Scarcely a week goes by without a headline about the unsustainability of higher education as we know it, under threat from new models, for-profits, or online education. Most threatened are small liberal arts colleges--with commentators predicting the demise of colleges with fewer than 1,000, or even 1,500 students. Are these trends inevitable, or…

The period of time for which a college is reaccredited, a hotly debated issue at the annual meeting of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, is discussed. Ten-year terms have been shortened, putting a burden on institutions least able to afford the lengthy and costly process. (MLW)

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.…

The experiences of presidents of small colleges in their role as crisis manager are discussed. Attention is directed to: problems confronting the presidents of threatened colleges; presidential actions necessary for institutional renewal; the personal characteristics of the successful crisis manager/president; and how presidential behaviors…

The course of enrollments, events, and decision-making leading up to the 1980 dismissal of five faculty at Goucher College is outlined in terms of: financial exigency, termination of tenured appointments, ruptures in due process and faculty participation, and absence of a decision for program discontinuance. (MSE)

A case study of an anonymous college that experienced the threat of failure but managed to revitalize its operation is presented. Participant observation, interviews, and document review were used in the study that focused on the period just prior to closing and the period since its reopening. (MLW)

A case study of Sullins College, which in 1975 requested that the state of Virginia investigate the feasibility of incorporating the college into the state's public higher education system, is presented. This small, private, two-year college in southwest Virginia had been struggling for several years to maintain its small enrollment. Historical…

Changes made at Antioch College, Ohio, during the early years of Arthur Ernest Morgan's tenure and factors that influenced these changes are examined. In addition, variables associated with the change period, such as Morgan's leadership style, the faculty and students, and the assistance of individuals outside the college are analyzed. To provide…

The attempted closing of Wilson College in Pennsylvania, a 110-year-old liberal arts college for women, is recounted. In 1978 the board of trustees voted to close the college and preserve remaining assets for other educational purposes. A movement evolved to save the college, and subsequent litigation resulted in rulings in May 1979 that: (1) two…

As part of a study of selected developing colleges and universities funded in the Advanced Program of Title III of the Higher Education Act, a case study of Doane College is reported. Doane is a small liberal arts college that has experienced changes in demography and in mission. Doane's state-of-development is reviewed. Its historical development…

This paper looks at the pressures under which academics in Australia are currently working, with special regard to small regional universities. Some time will be spent in explaining the situation and context of those working in the field of education at Northern Territory University as an example. In many respects small regional universities are…