Changing Universities: The Politics of Innovation in a Large Multiversity. Occasional Paper No. 8.

A case study of the Colleges of the State University of New York at Buffalo is presented to analyze the problem of change in higher education and the role played by a theory of change. A brief sketch of the history of the Colleges from the beginning to the end of the 1970s is presented to provide a context for a discussion of strategy of change. The following strategies for change were enacted during 1974-79: transformation from participatory decision-making to consultative governance, creation of coalitions, the establishment of procedures to evaluate units, and neutralization of university-wide leadership antagonism toward the Colleges. Some of the issues that emerged in the attempt of the Colleges to pursue the strategies for change are analyzed. The leadership of individual units was assigned to Masters, who were recruited, and the Dean's Office itself was strengthened. To implement the strategy of increasing the importance of individual Colleges, resources were provided to the units, residential units were developed, and noncredit academic programs were developed. An important instrument for transforming the political process of the Colleges into an effective consultative system with clear channels for advising the Dean was the elaboration of a complex budget process. The following additional issues are considered: the lack of resources of the colleges, the problem of the physical environment, creating political coalitions, the development of a faculty senate prospectus, the procedures used in the chartering process and the results of chartering over the five-year period, an external review of the Colleges, and the creation of an academic plan. Lessons learned in the implementation of the strategies are addressed. (SW)