The life and times of innovative colleges and universities: Factors affecting the endurance and transformation of institutional reforms in higher education

This investigation examined the history and durability of educational innovation at six colleges and universities that were founded in the 1960s and 1970s as alternatives to the mainstream of American higher education. The goal of the research was to understand how and why innovative or experimental campuses preserve their founding missions or dreams in a changing--often non-supportive--social, political, and economic climate.;The results of this study demonstrate that smaller innovative campuses are more likely to maintain their distinctive missions than larger public universities. The findings suggest that innovation is more likely to endure at institutions where there still is a significant presence of charter professors, where faculty are recruited on the basis of their interest in innovative approaches, where academics are rewarded for distinctive teaching and curricular development, where organizational hierarchies and departmental structures are minimized; and where there is administrative support for innovation. The results also indicate that affiliation with a consortium of institutions, a later start-up date, the ability to adapt and change, and community support may enhance the survival of a distinctive campus.;At the same time, the pressures and constraints imposed by a public university system, enrollment declines, and increasing student-to-faculty ratios have been found to inhibit the endurance of innovation at alternative institutions. Among the most fundamental challenges facing distinctive campuses are the retirements of founding faculty, campus image problems, student attrition, onerous faculty workloads, faculty immobility, and the ability to remain both innovative and innovating. The general implications of these findings point to the need for national recognition and promotion of creative alternatives in higher education.;Four-to five-day site visits were conducted at six distinctive institutions across the United States: Pitzer College in California; New College of the University of South Florida; Hampshire College in Massachusetts; University of Wisconsin-Green Bay; University of California, Santa Cruz; and The Evergreen State College in Washington. Altogether, 151 interviews were held with founding or long-time faculty members, administrators, students, alumnae/i, and trustees. Interviews were supplemented with observational research and archival document review. Data were analyzed inductively both within and across sites.