Difficulties experienced by Wilkes College (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) as a result of declining enrollments and shifts in student majors, and the resolution of differences between the administration and the faculty, are described in an essay. Related revision of institutional mission and peer-evaluation procedures are also discussed in an article from "The Chronicle of Higher Education." Changes in both enrollments and students' fields of study created an imbalance in the tenure profile. An impasse developed about a proposed new policy: reducing the size of a given department without discontinuing the department and without the college declaring financial exigency. Before this policy was instituted, the administration proposed to the faculty the idea of periodic review of all tenured and nontenured faculty that would enable faculty to evaluate their own careers and to determine where they wanted to be in 5 years, as well as the support they would need. Since students may change careers several times in their lives, the need for curriculum reform was also recognized. Faculty development was seen as important to redefining the mission and revitalizing the curriculum. A grant to the college made possible a faculty retreat to plan revision of the core curriculum, review of academic departments, and the process of individual faculty development and evaluation. (SW)