The purpose of this study is to provide insight into the nature of the goals of American colleges and universities by empirically determining (through the use of a questionnaire), (1) what faculty and administrators at 4 state institutions respectively think the goals of their institutions are and should be, (2) where they think the locus of decisionmaking power lies at their institutions, (3) whether there is conflict between the views of administrators and faculty regarding goals, and (4) whether those having the most power will also be most satisfied with goals they perceive to be important at their institutions. Some of the major findings include: (1) the preferred goals of the 4 state colleges' professional staffs had higher mean scores overall than did the corresponding perceived goal ratings, indicating a desire that greater importance be given to the goals than is given them; (2) there are statistically reliable differences both between the goal perceptions and preferences of the faculty and administrators of these 4 public colleges; and (3) administrators are generally perceived to have more power than the faculty. (Author/HS)