Public colleges and universities are girding themselves to win the war for tenured talent. Some are succeeding. State budget woes and a rocky economy have shaken public colleges and universities. One of the most noticeable shudders has been a pervasive "brain drain," as many state institutions face competition for their best faculty members from more prosperous institutions, both public and private. Chief academic officers, deans, and department heads at those institutions are now using specific incentives, careful nurturing, and, of course, cold cash as weapons. They are also making hard decisions about whether some offers are worth matching--and about the long-term consequences of the faculty arms race. Some flagship public institutions can already point to victories in the struggle to keep professors on board. The University of Georgia succeeded in keeping roughly 75 percent of faculty members whose offers from other institutions it countered over the last year. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill retained 69 percent of faculty members to which it gave counteroffers in the 2007-8 academic year. The most recent figures for the University of Illinois's three campuses showed it holding on to 75 percent of faculty members whose outside offers it countered.