Live and (Let) Die – Shifting Legitimacies and Organizational Mortality in American Higher Education, 1944–2018.

The article examines the dynamics of organizational closure within U.S. higher education from 1944 to 2018, challenging the predominant focus on sector expansion by analyzing 354 college and university closures across all sectors. It identifies two main causes of institutional mortality linked to shifting legitimacy: normative legitimacy, where exclusionary institutions such as historically Black colleges and women's colleges faced heightened closure risk amid social activism and the spread of group-focused study programs during the civil rights era (1944–1979); and structural legitimacy, where accreditation status became a critical survival factor, especially post-1980, with non-accredited and for-profit institutions exhibiting higher closure rates. The study highlights that legitimacy in higher education is a dynamic, multifaceted concept influenced by evolving social norms and regulatory pressures, and that closures reflect broader societal changes regarding inclusiveness and organizational rationalization.