The implications of closing for Mount Saint Mary College were studied by a consulting team, the New Hampshire College and University Council. Options were considered, trustees consulted, and efforts and plans made to make the final year successful. Student, parent, and administrator satisfaction are reported. (Author/LBH)

Horizontal vs. vertical cuts, that is the key question. Faculties favor the horizontal (put us all in the same boat), but the deep vertical cut (e.g. staff and program reduction) is, the author argues, most likely to cure an institutional illness. (Editor/JT)

An AGB- and NACUBO-sponsored survey showed that "wish lists" are accumulating overdue major maintenance projects because energy costs are consuming physical plant budgets. Problem areas are discussed: budget "guesstimation," preventive maintenance, deferred maintenance inventory, the APPA accounting format, resource allocation,…

The president is seen as the single most important person in the life of the college or university. The central responsibilities of the board remain how to get the best possible people and give them the best possible circumstances to work in. (MLW)

Instead of hiring outside consultants for each institution's problems, these colleges set up their own three-person permanent consulting team. Among its accomplishments are: averting a financial crisis, aiding a recovery from financial crisis, reorganizing for steady states, and launching statewide planning. (Author/LBH)

The issue of termination of tenured appointments because of a demonstrably bona fide financial exigency is discussed. A viable framework has been set forth with the Krotkoff v Goucher College decision. Saving capital assets, overriding tenure, AAUP's view of termination, tenured versus nontenured, and lasting implications are outlined. (MLW)

In time of retrenchment, must the promising, recently tenured instructor be terminated in favor of the veteran sluggard? A procedure based on the principle of "relatively less merit" is described, and rebuttal by Jordan E. Kurland of the AAUP is provided. (Author/LBH)

Many liberal arts colleges will survive or disappear depending on how well they can analyze their problems and apply solutions. What is needed is a College Futures Planning Center that could provide at minimal cost consulting and support services to private colleges seriously desiring to contend with decline. (Author/LBH)

A three-year study of the American professoriate focusing on the potential for recruitment and retention of high-quality faculty in the future found that although present faculty are well-equipped for their work, there is a sense that higher education has become seriously underfinanced and most proposed reforms threaten the attractiveness of…

Nine rules can help governing boards address college governance problems: encourage enthusiasm in the administration; face problems early; get adequate facts; promote management, not bureaucracy; ask appropriate questions; evaluate performance; create incentives; focus on the individual campus; and deal with external forces. (Author/JMD)

The role and actions of the University of Michigan Board of Regents in planning for retrenchment and reallocation of resources during a 1980 financial crisis are chronicled. Reactions of faculty, administrators, and others are discussed. (MSE)

Questions and answers address: defining financial exigency, how tenure affects termination, selecting faculty for severance, faculty's due process rights, tenured faculty challenges to termination, the institution's responsibility, and the governing board's responsibility in policy formation and implementation. (MSE)

Each level of higher education funding decision making--governor, legislature, state coordinating agency, system boards, and campus administration--is examined and the decision alternatives available to each are discussed. It is found that campuses have more freedom and capability than higher levels to apply reductions differentially rather than…

Education, it is suggested, ranks low in order of priority during an economic crunch and has lost much of its aura. Management and employees in education must stop fighting each other, organize, rally constituencies, and defend the traditional American commitment to education. (Author/MLW)

A small, Catholic college curtailed expenses without damaging programs by involving faculty, administration, and trustees in a detailed contingency planning process that resulted in a report stressing quality over quantity and outlining short- and long-term strategies for institutional planning. (MSE)