Several studies have focused on the increasing gender diversity in the boardrooms of corporations; both on what causes the increase and how this affects performance. Institutions of higher education also have governing boards but their incentive structures are quite different than those of corporations, thus providing a unique opportunity to study…

Barack Obama agreed to answer a series of questions submitted via e-mail to his campaign. This article presents excerpts of "The Chronicle"'s exchange with the senator and candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, in which he discussed his policy suggestions for student aid and college access; the appropriate role of the federal…

Most tributes to the late Barbara Jordan focused on her life in public service, but this appreciation recalls her brilliance as a teacher. The values behind her noted voice lent her speech, as political figure and teacher, its authority. (SLD)

Higher education must tell legislatures how the state should raise the money the colleges want to spend--even if it means higher taxes--and then lobby on behalf of those proposals. This also means addressing new and potentially controversial issues about the role of colleges in state politics. (MLW)

Two-year colleges are trying to change legislators' perceptions about their institutions, demanding increased state support, and working together to lobby as a state system rather than as individual institutions. (MSE)

Seven politicians who have spent some time in the college classroom as professors or lecturers comment on the influence of their teaching experience on their approaches to law-making. The legislators are: Senator Phil Gramm, Senator Paul Simon, Senator Barbara Mikulski, Representative Roscoe G. Bartlett, Representative Bob Filner, Representative…

The structure of U.S. congressional support for college student financial aid during the 96th and 97th Congresses was assessed. Senators' roll call votes on student aid legislation were analyzed, using factor and discriminant analysis. Using a content-free classification scheme, attention was directed to whether voting patterns were…

John Brademas' career in national politics and its effect on his approach to his work as president of New York University are discussed. (MSE)

A description of what it is like to move back and forth between the academic and the political worlds is presented. Ten "professor/legislators" and one ex-professor/governor are interviewed. Their responses indicate that the campus and the legislature are not inimical environments. (MLW)

Suggestions to college administrators include realize that the essential lubricant of politics on Capitol Hill is relations of trust, confidence, and familiarity; bring solutions as well as problems to legislators; talk to members on the committee handling the issue of concern; help friends get reelected. (MLW)

Presentations are on the five topics of functional models of institutional research: (1) and the political scene; (2) at public and private colleges and universities; (3) for improving communications between institutional researchers and data processors; (4) for deriving qualitative decisions from quantitative data; and (5) for special interest…

The first session of the 100th Congress has been transitional for national research and development policies because of the emergence of competitiveness as a major theme in American politics, the formation of a broad-based university-corporate alliance for lobbying, and growing public awareness of the potential commercialization of technology.…

Many campus administrators in Alabama also serve in the state legislature, participating in debates and votes affecting their institutions. The potential for conflicts of interest has damaged state policy on higher education. Some recent incidents are described. (MLW)

Guidelines are presented for the various levels of the government relations effort, minimum programs, staff responsibilities, and the role of associations. Advice on the politics of transition--as higher education moves to a lower priority in the political process--is also given. (Author/MSE)

Minority politicians who believe that colleges have ignored them in the past are winning political posts that are crucial for higher education and are using their new power. The ethnic composition of the faculty at the University of New Mexico has been the target of legislators in the last year. (MLW)