An extraordinary test of the Illinois system of systems is taking place in DuPage County over establishing a graduate level educational institution to serve and to entice high technology development along the East-West Tollway. Who is involved? Almost every university serving northern Illinois — public and private — has played some role so far; corporate and government leaders interested in the development of the corridor along the tollway are organized into an assortment of groups pushing for the new institution. When and how a decision will be made is unclear, but so far plans of existing institutions have evidently failed to meet the high expectations of corporate and political leaders in DuPage. The General Assembly could make the decision this June, especially if such an institution becomes part of the state's package to entice the federal government into deciding that the superconducting super collider — the plum of future science and high technology — should be built in Illinois. The proposed Illinois site for the collider is adjacent to Fermilab, which straddles DuPage and Kane counties just north of the East-West Tollway.

To understand what is happening to high technology in the Chicago metropolitan area in 1987, it is necessary to go back to another watershed era for high technology in Illinois and the world: the late summer of 1945, near the end of World World War II. Amid celebrations of the Allies' victory came word that the atomic age had begun three years earlier when Enrico Fermi had achieved the world's first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction in a University of Chicago laboratory.

Critical elements of that Chicago facility, known as the Metallurgical Laboratory, were moved in 1946 to a site in DuPage County, about 25 miles southwest of Chicago's Loop. The new installation became the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). The University of Chicago was awarded a contract by the federal government to operate it at that time and has been involved in its management since then. From the earliest days of ANL, its leadership has periodically urged that some form of advanced educational center be located nearby. While ANL is not technically an "educational" institution, it clearly has educational components. For instance, it has served as host to university scientists from around the country — coming from public and private institutions alike — who wish to use its specialized scientific facilities and equipment. Many of these scientists are from Illinois universities, including both campuses of the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign and Chicago), Northwestern, the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and others.

ANL is an unusual organization. Funded by the federal governnment (now mainly through the U.S. Department of Energy), it is clearly a "public" institution. But it is operated by a distinguished "private" university, the University of Chicago, and interacts constantly with some of the most respected institutions in the country, particularly those located in the Midwest.

Fermilab, officially the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, came later. The site was chosen in December 1966, and it has the most powerful accelerator now in use for high energy physics research. It has become a focal point in Illinois' effort to win the new super collider. Fermilab is also funded through the U.S. Department of Energy; its policies are made by the Universities Research Association, a consortium of 56 U.S. and Canadian universities.

At present, the only public post-secondary institution in DuPage County is the College of DuPage, a two-year public community college. It is governed by its own locally elected board of trustees; its broader affairs are coordinated by the Illinois Community College Board. Of the four public university governance systems, only Southern Illinois University lacks an institutional presence in northeastern Illinois. To the east in Cook County the University of Illinois Board of Trustees governs the UI Chicago campus on the city's near west side. The Board of Governors controls both Chicago State University on the city's south side and Northeastern Illinois State University on its far north side. To the southeast in Will County this same board has jurisdiction over Governors State University at University Park (formerly Park Forest South). And to the west in DeKalb County is Northern Illinois University, under the aegis of the Board of Regents.

There are also a large number of private colleges and universities located in the greater Chicago metro area.

East-West Tollway (Route 5)

Important in understanding the state's role in placing a new institution of higher education in DuPage County is the development of the Illinois governance structure for higher education. Following the burgeoning enrollments of the post-World War II years, the General Assembly found it increasingly difficult to plan and coordinate public higher education — and to encourage cooperation between public and private sectors. As a result the General Assembly in 1961 created the Board of Higher Education (BHE). In the late 1960s, upon recommendation of the BHE, the General Assembly established a complex governing structure for public higher education. Known as the "system of systems" among educators, the structure incorporated both old and new public institutions into five governing boards (see box). Lying beneath these arcane governance layers are the geopolitics of higher education in Illinois. Any decision by the legislators on what university (or universities) will have governing and/or operational authority over any new public high-tech facility in Illinois will have to consider those geopolitics. Since the Illinois Constitution provides no guarantee to the structure of higher education, the General Assembly has absolute authority in determining the questions about a new facility. The legislators have many options: They can attach a new high-tech center to an existing university, create a new institution, or reorganize the presently existing system in any fashion they desire.

Although the General Assembly could make changes through a "vehicle bill," at least one bill dealing directly with establishing a new institution in DuPage has been introduced. House Bill 2020, sponsored by Rep. Gene L. Hoffman (R-40, Elmhurst, DuPage County), would amend acts "relating to the University of Illinois and Northern Illinois University to require the cooperation of those institutions in establishing a high technology center in DuPage County. Effective July 1, 1988.'' It requires that the two governing boards in question (UI and the Board of Regents) "... shall cooperate ... to establish as a joint program ... a center for high technology education in DuPage County to serve the educational needs of the area's students and businesses."

