Critical aspects of crisis management in U.S. higher education and the historical development of the education system over the last 100 years are reviewed. It is proposed that crisis strategies in higher education have largely revolved around the use of a stratification strategy and the establishment of ideological hegemony. Historical periods covered are: the emergence of the university, 1865-1900, the emergence of the academic system, 1900-1945, and the consolidation of the academic system, 1945-1965. Also considered are power in U.S. higher education, and specifically: ideologies and realities of academic governance and major centers of academic planning. Purposes, procedures, and policy plans in academic decision making for the 1980s are also addressed, along with features of the academic stratification system that exists among institutions, as well as among personnel and curricula. Specific topics include: the expansion of community colleges and marginalization in that sector, the structural impact of tuition differentials, support for the private sector, the marginalization of faculty, affirmative action, the new "practicality" emphasis of the curriculum, stratification of college students, prospects for college graduates, the principle of meritocracy, and social hegemony in higher education. (SW)