Clark Kerr's World of Higher Education Reaches the 21st Century ed. by Sheldon Rothblatt (review)

The distinguished historian of higher education Sheldon Rothblatt, author of such fine books as The Modern University and Its Discontents: The Fate of Newman's Legacies in Britain and America (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1997) and Education's Abiding Moral Dilemma: Merit and Worth in the Cross-Atlantic Democracies, 1800-2006 (Oxford, England: Symposium Books, 2007), has recently published this edited volume on Clark Kerr and his times.

Kerr was perhaps the most famous American academic leader of the 20th century due to his role as author of the California Master Plan for Higher Education. This plan coordinated student admissions for the University of California, the California State University, and the state's community colleges, promising a place in one of the three systems to every state resident who wanted to engage in postsecondary studies. Kerr also was the author of very influential writings, including The Uses of the University (1963/rpt., Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001), a work in which he offered a poignant view of the problems facing this increasingly complex institution, which he called the "multiversity."

In this interesting volume, which includes a foreword by former Brown University President Vartan Gregorian, Rothblatt and his co-authors reflect on Kerr's ideas and career. In particular, the volume focuses on the impact of Kerr's most notable achievement, the California Master Plan for Higher Education, on university systems in other states and countries.

In Chapter 1, Rothblatt addresses Kerr's dramatic dismissal from the presidency of the UC system when Ronald Reagan became governor of California. Rothblatt notes that Kerr had a large wall display of newspaper cartoons about this episode in his home. This anecdote sets the tone for the rest of the chapter and the book, which presents Kerr as a forward-looking and courageous thinker, whose twin pursuits of quality and equality were expressed in the master plan, which "rode into the world on a wave of hope" (p. 25).

In Chapter 2, Arthur Levine chronicles Kerr's adventures as chair of the Carnegie Commission and Council, a job that was offered to him, and which he accepted, within twenty-four hours of his dismissal from the UC presidency. Levine highlights Kerr's most important accomplishments in this position, including the impact that his report about affirmative action had on the Supreme Court's 1978 landmark decision in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, allowing consideration of race as a "plus" factor in the college admissions process.

In Chapter 3, Patrick M. Callan examines the master plan, a solution crafted more than 50 years ago, which he thinks has contributed to today's difficulties because of its rigidity. According to Callan, California is a much bigger and far more complex state than it was in 1960, and it needs to expand and improve educational opportunities for its diverse population.

Chapter 4, by David W. Breneman and Paul E. Ligenfelter, reviews the influence of the master plan on other states around the country, concluding that its direct impact was limited. While its structure was not copied by other states, however, the master plan inspired them to conduct their own strategic thinking, an activity that was also encouraged by the Carnegie Commission and Council led by Kerr.

Chapter 5, by Michael Shattock, Chapter 6, by Guy Neave, and Chapter 7, by Thorsten Nybom, offer an overview of the reception of the master plan in Europe. While studied and admired, the master plan was not replicated, due to the very different circumstances and philosophies prevalent in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden, and other European countries, which have modified their systems of higher education a number of times since 1960, while the master plan has remained unchanged.

Chapter 8, by Ted Tapper and David Palfreyman, is an in-depth examination of Kerr's project to establish a collegiate university in Santa Cruz, a campus...