Regulation and Autonomy: Three Historical Case Studies of Tensions Between Higher Education and the Federal Government

Abstract

This dissertation is comprised of three historical studies of regulatory tensions between American higher education and the federal government, focusing on three pillars of twentieth century postsecondary education policy: student aid, research funding, and accountability. The first study analyzes a controversial requirement in the National Defense Education Act of 1958 that student loan beneficiaries swear their loyalty to the government and sign a disclaimer affidavit that they were not involved with subversive organizations. The loyalty provisions debate provides an early account of the innate conflict that arises when federal aims and expectations accompany federal investments into postsecondary institutions that cherish their freedom from government involvement. The second study explores shifting federal rules for the reimbursement of overhead costs associated with federal research in response to accusations that Stanford University fraudulently claimed a number of luxury expenses as allowable indirect costs. The paper details how Stanford’s unwillingness to reduce overhead costs and strategy to maximize government reimbursements was unresponsive to a changing economy at the conclusion of the Cold War. The third study analyzes a controversy regarding the role of voluntary accreditation as the eligibility standard for colleges and universities to receive federal student aid during the 1992 Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. The paper describes the tenuous role of voluntary accreditation as an intermediary between the federal government and higher education institutions, particularly when public perceptions of higher education wane. Each paper illuminates tensions in the evolving partnership between the federal government and higher education. Together, these analyses pose fundamental questions as to whether the public interest justifies compromises to higher education’s autonomy as the federal government and universities became increasingly co-dependent over the last half-century.