A year and half has passed since California's Riverside Community College district had a permanent chancellor. Two searches and two interim leaders later, the district's continuing quest for a permanent chancellor reflects a statewide problem of recruiting and retaining two-year-college executives. Smaller applicant pools and many vacant positions…

Mrs. Deborah J. Cofer is one of many presidential spouses who balk at the thought of being paid for their work--whether because they relish the freedom to take a night off or because they think of it as a natural part of their relationships with their partners. Mrs. Cofer believes that their mission is to enhance students' lives and they do not…

What do college presidents do, anyway? There was a time when American college presidents were looked to for intellectual, and even political, leadership. One of the most famous examples is Woodrow Wilson, who, as the head of Princeton University, was recruited to become governor of New Jersey in 1910 and, just two years later, was the successful…

While some presidents are almost as overpaid as their basketball coaches, most campus administrators are not. Instead they work hard at complex and demanding positions and are often paid less than managers with comparable responsibilities in other lines of work. Assessments of compensation typically invoke criteria of fairness and performance.…

This article reports that as many as five colleges or charitable foundations whose endowments have suffered significant investment losses or were unable to access money in their accounts in recent months are considering legal action against their brokers or investment managers, alleging misrepresentation of risk or mismanagement. Jacob H.…

This article reports that the nation's economic crisis is bringing colleges higher borrowing costs, smaller endowments, tighter budgets, and fears over the availability of loans for their students. Yet one of the most critical factors in colleges' health--student enrollment--appears to be largely holding strong, at least for now. Tuition and fees…

This article reports that as students flock to public two-year and four-year colleges amid an ailing economy, they find the colleges struggling with financial problems of their own. Midyear budget cuts are forcing many institutions to lay off faculty members, cut course sections, and freeze enrollment. Rising unemployment, slumping values of…

This article reports that Temple University, like several other urban institutions, has revamped its core curriculum to focus on its location. The "Creative Spirit" course, which fills the university's arts requirement, is one of about 30 courses in Temple's new core curriculum that are taking students off the campus and into the heart of…

This article reports that if there's a silver lining in the dark cloud hanging over campus budgets, it may be that colleges' investment losses could ease Congress's demands for mandatory endowment payouts, at least in the short term. In part that's because colleges tend to spend greater portions of their assets when endowments dip, even if overall…

Several recent incidents have brought national attention to issues involving male professors and sexual-harassment policies on campuses. Allegations of harassment can involve high stakes for the accused, with dismissal as a possible penalty. Criminal charges for harassment, in contrast to assault, are rare. Within an institution, people accused of…

This article reports that last month at the NASA-Ames Research Center, a group of top scientists and business leaders gathered to plan a new university devoted to the idea that computers will soon become smarter than people. The details of Singularity University, as the new institution will be called, are still being worked out--and so far the…

Three new studies of college freshmen suggest that even the most promising among them can run into academic difficulties as a long-term consequence of experiences like attending a violence-plagued high school or being raised by parents who never went to college. Two of the studies call into question a large body of research on the educational…

The first time Edward A. Snyder, dean of the University of Chicago's graduate business school, asked David G. Booth to donate money to name something on the campus, Mr. Booth said no. Five years later, the University's Graduate School of Business is named the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, after Mr. Booth gave what is valued as a…

Billed as the country's first independent university, the American University of Afghanistan was established in 2004 with financial support from the highest levels of the American and Afghan governments. But its development has been rockier than anticipated, even taking into account Afghanistan's growing instability. A number of current and former…

Each year one of the biggest debates in higher education seems to be: Is this the year that electronic textbooks take off? E-reader devices are getting better. The inventory of digital content is expanding. Business models are emerging to support the needs of students, faculty members, and publishers. People are getting more comfortable with new…