The argument is advanced, based on practical experience, that the concept of competency attainment and the supporting behavioral methodology has a limited utility and may even have seriously debased educational standards. The prime contribution of competency-based education has been its focus on achievement as opposed to instruction. (Author/LBH)

The identity crisis of the community college is explored in an analysis of the writing of 10 community college leaders. A dialectic between elitist and egalitarian ideals in higher education might explain the identity crisis. Different models of identity are hypothesized: ideal egalitarian, elitist ideal, and opportunity model. (Author/LBH)

A recent article by Lillis and Tonkovich that discusses the impact upon a regional economy of the "export" of grant and contract research services by a university is criticized. Several analytical errors are identified. (LBH)

Court interpretations of such issues as expectancy of reemployment, freedom of speech, and immunity from suit are at great variance with those voiced within the academic community. An understanding of this difference will help faculty and administrators avoid decisions that result in expensive and needless litigation. (Author/LBH)

A process for the management of reductions in the number of faculty positions available to a university is described. It considers staffing by projections, the evolution of personnel planning, and the balance of reductions in faculty and administration, along with coping strategies and advice growing out of five years of enrollment decline…

Determinants of grant-getting are explored for a national sample of over 5,000 faculty in all types of fields and senior institutions of higher education. Findings indicate a major dependence of grant-getting on productivity, a secondary impact by interfield favoritism, and minor influence by situational and personal status factors. (Author/LBH)

The role of the "assistant to" at a large, state-supported university is analyzed and six discrete types of utilization are discussed. The influence and career paths of "assistants to" are examined in relation to each role type. (Author/LBH)

State policymakers' attitudes toward time-shortened degree programs were investigated through a questionnaire sent to legislators and directors of statewide governing or coordinating boards. Credit by examination and early college entrance are seen as among the best methods of time shortening; reducing requirements, among the poorest. (Author/LBH)

In order to make rational budgetary decisions, higher educational institutions require information on the impact of inflation on their operations. A simple and easily maintainable model from which price indices for a particular institution can be constructed is described. (Author/LBH)

The process of introducing commercialization and functional rationalization into a game originally played for fun and controlled by the participants is shown to have occurred at Yale as that institution was brought under the control of representatives of the newly rich class of bankers and industrialists coming to power in the nineteenth century.…

Collegiate life during the eighteenth century at Harvard was characterized by a developing consciousness of student freedom as well as an increasing elaboration of student governance procedures. Using college records of laws, customs, and cases of student discipline, the analysis focuses on elements that affected the decision-making process.…

A conceptual model is proposed for strategic assessment of potential clientele groups of higher educational institutions. Market segmentation, a modern marketing tool for planning and strategy development, is illustrated with a particular four-year institution's analysis of its regional community college transfer market. (Author/LBH)

College access for the traditional and nontraditional student is examined. The data suggest that college preferences of nontraditional students focus on proximity and tuition criteria, independent of family incomes or test scores. (Author/LBH)

The sequential stages of this model are: (1) select occupational fields for assessment; (2) identify competencies in each occupation; (3) verify that the student has had work experience; (4) related student competency to the curriculum and his goals; (5) measure occupational competency; (6) evaluate measurement results; and (7) determine credit…

The study reported examines the processes by which university disputes are waged over matters which go beyond policy alone. Typically, such conflicts are suppressed till they can no longer be contained, at which time they erupt with no institutional channels to direct their course. (Editor)