Yesterday’s post about the California State University Academic Senate’s resolution asking for unlimited, unilateral, unaccountable veto power over community college bachelor degree programs generated some provocative feedback. It seemed only fair to respond.
Several readers pointed me to the California Master Plan for higher education. As I understand it, in the 1960s the state appointed a group led by Clark Kerr (of “multiversity” fame) to come up with a plan for the state’s colleges and universities. The plan set up a tripartite system: the University of California—Berkeley, UCLA, etc.—would be elite research institutions for whom undergraduates would be relative afterthoughts. (One reader described them as “fodder for graduate assistants to practice teaching,” which isn’t exactly ripped from the viewbook.) The Cal State campuses would focus on the bachelor’s and some locally relevant master’s programs. The community colleges would be mostly vocational.
