State Policy Leadership as a Social Process: The California Postsecondary Education Commission, 1973–2011

• In Event: Governance and Policy Making in Higher Education

Abstract

State Higher Education Executive Offices (SHEEOs) play critical roles in higher education governance, yet their internal dynamics are relatively understudied. I conduct a micro-historical case study to trace the evolution and elimination of the California Postsecondary Education Commission between 1973 and 2011. I find that CPEC’s enabling statute assigned it several conflicting mandates. In response, organizational actors emphasized different aspects of these mandates at different times in response to local exigencies. Over the long run, CPEC’s continually shifting identity fostered internal incoherence and external loss of credibility. These findings emphasize endogenous, contingent, agentic explanations for the influence and effectiveness of SHEEOs, thus revising contemporary understandings of the work of state higher education policy as a function of institutional structure.

Author

• Amal Kumar, Harvard University