Recently Title IX lawsuits have highlighted the vulnerability of colleges and universities to claims of gender discrimination in intercollegiate athletics. Female athletes have sued schools for eliminating varsity sports and for failing to create varsity teams. In addition, discrimination claims related to other gender-based issues have been…

The paper presents an overview and analysis of the selection process of public college and university trustees and regents, examining the experiences of three states--Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Kentucky which use screening committees to assist governors in the selection of regents. The discussion also covers two statewide trustee orientation…

This report examines the historical role of statewide coordinating boards, most of which were established after World War II to help states deal with conflicting institutional political interests and values. While authority over institutional management remains vested in governing boards, statewide coordinating boards serve as alternative models…

This paper provides an overview of the multicampus higher education systems which now dominate governance of public colleges and universities in the United States. After briefly summarizing the three types of governance systems (academically integrated multisite institutions; multicampus universities; and multicampus or consolidated systems) and…

This paper addresses issues of concern to trustees of public, single-campus four-year institutions of higher education. Seven critical issues are listed: (1) enrollment trends are changing--although overall enrollment is increasing, the rate of growth is declining and there has been a shift from four-year and graduate institutions to two-year…

This paper addresses issues unique to theological schools, which face challenges associated with changes in the composition of student bodies, faculties, and boards; increased pressures on administrators; and reduced funding. The discussion is organized around five major issues: (1) distinguishing features of theological schools, which…

This paper explores the interaction between church-related institutions and the way in which they shape society and are shaped in turn by the environment in which they operate. Like all schools they face operational challenges such as improving educational quality, promoting greater cultural diversity, coping with aging individuals and…

Current trends affecting private research universities include: privatization, more programmatic support of research, dispersion of university research, and a shift in the balance of activities from the center toward the periphery. Differences in finance and control of private universities are related to their disproportionate importance, given…

This paper reviews the issues facing trustees of liberal arts colleges, including such external challenges as ideological criticism, college costs, national economic trends, and competition from other types of institutions. Trustees are urged to address such issues as external criticism of the institution, concerns of students and parents about…

This paper summarizes the specialized requirements for management information of boards of trustees of theological seminaries. The well-designed information system is seen to take advantage of member skills, board structure, agenda setting, and both formal and informal information flows. Inadequacies of poorly-designed systems include: (1)…

This paper reviews the history of abuse and reform in intercollegiate athletics and the role of governing board members in encouraging reform. It reviews a 1929 report from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the 1991 report of the Knight Foundation Commission, which both note the systemic nature of abuses in college…

This paper reviews the history of how trustees are selected to boards of public institutions of higher education and offers specific recommendations to improve the selection process. The paper notes a trend toward an overall decline in the effectiveness of boards and reports that the major factor identified in several recent analyses is the…

This paper contains three articles which present the opinions of the authors on public college tuition and state finance. The problem addressed is the large increase in tuition charged by public sector, four-year colleges coupled with the effects of fiscal constraints facing the states. After an introduction by Richard J. Novak, the papers are:…

This paper addresses the concept of certification for intercollegiate athletic departments with emphasis on the campus self-study component. It notes the goal of certification is to make the athlete as indistinguishable as possible from the rest of the student body. The Knight Commission has endorsed the certification concept if student athletes…

This study examined trends in tuition and fees at private institutions of higher education, compared the fees with those at public institutions, and evaluated effects on need-based student financial aid. Data were collected from 150 private colleges and universities, from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Series, from the Entering…