Press Release: New Book Explores Past and Contemporary Battles Over Access to America’s Major Public Universities

CSHE > News > Press Release: New Book Explores Past and Contemporary Battles Over Access to America’s Major Public Universities

The social contract of public universities—including the progressive idea that any citizen who meets specified academic conditions can gain entry to their state university—profoundly shaped American society. In his new book, The Conditions for Admission: Access, Equity and the Social Contract of Public Universities published by Stanford University Press this month, CSHE scholar John Aubrey Douglass offers the first comprehensive historical and contemporary examination of admission policies and practices at public universities and contrasts them with private institutions. Using the nation's largest public research university system and among its most selective, the University of California, as an illuminating case study, the book discusses past and present debates on how best to build a democratic and prosperous society, exploring issues such as geographic representation, affirmative action, gender, class, standardized testing, the growing influences of privatization and globalization, and the very purpose and future of these important public institutions.

“The United States has been the world leader in developing mass higher education, using its pioneering network of public universities to promote socioeconomic mobility and national economic competitiveness,” explains Douglass. But the author warns that national access and graduation rates have stagnated, particularly among younger students. Other countries, including key members of the European Union, along with China, India, and other developing nations, are aggressively reshaping and expanding their higher education systems. The “American advantage” of a high-quality and high-access higher education system is waning. The closing chapters explore why this is the case and the consequences within an increasingly competitive global economy.

“The Conditions for Admission expands our understanding of America's pioneering breed of public universities and confronts the real and often ignored differences between public and independent universities,” states David Ward, President of the American Council on Education.“ The author notes that the United States is arguably no longer preeminent in its effort to build a high access and high quality network of colleges and universities—a lead lost in part by a decline in government investment, but also by the increased demands of a constituent-driven society and by the actions of the institutions themselves.” John Thelin, author of a recent history of American higher education, states that, “The Conditions for Admission connects past and present in the enduring policy debates about who goes to college and where . . . a serious analysis of American educational institutions and society.”

Stanford University Press has also recently republished in paperback Douglass’ previous book, The California Idea and American Higher Education. Educational Science Publishing House in Beijing is publishing a version in Chinese this month as well.

Contact: John Aubrey Douglass

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