tionary process that began in the middle Agesö (Barzun, 2001, p. 18). However, universities in the Middle Ages did not have libraries, nor did they have laboratories (Haskins, 1957). An institution without such facilities today would not qualify for classification as a university. The evolutionary process has changed and continues to change the shape and the character of the university. In the Twentieth Century in the United States, for instance, many universities became major partners with government and private corporations in conducting research activities that did not relate directly to the function of teaching. The addition of libraries, laboratories, and similar facilities to universities resulted from the application of an easily understood concept: supplementing the teaching process with tools to enhance a teacherÆs effectiveness and efficiency is needed. Most people readily accepted this concept and could understand the importance of consistency in supplying such tools on a university level (Burton, 1995).
Hebel (1999) reported that some of the other changes in the shape and character of the university have been less well accepted. Examples of less readily accepted change were remedial education programs, which were developed in response to charges of an under-representation of members of racial and ethnic minorities in the student populations of major publicly-funded universities (Hebel, 1999).
As well as being the latest manifestation of an historical evolutionary process, the university is also the product of the contemporary society of which it is a part. Thus, contemporary universities are the product of both internal evolution and the process of adapting to societal demands and expectations (Burton, 1995). One important complaint against the contemporary university is the charge that only about 10 % of the teachers in higher education contribute materially to the enlargement of human knowledgeö (Finn, ...