The managed university functions as the prominent organizational paradigm in higher education. Returning to Max Weber's original analysis of bureaucracy, several fundamental characteristics of the managed university come to surface, including the emphasis on specialization, hierarchy, and secrecy. Among these characteristics is the importance of communication and rhetoric to the enterprise. Despite embodying the spirit of rationalism, bureaucracy employs a mode of organizational subjectivity reflective in the language practices of the system. Within the managed university, manipulations of discourse obscure the increasingly bureaucratic nature of the university and expand organizational control over campus culture.