Colleges are undergoing a transition from having responsibility for the protective care of students in loco parentis to the position of treating and counseling students as young adults. Many administrators are academic specialists, but are not prepared to respond to the basic questions raised by students about the university's role as an educational institution and its role in society. The growing permissiveness of parents and exposure to today's communications media have produced more sophisticated college-age children over whom administrators can no longer assume an arbitrary authority. Administrators are usually confronted with problems arising from 1 of 2 sources: (1) militant student and faculty insistence that the institution should take leadership in social action, and (2) student pressures for change in the institution itself. The numerous criticisms that evolve from these sources seem to be justified. Unfortunately, many administrators have resisted new ideas and maintained bureaucratic modes of administration, actions that have turned student agressions from the solution of educational problems to the achievement of student power. It is suggested that administrators be more qualified for their responsibilities. It is felt that they should have qualifications in addition to a reputation as a scholar or a scientist, in order to communicate effectively with modern students. (WM)