ABSTRACT
One should be leery of people who describe changes or crises in higher education as being unprecedented. Some critics today note that higher education faces unparalleled crises and issues and that it is facing a revolution or devolution (Christensen et al. 2011). Yet, significant changes have occurred throughout the history of higher education. For example, there were the debates about changes to liberal arts education around the Yale Report of 1828, the Morrill Act of 1862 introduced vastly different institutional types, massive growth and changes in the student body occurred following World War II and the introduction of the G.I. Bill (Servicemen’s Readjustment Act), and the introduction of federal financial aid made it possible for many more and different types of students to enter higher education. As this list suggests, though, many major changes within higher education have come from the outside, rather than resulting from intentional changes made internally. Higher education has always faced changes (some quite dramatic) that shaped the character and mission of the enterprise. Yet, the multitude of directions for change and the lack of capacity (e.g. fiscal and human resources) to meet today’s changes present challenges and threaten to overwhelm leaders, requiring more and perhaps even different ways of thinking and reflecting on problems and change than have been common in the past. While higher education may not be at the crossroads of a revolution, the enterprise will be required to shift in significant ways and is already undergoing many changes.
