Higher education has made decisions on behalf of government through federal use of the accreditation system, private needs analysis systems, and peer review for allocating program, student aid, and research funds. Noting that these procedures are threatened, the author calls for reform of higher education management to preserve some autonomy. (JT)

When declining resources make difficult choices unavoidable, higher education must: assert a unified, coherent state strategy for instruction, financial aid, research, and public service independent of federal policy; eliminate outmoded facilities and obsolete equipment; reconsider the instructional process; and reevaluate the role of faculty.…

Universities are "organized anarchies," with individual colleges and even departments pursuing independent objectives. The institutions themselves contribute to this organizational anarchy and to their own disintegration in how they organize themselves with regard to budget, in the incentives they give to colleges to raise their own funds, and in…