ABSTRACT
For the first time since the late 1960s, when student demonstrations and occupations forced open admissions in many public colleges and universities, higher education has become a major public issue. There are three questions that define the debate: The first concerns the commitment of legislative and executive authorities to maintaining public higher education at a level of funding adequate to enable institutions to offer a high-quality education to students. The second concerns who should be admitted and who should be excluded from higher education, the so-called access debate. Put another way, should higher education be a "right" like elementary and secondary schooling? Third, especially in recent years, curriculum has been thrust closer to center stage. In the environment budget cuts and downsizing are prescribed by policymakers as the Zeitgeist has shifted to the view that only the marketplace represents quality and anything connected to public goods that does not submit itself to the business environment is a second-rate article.
