Locus of Authority: The Evolution of Faculty Roles in the Governance of Higher Education

by William G. Bowen and Eugene M. Tobin,
The Huffington Post, February 19, 2015

These days, colleges and universities are struggling to deal with rising costs, defaults on student loans, reduced appropriations from state and federal agencies, competition from for-profit institutions, the potential of digital technologies and a loss of public confidence in higher education. More often than not, Clark Kerr, the former president of the University of California, once noted, the first reaction of faculty is "to ignore (or deny)" what is happening, the second "has been for administrators to take band aid actions." While everything around them is changing, Kerr added, "The university mostly endures."