In a period of consumer orientation, it is perceived that higher education must respond to calls for accountability and questions about academic ethics and fair practice. Discussions include the student as consumer activist, the government as protector, public confidence in education, and possible college reactions. (Author/MLW)

The consumer movement seeks a better balance between institutional rights and those of the student who contracts for educational services. The author discusses how and why issues of consumer rights--to be safe, to be informed, to choose, and to be heard--are now unexpectedly confronting higher education. (Editor/JT)

Traces emerging federal policy that constitutes a multidimensional attack on abuses of the educational consumer (involving Congress, the Office of Education, the Federal Trade Commission, Veterans Administration, Postal Service, and Bureau of Indian Affairs) aimed primarily at protecting federal investments. (Editor/JT)

Discusses the question of what information prospective students need for choosing a college and describes various institution and agency strategies and programs for safeguarding the prospective student as consumer by providing information on which to base decisions. The author questions the value of data provided without guidance. (JT)

This analysis of differing conceptions of student consumerism, pointing to possible reforms and to still unresolved problems, includes an annotated bibliography of sources of information on the subject labeled "general reference" and "for the serious reader." (Editor/JT)

Universities that devise models to involve faculty in curricular change, building on commonalities among academic fields, can progress toward curricular coherence. The story of an imaginary committee developing a core course for lower-division students, based on information drawn from research, illustrates this planning process. (Author/MSE)

Integration of career and liberal arts programs can be educationally fruitful if similarities and differences in influences and ideologies are recognized. At an early stage, discussion should focus on compatible learning activities and outcomes. (Author/MSE)

Based on reports of 10 disciplinary task forces concerning improvement of college instruction, it is suggested that faculty respond to suggestions for curricular change in ways that reflect their disciplinary perspectives. It is concluded that faculty from varied disciplines need thoughtful leadership to develop support for any common curricular…