Increasingly, college administrators are trying to pass fringe benefits costs off onto employees to relieve financial pressures. The result is an accelerated but often unacknowledged drain on faculty incomes. Faculty in a contributory health insurance plan should seek to cap faculty contributions at a fixed dollar amount. (MSE)

The executive director of the Colonial League, an intercollegiate athletic league adhering to more restrictive principles than those of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, talks about faculty attitudes toward the affiliation, academic and administrative standards, competition, organization, and the role of faculty in the league. (MSE)

Two college teachers acting as administrators of study abroad programs in France identify unique challenges found in the job, including unfamiliar administrative responsibilities, foreign bureaucracies, student logistical and personal problems, extensive paperwork, "on-call" student supervision, taking a family abroad, and relations with…

The Teachers Insurance and Annuities Association's (TIAA) College Retirement and Equity Fund is criticized for its low returns and its chief executive officer's recent salary raise. It is said to be in need of additional regulation and policyholder involvement. A TIAA vice president responds that the analysis given is inaccurate and misleading.…

The University of Rhode Island established a merit pay system to reward exceptional teaching, research, and service and to retain valuable faculty. A survey investigated faculty attitudes about the new system's fairness, potential results on faculty productivity and morale, and effects on faculty allegiance. (MSE)

A Dartmouth College (New Hampshire) professor comments on the value of study abroad programs, not only for students but also for faculty. Issues for the institution to consider in designing an overseas program are discussed, including academic purpose, costs, unique administrative problems, implications for tenure-track faculty, compensation…

The director of a University of Virginia Arabic language program in Jordan discusses issues, sometimes unfamiliar, with which the administrator must deal. In addition to logistical and administrative tasks, in this context these include the role of women in the Arab university and students' questions about the universality of social values. (MSE)