Numerous observers and critics of higher education, including some policymakers, have suggested that hiring and maintaining faculty on tenure lines is a primary source of inefficiency in colleges and universities. These "disrupters" argue that reducing commitments to tenure will lead to cost savings and more effective adaptations to…

University presidents face a variety of competing demands and pressures to successfully lead their institutions. We sought to better understand these issues by studying unsuccessful presidencies ending in an involuntary turnover. We collected data on 1,029 presidential terms across 256 institutions with Division I athletics from 1988 to 2016. Our…

A survey of 117 freshman and 113 junior women investigated their perceptions of the personal adjustment issues they faced and the solutions they arrived at during their experience at a university. Four areas of adjustment are discussed: underestimation of financial expenses; unfamiliar teaching techniques; large classes; and disillusionment with…

Interorganizational relationships (IORs), according to these authors, represent a promising means for developing new capacities in the creation of strategic partnerships between colleges and universities. In this study, the authors focus on academic IORs that are strategic in nature (i.e., they extend beyond the mere sharing of library books or…

Faculty engaged in long-range planning for financial exigency, including the making of plans for faculty lay-off contingencies, must be aware of several problem areas arising from attitudes, assumptions, and intergroup relationships. Such problems and their implications are discussed, based on experiences at Bowling Green State University.…

By terminating 26 degree programs, 3 departments, and 3 schools and colleges, the State University of New York at Albany generated a pool of resource for reallocation to programs with greater need and priority. The difficulties of accomplishing this and the lessons for other campuses are described. (Author/MLW)

We examined the role that social class background plays in graduate students' career goals. Class background was significantly related to the extent to which students struggled financially in graduate school, which related to their sense of belonging in graduate school. Sense of belonging related to academic self-concept, which predicted students'…

A case study of faculty morale at the University of Oregon as an example of a university experiencing an extended period of fiscal austerity found faculty morale, collegiality, and allegiance have been negatively affected by the inadequacy of financial resources; a history of chronic neglect by the Oregon legislature; and inequities among academic…

The characteristics of the environment in which colleges and universities exist--enrollment trends, financial exigencies, federal policy changes, unexpected disaster--are creating conditions of decline that require a new set of administrative and organizational responses. Flexibility, innovation, and pro-activity are suggested for effective…

Examination of retrenchment clauses in the faculty union contracts at 42 colleges and universities focused on implications for tenure rights and the roles prescribed for faculty and administrators. Concepts of financial exigency and shared governance are highlighted. Contracts were found to provide faculty with a limited and reactive role during…

Analysis of the state of public higher education in the United States focuses on government financing of higher education, the high costs of both government and good education, and student attitudes toward their education. A new general education curriculum design at the University of Chicago (Illinois), designed to alleviate some of these…

Utilizes data from a national survey to analyze selected trends and issues focusing on current status and future direction of urban affairs activities on college and university campuses. (Editor/JT)