It is time for states to step back and examine the relevance for the next century of structures formed for an earlier time.
Some structures are still relevant.
Others have long outlived their usefulness. Governing boards of public institutions were modeled after the lay boards of private nonprofit colleges and universities which, in nearly all instances, govern single institutions. Perhaps for this reason, many people retain an impression that the pattern of a single board for a single institution is dominant in American public higher education. The policy environment changed dramatically by 1990. As the economic crisis of the late 1980s intensified, state leaders added a new urgency to questions about the performance and productivity of higher education.