As he prepares to leave for National American University (NAU), Dr. John E. Roueche, the longtime director of the Community College Leadership Program (CCLP) at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, is criticizing the direction of the program that he helped develop. Roueche is concerned that at a time when community college enrollment is growing, UT's College of Education is making cuts and other decisions that could jeopardize the future of the nearly 70-year-old program. The loss of senior staff at CCLP and a decision to include master's students in the doctoral program were "directions in which he could not be supportive and helpful." Those changes prompted him to accept a two-year buyout from UT, which offered early retirement packages to several faculty members in the College of Education in response to steep cuts in state funding for higher education. He is among 12 people across the college who accepted the packages. CCLP has been a premier recruiting ground for community college leaders and the most successful program of its kind in the nation in graduating women and people of color. During his 42-year tenure, Roueche was credited with influencing the community college field through CCLP's who's who of graduates. He is widely considered a leading researcher and educator in the field. Recently, he announced that he would become director of the Roueche Graduate Center at the for-profit NAU. His departure and changes in the program have stirred concerns among community college leaders about the future of the program and two CCLP-affiliated organizations: (1) the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD); and (2) the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE). Both rely on membership fees and external grants.