Higher education
in Illinois: a 'system
of systems' manages
the knowledge industry
KNOWLEDGE is power. And our
Federal system still lodges major control of the nation's multibillion dollar
"knowledge industry" in the state
capitals.
By any possible measurement of size
(dollars appropriated, students enrolled, research carried out, etc.) the
knowledge industry developed by
Illinois is surpassed by only a couple of
other states. The management apparatus which the State has built for
operating its share of this industry is
both immense and complex. Yet even in
the halls of the Illinois legislature and in
state executive offices it is difficult to
find anyone who can identify the levers
of power in this allimportant area of
government.
As 1975 begins, it is critical that state
leaders and a broad section of the
citizenry understand how the state
supported institutions of knowledge are
managed in Illinois. Retrenchment in
funding for these institutions and the
tremendous increase in operational
costs (such as fuel supply) in a time of
inflation have generated proposals to
update the State's ongoing "Master
Plan" for higher education. A major
question in Illinois, then, is whether new
conditions require dramatic changes in
those institutions and agencies which
manage this knowledge industry.
Higher education: a public utility?
"... with its prices (tuition and
budget) controlled outside the
campus, its services (functions)
specified, and its customers
(through admissions policies)
determined; and with outside agencies also prepared to hear complaints about prices, services, and
the acceptance and rejection of
customers. The campus is less part
of free enterprise and more part of
the controlled public domain"
("Foreword" to The Multicampus
University by Eugene C. Lee and
Frank M. Bowen, 1971).
If our institutions of higher education
are now quasipublic utilities the task of
educating the citizenry to the complexities of their management is of signal
importance. In Illinois, the place to
begin this discussion is with the State
Constitution itself. No constitutional recognition As absurd as modifications of this
kind appear, they point up the absolute
authority over the Illinois knowledge industry vested in the General Assembly.
Literature on the Illinois college and
university system is generally high in its
praise of Illinois legislators for their
determination to allow the lay boards
latitude in handling educational policy
within the budgetary limitations ap
proved by the General Assembly.
Stability or lack of attention? The question of management or
governance will soon be reviewed by the
Illinois higher education community
itself. In March of 1974, the executive
director of the Illinois Board of Higher
Education (BHE), Cameron West, announced that such a review would be included in that Board's preparation of
Phase IV of the State's Master Plan for
higher education.
The BHE is the state agency responsible for longrange planning and coordination in Illinois higher education
Preliminary hearings on all facets of
postsecondary education have already
been held around the State. The BHE
staff hopes to continue planning for
Phase IV through the spring and
summer of 1975 and have a
"provisional" plan ready for its Board
by the fall of 1975. Any recommendation for change in the basic management structure included in a Final Phase
IV Master Plan would require action by
the General Assembly.
BHE created in 1961 |
4 /Illinois Issues/January 1975