The Culture of University Public Service: A National Survey of the Perspectives of Users and Providers

Abstract

From the early days of the study of public administration, an effort has been made to bring knowledge of the field to the arena of practice. The initial stirrings of scholars were closely related to the reform movements which gained strength in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Wilson's article, which continues to receive much attention, was designed largely as a defense of merit system reform of the civil service.' This reform era spawned the creation of a series of university-based organizations designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of state and local governments. The University of Wisconsin established a Municipal Reference Service in 1909; the University of Kansas created a similar unit a few months later; and the Universities of Illinois, Washington, California, Oklahoma, and Minnesota soon followed.2 These units generally developed reference libraries and provided information to state government and urban officials. A second period of development occurred in the depression years of the 1930s, during a time of marked increases in government activities.3 Universitygovernment relationships also increased in the 1960s and 1970s with the explosion of government activities during that time. With these new government efforts, university services more diverse than those previously provided surfaced. These included training hard-core unemployed central city residents, advising government officials on the efficacy of new towns, administering anti-poverty programs, and establishing professional degree programs for governmental administrators.4 Even in the more restrained fiscal climate since the mid-1970s, university interest in public service has continued. In 1981, for example, Florida established a university systemwide Institute of Government, and the State University of New York created the Rockefeller Institute of Government, with affiliated faculty on all campuses of the system. The growth of university-government relationships has rested on an assumption that both parties benefit from these arrangements.5 But relations between the two groups, though long-lived, have not been without tension.6 Practitioners and academicians have different * Universities and public officials have sought for many years to establish closer relationships. This study surveys directors of organized university programs designed to assist public officials and two groups of practitioners-state government officials and local government managers. The study examines the extent to which these practitioner groups use these university services and their judgment of the quality as compared with services from private sector consultants. The study also examines how closely the priorities of the university directors match those of the practitioners on program areas and the methods used to deliver university products. The study compares whether the perceptions of the directors more closely match those of the state or the local government group. Finally, the study analyzes the impact of the ways in which university programs are organized on the congruence of the priorities of university directors and the practitioner groups.