In Democracy in America, nineteenth-century political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville argued that understanding how individual U.S. states approached an issue offered "the key to all the rest." If Tocqueville was correct, and he was right about many things, higher education advocates are in for a rocky time. Over the past two or three…

Following an overview of the growth of publicly supported junior colleges in Colorado and corresponding state legislation and policies of the Colorado State Board for Community Colleges and Occupational Education, this paper presents the present position of the Board on issues of student access and the establishment and maintenance of community…