Understanding Authority in Higher Education [Hardcover]

Trenchant, incisive, and nuanced, Understanding Authority in Higher Education is the most lucid and comprehensive explanation of how various constituents in colleges and universities derive their legal authority to take actions and why. A veteran in higher education administration, Dean Smith systematically explicates how authority flows throughout an institution, including in the context of shared governance. This book is a must read for everyone in academe  faculty and administrators alike.Given our increasingly litigious society, this book is a 'must-read' for students and faculty in higher educational administration and for university administrators and decision-makers. The author has done a truly masterful job of presenting, dissecting, and analyzing the full spectrum of decisions in higher education that frequently end up in court. Relying on recent case histories or anecdotes, the author does an excellent job of clearly and systematically describing the chronology of events from administrative decision-making to court decisions, and the ramifications of those decisions.Dean Smith has given us an outstanding analysis of the amorphous nature of authority in the academy. In 12 chapters he merges theoretical concepts with specific examples and case law about the actual functioning of academic culture and tradition. The specific chapter summaries make it a useful tool when a quick overview of a complex topic is required. Graduate students in Higher Education will find this a practical guide to a difficult set of issues. Administrators and faculty will want to keep it on their shelf for reference when considering the crucial question of 'Who Governs the University?'Understanding Authority in Higher Education clarifies issues of authority in an academic setting. Throughout, it introduces basic concepts of higher-education administration and then examines the limits of authority in context.Within the complex environment of higher education, administrators and facultlc)