It is related administratively, whether public or private, through laws and regulations governing various programs and funding mechanisms. In Virginia, for instance, the private institutions must comply with various rules in order for their students to receive Tuition Assistance Grants. Public institutions are subject to a plethora of laws and regulations that dictate the administrative processes they must follow, the hoops through which they must jump in getting anything done. These supporters are part of the best networks in any state, and they influence political action with their votes and their checks. They are the institutions in which ideas are placed in the crucible and subjected to the most severe tests.
Some ideas fail, others die for lack of interest.
Some change our lives. Political interference can occur at each level of relationship between higher education and government. It begins, of course, at the administrative level. In one state after another, governors have seized control of the systems office to install staff who share their political persuasion. Systems boards probably are most vulnerable to political interference because they have no alumni, no prominent financial backers and no football teams.