The relationship between intensive English programs (IEPs) for international students and the American colleges and universities that design, structure, staff, and administer the programs in diverse ways is adversely affected by an absence of policy and the inability of the faculty who teach these programs to participate in the policy-making process. While professionals in English as a second language (ESL) are generally well-informed, they also find their opportunities to influence institutional policy and to contribute to the welfare and development of colleagues, international students, and themselves limited by a number of factors. IEP faculties are often isolated from the operations of the institution, including those related to placement, reporting relationships, governance, and fiscal and academic responsibility. Institutional non-policy has become a common condition for IEPs, for largely political reasons. External agencies with an interest in accreditation and in international students' and ESL teachers' welfare provide standards and services that IEPs and institutions may take advantage of. As IEPs proliferate in higher education and in private enterprise, an emerging academic and humanistic concern for program governance, quality, integrity, and continuity should be addressed. (MSE)