This report outlines the health threats of cigarette smoking on college campuses. It cites evidence that smoking among high school seniors and college freshmen has dropped only 1.5 percent since 1981, and notes the dangers of second-hand smoke. Six recommendations for becoming a smoke-free campus are listed. The experience of American industry and…

Master campus plans of the University of California at Santa Cruz and the University of California at Irvine are compared. The two plans had similar origins but very different outcomes. The former, based on an innovative academic idea, was revised several times from 1965 to 1993. The latter, similar to other University of California campuses, has…

Presents a model of quality assurance for colleges and universities, distilled from key concepts in the literature about quality assurance and higher education culture and practice. The model has continuous quality improvement in student learning at its center, and includes elements of institutional values, faculty evaluation and development,…

Addresses the First Amendment issues raised by the Hazelwood decision, which ruled that administrators serve as publishers of the student press. Recent decisions have shown that the courts will apply Hazelwood to post-secondary schools. These decisions reflect an ideology which supports the inculcation of society's values on college students. (RJM)

Looks at the historical roots of the student affairs profession for insight about the value of community. Examines different conceptualizations, institutional evidence, and artifacts of community. Describes ways in which community can be fostered within the college environment through the use of diversity, faculty, and professional work. (RJM)

New research and structures of higher education must be explored to create positive learning environments for gay, lesbian, and bisexual students, whose needs may be different from those of traditional students. This requires attention to college and classroom environment, curriculum, and services, including campus activities, career and personal…

Efforts to assess quality of academic life at Vanderbilt University (Tennessee) resulted in a plan to merge qualitative and quantitative measures and uncovered political, logistical, and fiscal issues in collection and use of the two kinds of data. Although qualitative databases are costly, they are also very useful in different ways. (Author/MSE)

Whether or not colleges should require students to have a computer as a condition for admission is discussed. In determining policy on this issue, governing boards are urged to consider the rationale for such a requirement and whether or not the campus culture and infrastructure are appropriate for the change. (MSE)

A framework is offered for college presidents to establish new leadership during the first two years of tenure, with time frames and tasks for engaging the community. Postinauguration strategies include addressing a long-standing need decisively, identifying/achieving one success within the new vision, developing a broadly participatory and…

The paper critically reviews the concept of "global flows", beginning with the discussions of flows and networks in Appadurai (1996), Castells (2000) and Held "et al." (1999). Emphasising the need to embed "global flows" in agency and history, and to explore global connectedness in terms of situated cases, the paper…

In 2003 the University of Cape Town introduced an anonymous examination policy. This article reports on a study of the impact of the implementation of this policy on student performance. Comparisons of student results pre- and post policy implementation showed no evidence of negative or positive discrimination of students in the examination…

A faculty member compares his experiences at Reed College and UCLA in terms of the institutions' aims and resources for teaching and learning and the way the college environment is reflected in faculty renewal, scholarly activity, and student experience. (MSE)

The College and University Classroom Environment Inventory, a college seminar dynamics measurement instrument based on earlier research on assessment of elementary and secondary classroom environmental characteristics, is described. Its testing and initial applications in research on student outcomes and teacher and student preferences of…

This investigation examined the history and durability of educational innovation at six colleges and universities (Pitzer College (California); New College of the University of South Florida; Hampshire College (Massachusetts); University of Wisconsin-Green Bay; University of California Santa Cruz; and The Evergreen State College (Washington) that…

Changes in the college and university environment (oversimplified instructional materials, demand for detailed instructions, avoidance of challenge in curricula, overuse of student evaluation of faculty) suggest that in their efforts to recruit and retain students, institutions have promoted students' increased intellectual dependency. This…