A historical analysis of the laws surrounding college-fraternity relationships, governed by the first amendment to the Constitution, and the likely state of those laws following the 1984 Supreme Court decision in Roberts v. United States Jaycees, is presented. (MSE)

Legal and ethical aspects of student fee refunds are examined, and the educational institution's ethical obligation to provide a forum for conflicting viewpoints is discussed. (MSE)

The movement to enhance the freshman year experience by changing the way institutions treat, welcome, assimilate, support, and inform freshman students is discussed and illustrated. The potential importance of the movement to admissions officers and registrars is emphasized. (MSE)

Testimony by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers is presented concerning the nature and extent of use of fraudulent records among job and college applicants, and schools' responsibility for and volume of dissemination of records and diplomas. (MSE)

A registrar replacing a long-time college registrar describes how it feels to follow an institutional legend and outlines some facts, approaches, and viewpoints learned during his first year of experience in the job, such as student and faculty attitudes, typical situations, and pitfalls. (MSE)

A retiring registrar/admissions officer describes his career to encourage others to work with the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. The discussion includes campus/association activities, coping with change, adjusting to campus hierarchy, academic standards, career rewards, etc. (MSE)

Formal college and university marketing programs are challenging to develop and implement because of the complexity of the marketing mix, the perceived inappropriateness of a traditional marketing officer, the number of diverse groups with input, the uniqueness of higher education institutions, and the difficulty in identifying higher education…

Technology offers colleges and universities opportunities to introduce administrative changes for increased productivity, improved service, and cost containment. Communication and education strategies that can help reduce resistance to positive change are illustrated in a simple slide presentation given by the registrar's office at the University…

The ideas of Williford (1987) are used to propose a four-stage model describing the evolution of marketing in many colleges and universities. It elaborates on the thinking endemic to strategic marketing management and frameworks drawn from business marketing which will likely become more prominent in higher education. (Author/GLR)

The definitions and descriptions of "quality" in higher education, stated in universities' official publications, were compared to the institutions' stated organizational goals, using Amitai Etzioni's theoretical framework for examining modern organizations. Conclusions indicate four factors define quality education: faculty, research, students,…

Many college and university student service units consider staff development peripheral to their primary mission and not cost effective, especially in lean financial times. However, recent trends in business suggest this assumption is false, and ultimately costly. The University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, experience found development efforts empower…

Foreign students transferring from community to four-year colleges face problems caused by cultural differences and students' lack of familiarity with the U.S. education system, lack of community college support services, and lack of interinstitutional cooperation. A collaborative approach by admissions and student support staffs can improve the…

Middle-managers, including registrar and admissions personnel, must continue to call attention to the need for professional development. The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers and the regional and state organizations are challenged to define the need and respond appropriately. (MSE)

Two differing opinions about the value of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) in college admissions address these topics: over-reliance on the test as a predictor of student success; omission of some students' scores from institutional profiles; effects of abolition of the test; and admissions officer understanding of psychometrics. (Author/MSE)

The role of student financial aid has shifted from promoting access to higher education for the needy to shaping the entering freshman class. This realignment requires a shift in focus for student aid staff, creating an even greater institutional leadership role and placing the aid director in the fore of enrollment-management theory and practice.…