What Does It Mean to Be Accountable?: Dimensions and Implications of Higher Education's Public Accountability

This ASHE presidential address considers the meaning of higher education's public accountability in the U.S. context. American higher education has always been publicly accountable in some sense, but the forms and expectations associated with accountability have changed significantly from colonial times to the present. The address traces the reasons, building on the basic idea that accountability expectations are a social and political construction, and, consequently, bound to change with the times. Currently, much is expected from higher education while resources are in short supply. An argument is made here that contemporary higher education might well receive more resources from citizens and governments if its priorities were better aligned with those of these supporters and if its performance were more transparently reported. The need for a broader venue than presently exists for interaction about such matters is also discussed.