A 1985-1986 case study of governance conducted at Rikkyo University, a private university in Tokyo, is considered, along with weaknesses in the organizational framework of governance and how these organizational weaknesses are linked to problems in reforming Japanese higher education. The governance structure provides that each college of a private university have an academic senate composed of faculty to decide academic matters. Since Rikkyo University has six colleges, it also has six separate senates, and with each college acting independently of the other colleges within the university, there is little university-wide policy or ways to achieve it. A Dean's Council was formed to coordinate university-wide decision-making; however, the Council does not operate from formal authority. The case study at Rikkyo University considered the views of full-time faculty. Findings include: the six senates individually and the Deans' Council have more power than the Board of Trustees; the Deans Council is the locus of university-wide decision-making; in the Deans' Council, consensus must be reached before decisions are made; and it is difficult to achieve consensus within the Deans' Council because faculty members' first loyalty is to their college and only secondarily to the university. Views about the Ministry of Education were also elicited, revealing that a reform movement headed by it would probably be resisted by many. (SW)