ABSTRACT
Many aspects of higher education policy have changed since the 1930s, but a large and fascinating body of work produced during this period should be reviewed whenever solutions to contemporary problems in governance and finance are needed. David Hill referenced the societal role of higher education as he made the argument for unified governance as a better means to serve society’s needs. Primarily concerned with the impact of the Depression on the finances of both public and private institutions, it was a critique of higher education’s costs and need for greater productivity, as well as a call for leadership and change in the way that higher education managed its business. Four overlapping themes emerged in policymakers’ and educators’ efforts to make sense of this difficult era for public higher education: power and control, money, efficiency, and productivity, the inseparability of money and control and the merits of voluntary cooperation and self-regulation.
