international students. DiMatteo argues that these works should be categorized as protest art within the cultural arm of a long-simmering higher education protest movement. Using protest literature as a lens to argue for a re-evaluation of university fiction as a serious contribution to the higher education reform movement, Academic Dissent adds a cultural dimension to the field of critical university studies and defines the characteristics of academic protest literature, creating a space for education protest within the larger field of American social protest literature.