The Organization and Structure of the Governmental Relations Function in Community Colleges: A Case Study at Five Texas Community Colleges

Governmental relations, how institutions of higher education interact with appointed and elected governmental officials, has not been well defined or widely researched. This is especially the case at community colleges. Today, community colleges enroll half of all students in the United States in higher education and have become the largest sector of higher education in Texas (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2014). The need for community colleges to understand and to influence policy and funding decisions through governmental relations has intensified as Texas has faced pressure on state revenue as a result of two economic recessions over the past decade. To understand how Texas community colleges structure and organize the function of governmental relations (GR) this study focused on five community colleges in the state of Texas. This effort follows closely Brown’s (1985) notion of clarifying governmental relations efforts at various institutions of higher education and Birnbaum’s (1988) model of a cybernetic institution. This research utilized a qualitative, multiple case methods strategy by interviewing leaders at five community colleges regarding the structure and organization of the governmental relations. The interviews were conducted with the college CEOs, other senior administrators (whose duties include governmental relations), and governing board members at the five case study institutions. Additional data were also reviewed. This study demonstrated that responsibility for governmental relations at community colleges rests with the institution’s CEO. A key finding of this study is that there are differences in how colleges structure the governmental relations function based on institutional enrollment size. The researcher found three common themes: (1) the college CEO has ultimate responsibility for governmental relations, (2) the colleges structure their governmental relations efforts as a conduit of inputs/outputs between the institution and the external policy environment, and (3) the essential functional role of GR is to cultivate and maintain relationships with external political systems. Future research across a broader range of community college leaders and institutions is needed to reinforce the findings of this study