Introduction to Special Issue

INTRODUCTION TO SPECIAL ISSUE Kathryn M. Moore The Pennsylvania State University Guest Editor This issue of the Review of Higher Education is devoted to history. In­ quiry into the past in American education was never livelier than in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Many people, especially students, plunged into the nation's archives seeking links with fellow-sufferers and rebels from years gone by. To their delight they often found them. Protestors against mass higher education heard the late 19th century outcries against "gigantism;" lonely black students on white campuses found roots of fellowship in the early years of Fisk, Tuskegee, and Oberlin; women discovered early pioneers and soulmates on the long march to equal rights, and administrators, too, sometimes found solace and perspective in the beleagured analyses of former leaders such as Eliot, Wilson and Hutchins. But what are we seeking in the past to guide us in the 1980s? Perhaps because in the '60s and '70s we ex­ perienced history as a mirror reflecting our own perplexed and narrow visages we are less certain what history can offer us now. Yet the desire to guard essentials to return to core values, to serve excellence more selectively, is likely still to urge us back to the past. As one rueful colleague put it, "I don't know why we always look back in order to move forward, but we do, and it seems to help." Both the Sloan and the Carnegie Commissions recently reiterated the necessity for institutions and individuals to hold firm to the original dis­ tinctiveness of their missions, not to succumb to passing fads or temptingly quick fixes. The study of history can often provide such an anchor in the seas of change. Judicious thought about the past and the meanings people drew from their efforts in that past can supply needed renewal and reaffirma­ tion, critical insight, and heightened sensitivity to essential things. Moreover, the disinterested pursuit of truth that is embodied in sound historical inquiry has proved essential in its own right quite apart from presentist desires for meaning and perspective. History for its own sake is often a blade cutting against the grain of common conceptions and fond be­ liefs. In the 1980s while we struggle to avoid both paralysis and frenzy there is much to be said for fostering a renewal of historical inquiry and insight. More than retelling the obvious, lively, original, probing history leads us to new ground, to sharper vision. I am pleased to have had this opportunity to bring this issue together. The first section consists of review essays by Bruce Leslie and Arthur Engel and a commentary by Joan Burstyn. The reviews summarize the work of the 1970s in the U.S. and in England and point to new directions, new kinds of inquiry that are needed or underway. Burstyn speaks to concerns at the na­ tional policy level to which historians may well provide useful insight and analysis in the decade ahead. The essay by Jurgen Herbst addresses a question many contemporary policy makers are concerned with; namely, what do the terms public and private higher education mean? How did they develop and why? Herbst brings clarity to the early diversification of American higher education drawn from his larger work on the legal development of American higher education soon to be published. The article by Gailyn Casaday combines contemporary interests in organi­ zational change and the role of women to look at how the alumnae at Cornell University worked for change in that institution early in this century. These new historical data illustrate also how the information available on a local campus can be turned to important analytic purposes. Finally, Charles Stanton continues an RHE custom with a discussion of how he approaches teach­ ing the history of higher education, especially how to make the flavor and essence of historical periods in higher education come alive for students. 2 There were many other fine pieces submitted which could not be included. Their presence attests to the continuing vitality of history as a way of un­ derstanding higher education and of sustaining scholarly minds. For people interested in increasing their participation in activities related to the...