Accountability and Autonomy.
Turmoil and disruption on the campuses; political action by students and faculty members; severe shrinkages in governmental, corporate, and individual incomes, coupled with rising taxes; and mounting distrust of higher education by the public are behind the increasing demand for colleges and universities to justify what they are doing and to disclose the effectiveness and efficiency of their operations. Perhaps as never before, institutions, administrators, faculty members, and even students find themselves accountable to a wide range of both internal and external agencies. Institutions and faculties, much to their concern and distress, have discovered that their autonomy is by no means absolute, and that in fact it is often highly vulnerable. An individual loses autonomy to the extent to which he is answerable to an external agent. Likewise, a university faculty cannot be completely autonomous if it is accountable to administrators or trustees. The corporate university is not completely independent if it is answerable to donors, the legislature, or the electorate. We may then ask, to whom are the institution and its constituents responsible, and for what are they accountable?,