Educational institutions have already made attempts to provide higher education at a location in DuPage. When the trustees of George Williams College, a small liberal arts institution in Downers Grove in DuPage County, were facing financial failure in 1986, officials of NIU and its Board of Regents sought BHE endorsement of state purchase of the facility. At a public hearing on the matter conducted by the BHE on March 4, 1986, representatives of both the Board of Regents and the UI system testified, along with officers of an inter-institutional group known as the West Suburban Regional Academic Consortium, which is made up of both private and public institutions (including both NIU and UI). A spokesman for the consortium reported that a majority of its members favored a joint educational effort in DuPage, modeled perhaps after a multi-university effort known as Quad Cities Graduate Study Center and serving students in Davenport, Moline, Rock Island and Bettendorf. Universities cooperating in that effort are the UI, NIU, Western Illinois University, the University of Iowa and Iowa State University. The center does not operate in a central facility, but rather leases space from area schools and colleges.

The 'system of systems': higher ed governance and geopolitics • The University of Illinois Board of Trustees governs operations at campuses located at Urbana-Champaign (UI-UC) and Chicago (UI-C). In recent years a UI medical education facility located in Chicago and formerly headed by its own chancellor was Consolidated with a nearby campus known as Chicago Circle. The Consolidated campus is now known as the University of Illinois at Chicago (UI-C). A single president serves as the University of Illinois' chief executive officer. Additionally, each campus has its own chancellor. The board also governs regional medical school facilities at Peoria, Rockford and Urbana-Champaign in conjunction with the main medical school in Chicago. The most striking difference between the UI board and the other four systems lies in the selection process of its members. Except for ex-officio members, all UI board members are elected for six-year terms in partisan statewide elections. Members of other boards are appointed by the governor. • The Southern Illinois University (SIU) Board of Trustees governs campuses at Carbondale and Edwardsville, as well as a School of Medicine in Springfield. Under a nomenclature reversed from that of the UI, a chancellor is the chief executive of the system, while presidents administer the campuses. (An officer carrying the title of dean and provost heads the Springfield School of Medicine and reports to the Carbondale campus president.) • The Board of Regents system contains three universities grouped together for management purposes. They are Illinois State University (ISU) at Normal; Northern Illinois University (NIU) at DeKalb; and Sangamon State University (SSU) in Springfield. Presidents of the institutions report to a regency system chancellor. • A Board of Governors system controls five institutions. They are Eastern Illinois University (EIU) in Charleston; Western Illinois University (WIU) in Macomb; Governors State University in University Park; and Chicago State University (CSU) and Northeastern Illinois University, both in Chicago. Presidents of these schools report to a chancellor. • The Community College Board, the fifth unit of the "system of systems," is in reality a coordinating board. Each of the community college districts select members to individual local boards.                                                                   Boyd Keenan At the hearing Jack Knuepfer, chairman of the DuPage County Board, argued for a graduate university center in DuPage County to service industries along the East-West Tollway: "All our educational institutions are where nobody is. They're in Champaign and DeKalb — and what business is there? We need something here where so many people go to night school." Also speaking at the hearing were representatives of the East-West Corporate Corridor Association (EWCCA), a group of nearly 100 companies in the area. They emphasized the plight of corporate employees who wish to pursue graduate work.particularly in engineering fields. EWCCA is probably the most visible of the associations pressing for new educational opportunities in DuPage; its membership also includes Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and several colleges and universities. Plans based on the George Williams site died, however. In late March 1986, a BHE committee recommended against state purchase of the property; in May 1986 the George Williams trustees sold 104 acres of its campus — including the college buildings — to the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine located in Chicago's Hyde Park section. About the same time, another institution launched a plan. Officials at the Illinois Institute of Technology (UT), located on Chicago's near south side, announced that it had purchased the Midwest College of Engineering, a small DuPage educational facility at Lombard. IIT also revealed that it had leased space at the College of DuPage, in nearby Glen Ellyn, where it would begin offering courses in the fall of 1987. The institution's new presence in DuPage County is to be known as IIT West, and the school's officials expressed the hope of finding a site for a permanent campus within the next three years. Although leaders at both the college and the institute emphasize that the DuPage facilities are only satellite campuses, it seems likely that the moves could have long-term effects on their main campuses Still another plan emerged in January. The BHE included $1.4 million in its proposed 1987-88 public college and university budget to assist the University of Illinois and NIU in planning for graduate offerings in such fields as business, engineering, computer sciences and other scientific and technological courses. BHE Executive Director Richard Wagner seemed to echo Kneupfer's argument: "Because DuPage men and women holding full-time jobs cannot come to the campuses in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago or DeKalb, the two universities would send professors to teach them at sites in the county yet to be determined." In mid-January, representatives of the BHE, the UI, NIU and three private universities — the University of Chicago, Northwestern and IIT — met to discuss the long-term higher education scene in DuPage County. On the agenda was a report by NIU President John La Tourette, which called for one graduate center at Oak Brook to be administered by UI, and one at Naperville to be operated by NIU. No conclusions were reached. According to media reports on the session, IIT President-elect Meyer Feldberg discussed his institution's plans to hold classes at the College of DuPage for at least three years. He indicated that space in IIT's proposed new campus might be available to other institutions but made no commitments. DuPage Board Chairman Knuepfer, who was also at the meeting, reported afterward to the media that he favored a single graduate center at the College of DuPage, instead of the two-center concept. He gave money shortages as the major reason, for his counterproposal. He conceded that rivalry between two state universities (NIU and UI) might make cooperation in any joint venture difficult: ''I think there's competition among them all. I think the issue is to maintain competitiveness and cooperation at the same time. I think it can be done. I don't think it's going to be easy. But there was an awful lot of interesting cooperation expressed today." 