Banding together

About this book

"Around the turn of the century, virtually all important elements in American life - business, labor, churches, even the entertainment industry - began to form national organizations. American colleges and universities were no exception. In Banding Together, noted scholar of higher education Hugh Hawkins examines the ways in which academic groups participated in nationwide movements toward centralization and standardization." "Hawkins explores the "associational ideology" of university presidents and high-level administrators, their evolving sense of corporate mission, and their relationship with growing federal power. (Not surprisingly, they welcomed federal aid but spurned federal regulation.) In World Wars I and II, with vast increases in federal power, institutions relied even more heavily on their own centralizing agencies, which sometimes cooperated with, and sometimes resisted, military uses of academia." "Although primarily a story of institutional development, the book also explores the roles played by such influential individuals as Charles R. Van Hise, James B. Conant, and Samuel P. Capen. By placing American higher education in the broad context of social change, Banding Together contributes to a deeper understanding of the "organizational revolution" and explains how colleges and universities have viewed themselves, faced their problems, and influenced public policy in this century."--BOOK JACKET.