This book argues that limited faculty productivity is the major reason why the quality of undergraduate teaching has declined while university tuition has been rising substantially faster than the inflation rate. It stresses that inefficiency and fiscal waste are produced by the competing aims of research and teaching and attacks the academic traditions precluding reform. Individual chapters address the following topics: (1) the university's conflict and correspondence of interest; (2) the institution's mission and the present role of trustees and the president; (3) the exercise of authority in the academy; (4) the faculty (career path, workload, and tenure); (5) the lack of quality control in curriculum; (6) the issue of multiculturalism in curriculum; (7) the student as consumer; (8) the high cost of tuition; (9) costs and benefits and tuition; (10) where tuition goes; (11) evaluation of higher education; (12) specific ways to improve undergraduate teaching quality; and (13) specific ways to cut costs (with emphasis on mandating differential faculty workloads). Appendices include a list of "Ironies of the University," an explanation of the Carnegie Classification system; and three rankings of universities in the United States. (Contains 171 reference notes keyed to individual chapters.) (DB)