Autonomy, Earned: Shared Governance, Academic Freedom, and University Self-Rule

Abstract Universities defend autonomy by invoking academic freedom and shared governance, yet public confidence has declined and external oversight has expanded. An underappreciated institutional mechanism may help explain the shift: as evaluative criteria proliferate and internal correction becomes less visible, external principals have stronger incentives to substitute auditable proxies—rules, litigation, and compliance—for professional judgment. Drawing on Hayek’s theory of intellectual transmission and Machlup’s account of status anxiety, I explain how intellectual selection and incentive alignment can narrow contestation and encourage proceduralism, weakening credible self-rule. I illustrate the mechanism in admissions, faculty evaluation, and professional education, and I derive predictions about when oversight intensifies and what reforms can rebuild autonomy as an institutional achievement.