Institutional autonomy is a relative concept affected both by external constraints and by the attitudes and experience of those within the institution. The identity of an institution is the image established by the dynamics of its constituents and the freedom they exercise in establishing this identity determines its autonomy. In California, external constraints are produced by the interaction of the university system with the development of the Master Plan for Higher Education and the Coordinating Council for Higher Education. Accrediting agencies, professional societies, local, state and federal agencies account for other constraints. Sources of influence within the system are the regents, offices of presidents and vice presidents and university-wide committees. Within the institution, faculty, staff and student views shape the development and maintenance of institutional autonomy. The faculty tends to equate institutional autonomy with personal autonomy and the staff tends to view the university as a public trust requiring accountability to all it serves or is served by. Students, on the other hand, are vitally concerned about ends or results presumably provided by freedom of action. Students, faculty and staff not the administration, are the primary resources for achieving and preserving institutional identity and autonomy. An annotated bibliography is included. (JS)