16/June 1987/Illinois Issues In late January, a Chicago Tribune editorial supported development of a graduate center in DuPage: "It may be time to start getting excited about the possibilities for DuPage County's high-tech corridor. lts biggest need — support of first-rate, graduate-level education — is so close it would be a waste to let it slip away now." A few days later, Knuepfer announced that a "landowner in western DuPage County" had offered to donate property for the campus of a high technology graduate school. He declined to identify the potential donor. Impetus for establishing a graduate school in DuPage has come partly from Gov. James R. Thompson himself. In September 1986 during a campaign sweep through heavily Republican DuPage County, he endorsed the notion of a new "high-tech" graduate university. Equally important, perhaps, he used his visit to DuPage County to sign into law a statewide "Corridors of Opportunity" program. State matching dollars are available to help communities and other organizations establish corridor entities for marketing their regions. State funds are earmarked for the effort of corridor organizations to cross governmental lines in order to plan and market on a regional basis. Existing before the governor's corridor announcement were EWCCA, described by its leadership as representing the executive sector of the corporate community, and at least two other organizations: the Corridor Group, made up of public affairs officers of corporations, national laboratories and other entities; and the Corridor Partnership for Excellence in Education, which seeks to address scientific and education devel-opments in the area. Impetus for establishing a graduate school in DuPage has come partly from Gov. James R. Thompson himself In DuPage, the "corridor of opportunity" is along the East-West Tollway, also known as Illinois Route 5. The Corridor Group worked to get it officially designated as a "Research and Development Corridor," and prominent signs have been installed stalled along the tollway. The corridor is defined as encompassing passing portions of DuPage, DeKalb, Kane and Kendall counties located along the tollway. One offshoot of the governor's corridor program was the formation of yet another group interested in a graduate center in DuPage. In late 1986, the Illinois Research and Development Council was organized. Chaired by College of DuPage President Harold McAninch, it is composed of some 20 officials from state and local government, local educational institutions, corporations and associations. lts mission is to coordinate "the development, marketing, and strategic planning of the Illinois Research and Development Corridor as a region.'' Member organizations are the East-West Corporate Corridor Association, the Valley Industrial Association, the Corridor Partnership for Excellence in Education, the DuPage County Regional Planning Commission and the Kane County Development Department. The Corridor Group provides public relations. At the beginning of May, nothing was certain on the creation of a graduate level higher education facility in DuPage to serve the East-West corridor. Knowledgeable observers will surely agree with Chairman Knuepfer that institutional competition and rivalries will dominate the decision process in the General Assembly. They would also agree that the interests of the various governing boards and separate institutions will be forcefully protected in the process. With competition for the superconducting super collider intensifying (proposals are due in August), discussions about a DuPage higher education facility are also intensifying since such a facility could affect Illinois' chances to win the super collider. The presence in the picture of the superconducting super collider must affect debate on the issue, since it introduces long-term regional and national interests alongside those of the state. The state of Illinois is now in the final stages of preparing an "incentive package" for the National Academy of Sciences and the federal government to review along with the state's site proposal for the super collider. Unofficial reports suggest it is likely that the package will highlight a key role of the University of Illinois — with its Urbana-Champaign and Chicago campuses — as a major actor in the development of a high tech graduate center in DuPage County. UI President Stanley O. Ikenberry acknowledged that his institution has been working with state officials in developing the incentive package. He also noted that the university's presence in DuPage extends back several decades through activities of the Cooperative Extensive Service. More recently the UI has expanded class offerings in the county — including engineering classes. In discussions centered on the super collider possibilities, hope has been expressed in some quarters that a failure to win the giant accelerator will not discourage the development of a "world class" graduate institution in DuPage County. Leadership in the EWCCA in particular has emphasized the need to pursue the graduate center regardless of the outcome of the super collider competition. EWCCA apparently views itself as a catalyst with capabilities for bringing the diverse groups and institutions together. Understandably, differences of opinion exist among these various sectors. Factionalism is not likely to disappear, but there apears to be near-consensus among most contenders for leadership — in academia, the corporate arena and other sectors — that challenges in DuPage are far too significant for decisions to be made on provincial political considerations. Illinois may well stand now at a point where it could influence the well-being of the larger Midwest, the nation and even the world. Boyd Keenan is professor of political science, both at the University of Illinois at Chicago and in the UI Institute of Government and Public Affairs, serving both campuses. June 1987/Illinois Issues/17