"Presidentialese" is a curious dialect of higher education jargon. A humorous description of the language of higher education, as it pertains to college presidents and their ability to circumvent the truth, is presented. (MLW)

While the use of a search committee may be a more representative method, it may not be the most effective method for selecting a new president. The use of both a search consultant and a search committee permits the delegation of the "search" to the consultant and the "selection" to the committee. (MLW)

The principles used by college presidents in enhancing their institutions' images are outlined and illustrated in profiles of the presidents' roles at the University of South Carolina, Trinity University, Tuskegee University, and the Community College of Philadelphia. (MSE)

Much is required of college presidents, but there are two traits a president must require of himself: optimism in the face of adversity and a highly refined moral consciousness in the face of immoral or amoral surroundings. (MSE)

In order to help trustees fulfill leadership responsibilities, presidents should help them explore three areas of knowledge (the college, trends in higher education, and trends in society), identify and explore their specific governance responsibilities and behaviors, and guide them in balancing cost effectiveness, quality, and humanism. (MSE)

One threat to a healthy, vital, and harmonious sense of campus community is the reluctance of a president to risk advocating his sense of community and quality of life. Diversity must be made an inherent value in campus quality of life. (MLW)

On becoming president of the University of Miami, Tad Foote began a long-term campaign of media access, making a point of being both honest and available. His experience as a former journalist helps him both understand the needs of news editors and write articles himself. (MSE)

Gallaudet University's newly appointed president who deferred to student demands for a deaf executive views that moment in history as unique and revolutionary, marking the students' emerging need to be recognized as able and powerful, while regretting the damage done to academic freedom and integrity. (MSE)

A study of 20 effective colleges suggests that the perspective a college or university president brings to the job may dictate his or her ability to provide the leadership an institution needs at a particular time and place in its history, a critical factor in moving an institution forward. (Author/MSE)

Athletics can be a meaningful part of a liberal education when games are played for their own sake and not for conquest or money. Presidential leadership in the reform of collegiate athletics is discussed. (MLW)

A survey of chief executive officers at approximately 200 colleges and universities found CEOs consider human resources issues highly important and spend up to one-third of their time on such issues. Although relatively few human resources executives currently report directly to the CEO, survey results support an increasing role for the human…

If a college governing board is to intelligently satisfy its obligation for presidential evaluation, its method should not include systematic and public involvement of faculty, students, and staff. If it handles the process sensitively, the result will be a valuable assessment of the institution, its people and policies, and its president. (MSE)

The president of the State University of New York at Binghamton sees intellectual leadership as the first responsibility of any university president. She urges presidents to consider their institution's place and time in the culture and their own personal history in determining the intellectual agenda and developing vision and creativity. (DB)

This review of statutory and case law contributing to the current litigious environment of colleges and universities identifies specific critical legal precedents affecting college presidents, especially increased personal liability. A list of 14 recommendations is attached. (DB)

A president must seek to influence the ethics of higher education by pursuing the roles left open to them. These roles are identified: set an example, serve as a true marketer--conveying guidance from "outside" to inside" and vice versa, and demonstrate a concern for the feeling of students. (MLW)