ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


INSIDE WASHINGTON

Christopher Wright
Assistant Director

ALA Washington Office

In a more lavish era federal programs were
launched with televised ceremonies featuring
cabinet officers, cheering bystanders, and a
blast of bombast. But in these days of official
miserliness new government projects are being
sent into the world by the back door without
so much as a pat on the back from the office
staff. Sometimes a launching is so hesitant and
the equippage so meager hardly anyone notices
the program at all. Few expect it to survive.

The latest higher education program is one
of these unfortunates.

The academic librarian interested in massive
federal support, innovative ideas, or broad con­
cepts of government can stop reading now. This
program has few friends, little money, and a
tenuous lease on life. Even if it survives it
might just produce more red tape, more squab­
bling among education bureaucrats, and more
empire building at the state capital.

Or it could produce a new era of coopera­
tion, broad-based funding, and federal support
for many aspects of higher education, including
libraries.

Announced in a letter to state governors ear­
lier this spring, the program contains a scant
$1 million for the states to use in planning
higher education through a state postsecondary
education commission (known as the “1202
Commissions” from the section in the Higher
Education Act Amendments of 1972—P.L. 92-
318).

Governors were supposed to notify the Office
of Education by April 15 if they intended to es­
tablish a commission or revamp an existing one
to meet the new requirements. To qualify for
funds the commission must be “broadly and
equitably representative of the general public
and public and private nonprofit and proprie
tary institutions of postsecondary education in
the state.”

In many instances the “new” commission
will probably be a direct successor to a Higher
Education Facilities Commission which oversa
the massive expansion of state universities,
community colleges, and other institutions be
ginning in 1963. The commission will have the
job of setting up special committees and task
forces (not necessarily composed of commission
members) which will make surveys and studies

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 

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“or otherwise contribute the best available ex­

pertise” with the aim of coordinating higher 
education throughout the state.

Presumably these commissions will act as lo­
cal boards of trustees, overseeing the diverse 
federal investments in higher education, includ­
ing federal support for community services and 
continuing education (HEA Title I), equip­
ment for undergraduate instruction (VI-A), 
construction of undergraduate academic facili­
ties (VII-A), and aid to community colleges 
and occupational education (X).

Except there isn’t any money.
The $1 million allocation for establishing the 

commissions and beginning planning means 
each state will get the ridiculous sum of 
$18,180 if they all apply. This is hardly a drop 
in the bucket for states whose existing commis­
sions often already have budgets ten or twenty 
times that sum. And the Administration isn’t 
asking Congress for anything in this category 
next year.

Worse, all the grandiose federal programs the 
new commissions are supposed to administer 
are also proposed for extinction in the Adminis­
tration’s budget proposals for fiscal year 1975. 
What earthly good is a threadbare planning 
agency grimly processing proposals for which 
the government isn’t budgeting one dime?

The answer lies in the renewed power of 
Congress.

The Administration’s grudging acceptance of 
programs such as the 1202 Commissions this 
year, and its persistent refusal to budget money 
for higher education next year, are cause for 
outcry, but not for despair. Congress has been 
appropriating money in spite of the White 
House, and the courts have made the Adminis­
tration spend the money. If a program is suc­
cessful and its supporters are vocal, more mon­
ey will be forthcoming. This year there’s barely 
$1 million here, but next year . . . ?

These 1202 Commissions are designed to be­
come a major policy-making arm of state gov­
ernors. The wording of the law automatically 
makes the commission a semiofficial spokesman 
for the education community in planning the 
future of higher education. The commission’s 
influence over federal and state funds could be 
total.

Next year there may be more money for 
planning. And there may be money for higher 
education programs too. And for library con­
struction. And for resources. The 1202 Com­
mission may be the group who decides whether 
you get federal funds for a new building, or a 
new computer network. ■>

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