This paper intends to describe the recent experience of a small, rural, two-year technical college. After four decades of success, the college had found itself in a difficult situation with a substantial loss in enrollment and diminished state and local support, coupled with low campus employee morale. In response, the college team closed ranks…

This article examines the factors that influence presidents' perceptions of board effectiveness in relation to their boards' fundraising role. Data from a survey of small college presidents are used to see what factors influence each of four areas of satisfaction: deciding policy, making financial contributions, referring donor prospects and…

To help improve the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics's image, its leaders have proposed a package of restrictive measures for consideration at its annual meeting. The regulations would set freshman-eligibility standards, tighten academic-progress rules, put limits on sports seasons and financial aid, and create competitive…

Management theories tend to simplify the complex needs, desires, motives, and abilities of teachers who are also counselors, researchers, planners, and parliamentarians. The task of the academic administrator is to seek coherence of goals and a commitment to student development by focusing disparate visions toward common ends. (MLW)

The way private liberal arts colleges choose to answer the question, "How shall we govern ourselves in the 21st century?" has a great impact on what kinds of institutions that they can and will become. The urgency of this issue is apparent in public criticism, in governance disputes on many college campuses, and in recent publications on…

The experiences of Wellesley College (Massachusetts) with developing a long-range plan for institutional survival in the 1990s illustrate the value of two strategies: devising a planning process that reflects the institutional culture, and spending time early in the process to gain broad agreement on basic financial principles and planning…

The repercussions from the Supreme Court decision in National Labor Relations Board v Yeshiva University are discussed. The court held that the university's full-time faculty members include managerial employees excluded from collective bargaining rights. The verdict is seen as preventing compulsory collective bargaining from spreading. (MLW)

A research study examined the computing strategies of colleges and universities with enrollments of 5,000 or fewer. The management/governance structures were studied and responding institutions indicated that the concept of collegiality was prevalent in setting overall computing policy. (MLW)

The Atlanta University Center, Inc., a consortium of six institutions (Clark, Morehouse, Morris Brown, Spelman, Atlanta University, and Interdenominational Theological Center) represents the world's largest nucleus of Black private higher education. Its background and the problems faced in dealing with each institution's desire for autonomy are…

It is argued that while the restructuring of higher education may be necessary for the liberal arts college to thrive, it is imperative that in this process, the traditional values of the liberal arts experience be maintained and the teaching faculty continue to be recognized as the crucial cohort in the institution. (MSE)

This first in a series of problem-solving exercises challenges readers to examine a small college faced with declining enrollment, decreasing financial support, and industrial pollution. Background information is provided and includes enrollment trends, finances, and characteristics of the administrators, faculty, students, and trustees.…

A small, Catholic college curtailed expenses without damaging programs by involving faculty, administration, and trustees in a detailed contingency planning process that resulted in a report stressing quality over quantity and outlining short- and long-term strategies for institutional planning. (MSE)

Small colleges are under increasing pressure to spend on upgrading technology to win a real or imagined technology race against other institutions. However, the process of making this decision should be coordinated and focus on return on investment; strategic match of technology and mission; competitive advantage; knowledge of real needs;…

An overview of the innovative curriculum and program design of Hampshire College (Massachusetts), a liberal arts college opened in 1970, looks at its educational philosophy, nontraditional curriculum structure, underlying economic assumptions, recordkeeping, administrative organization, employment policy, governance, and student life. (MSE)

Five college and university trustees and administrators explain how their institutions are approaching tuition containment. Issues the institutions have addressed in this context include need-blind admissions policy, using the Consumer Price Index as a budgeting criterion, enrollment changes, relationships with service vendors, personnel policy,…