Book Review 
The Challenge for Urban Public 

Universities: A Review of Beyond 
the Crossroads-The Future of the 

Public University in America 
Authors James]. Duderstadt and Farris WWomack 

Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 2003. 256 pp. 
Reviewed by Karri A. Holley 

In many ways, the urban public university in the United States is a remarkably 
adaptive institution. Its response to social events over the past century helped define 
the national landscape. Millions of returning veterans received a college education due 
to the GI Bill. Important advances in medicine and health have been developed by 
scientists trained at the nation's public universities. Such institutions have "grown up 
with the nation," write Duderstadt, Womack, and Ingraham in the book, Beyond the 
Crossroads: The Future of the Public University in America. "This extraordinary social 
institution ... has transformed the very society it serves" (9). 

How can the urban public university, which has long shown remarkable resiliency and 
flexibility in the face of change, adapt to the turbulent social and political forces of the 
twenty-first century? The question, crucial to those involved in higher education, is 
considered by Duderstadt and Womack in this provocative and engaging b<Jok. The answer, 
according to the authors, is that change is possible and indeed imperative, and must be 
accomplished through an evaluation of the very nature of the urban public university. 

Even compared to the massive influx of students post-World War II and the turbulent 
atmosphere of the 1960s, public universities are confronted with complex and 
powerful social and political issues in the new century. The changing nature of 
funding, for example, forces urban public universities to consistently evaluate budget, 
tuition, and student aid. Growth in state higher education appropriations was near zero 
in fiscal year 2003, due to declining state revenue and a shift in policy priorities. To fill 
the budget gaps, public universities increased student tuition and fees, an average of 
nine percent from 2001to2002 (AASCU 2003). 

In addition, urban public universities face a burgeoning enrollment growth with a 
student body more diverse than at any other time in American history: a higher number 
of women than men (56% ), an increasing percentage of minority students (28% ), and 

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70 percent of first-time, full-time degree-seeking undergraduates receiving financial 
aid (NCES-IPEDS 2000). 

Each chapter in Beyond the Crossroads defines an element of the changing social 
needs which affect the urban public university. The title reflects the authors' opinion 
that public universities have long passed the crossroads in terms of considering 
change. Change is not an optional activity for administrators, faculty, students, and 
governing boards. Instead, the true challenge is to ensure that such change is 
purposeful and strategic, rather than reactionary and defensive. 

The authors explore technology, market pressures, finances, university leadership, and 
governance as key forces driving change in public universities. The chapter on 
university leadership (Chapter Seven), for example, is written from the background of 
the authors' lengthy tenures as president and chief financial officer, respectively, of the 
University of Michigan, and is the strongest of the book. 

In terms of leadership, the authors maintain that "the current environment on many 
public campuses today neither tolerates nor supports strong, visionary leadership" 
(130). Many urban public university presidents may share this opinion, but are not in a 
position to verbally express it. The chapter proceeds to examine exactly why 
leadership is such a scarce resource for the public university. In large part, it is because 
of the complex nature of the institution. The constituents are many, the money is 
scarce, and the demand for responsiveness and change can be deafening. 

The book benefits from Womack as a second author. Womack, who served as chief 
financial officer of the University of Michigan under Duderstadt, provides a strong 
basis for Chapter Six, "Financing the Public University." In the attempt to meet diverse 
public demands and provide multiple programs for service to the community, public 
universities can be hobbled by what the authors label as "mission creep," a situation 
where "[an increasing amount of funds] are diverted away from academic programs to 
other activities" (105). The growth of the higher education periphery has resulted in a 
weakening of the academic core, especially for urban public universities. 

Collis has identified a "paradox of scope," wherein the traditional mission of the 
university (academics) is blurred by the layered increase of peripheral activities 
(Collis, in press). The paradox of scope is complicated in the urban public university, 
where there are multiple stakeholders and a lack of clear leadership involved in the 
governance process. It is little wonder, as Duderstadt and Womack note, that public 
universities are afflicted with a "growing epidemic of presidential turnover ... both a 
consequence of these problems and a factor that contributes to them" (132). If 
leadership is inherently a process concerned with fostering change, it is clear to see 
why leadership and change are so difficult in an urban public university (Astin and 
Astin 2000). 



Duderstadt and Womack contend that the inherent political nature of the public 
university governing board "not only distract boards from their important 
responsibilities and stewardship ... [but can also] trample on academic values and 
micromanage institutions into mediocrity" (151). 

The conclusion drawn by the authors is that the public university cannot survive in its 
present form. Rather than compose a death knell, however, they conclude their work 
with two chapters on university transformation and the future. Given the layered and 
complicated forces shaping public universities, how is change possible? The authors 
never claim that the public university is on the verge of extinction. "The most 
fundamental transformation," they assert, "involves changing the character and the 
mission of universities" (184 ). 

Their recommended strategies include assessing the how and why of institutional 
activities. Such strategic change offends those traditionalists of the university, who 
maintain that university trademarks such as departmental organizational structure and a 
core liberal arts education are essential to academic and social development. But such 
changes are meant to enhance, not destroy, what has always been essential to higher 
education. The urban public university's commitment to access, diversity, and 
knowledge is not called into question. Instead, Duderstadt and Womack advocate 
protecting and preserving key institutional values, engaging the stakeholders, building 
alliances, and having the confidence to experiment. 

It can be difficult to experiment with a social institution with a centuries-old history 
that is one of the cornerstones of American society. Experimentation, however, is 
imperative. "As society becomes ever more knowledge intensive, it becomes ever more 
dependent upon social institutions such as the university which ... educate people, and 
provide them with knowledge and learning resources throughout their lives," say the 
authors (207). The public university will be saved by adaptation and evolution. The 
challenge for such an evolution, however, is letting go of the traditional paradigm and 
structure of the university. 

Urban public universities face a unique challenge in providing the best education 
possible for students while also working to support the infrastructure of their 
community. In doing so, the university is committed to using all of its strengths-
research, public service, social awareness. Such an effort dispels the "growing spirit of 
cynicism towards higher education" (156). If we are truly evolving into a society of 
learning, then it is the responsibility and the challenge of urban public universities to 
ensure their community is not left behind. 

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References 
American Association of State Colleges and Universities with the National Association 
of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, 2003 Student Charges and Financial 
Aid Annual Report (Washington, DC: Authors, 2003). 

Astin, H., and A. Astin, Leadership Reconsidered: Engaging Higher Education (Battle 
Creek, MI: W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 2000). 

Collis, D. "A Paradox of Scope: A Challenge to the Governance of Higher Education," 
in W.G. Tierney, ed., Competing Conceptions of Academic Governance: Negotiating 
the Perfect Storm. (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, in press). 

National Center for Educational Statistics, NCES-IPEDS Enrollment in Postsecondary 
Institutions, Fall 2000 and Financial Statistics, Fiscal Year 2000, Retrieved October 1, 
2003 from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2002212