Power and Empowerment in Higher Education

The tangled relationship of power and higher education is a fascinating one. Where power centers arise on campus, they influence and are influenced by sources of power outside. Students, faculty and administration compete for authority within the academic community; citizens whose education has placed them in a position to obtain social, political, and economic power outside the university walls frequently use it in a way that deeply affects the direction and nature of academic development.

This collection of thought-provoking essays is dedicated to Professor Louis Smith, who has long been a student of higher education in this country and abroad. Considering matters as varied as the place of the department head in the academic hierarchy and the image of political leadership promulgated by the academic world, distinguished scholars present here a rich harvest of insights on a significant topic.