State higher education officers agree that reforms of higher education have budgetary effects their supporters fail to consider, and they are in the position of having to explain the real costs of new programs and policies. (MSE)

A Southern Regional Education Board report warns that if state leaders do not insist that two-year college students meet publicly recognized performance standards, public confidence in the institutions could decline. (MSE)

Aggressive campaigns by small groups of citizens have made it nearly impossible to close or merge public colleges, with the result that parochial interests often triumph over the needs of the state as a whole and higher education planning is becoming more political and less logical. (Author/MSE)

A plan for all of the state of Maryland's 13 public colleges and universities to be included in the University of Maryland System is discussed. The system would be governed by a board of regents, and each college would have a board of trustees to monitor campus issues. (MLW)

A committee studying Texas higher education has withdrawn a controversial proposal to merge institutions, instead adopting a broad set of principles for higher education and specific recommendations for state colleges and universities. The objective is to improve education during state economic decline due to falling oil prices. (MSE)

In a period of rapid enrollment growth, cities in which University of California campuses reside are waging a noisy campaign to demand an end to campus expansion, either by adding a campus or keeping enrollments down. The university remains committed to offering a place to all qualifying students. (MSE)

Leaders of urban public universities and many state legislators are challenging the high status of states'"flagship" institutions, saying local institutions can serve local needs best, and are unwilling to defer to premier research universities in requests for general support and new programs. (MSE)

The new chancellors of the Maine, Massachusetts, and West Virginia state higher education systems use different styles to tackle highly political jobs that frustrated their predecessors. (MSE)

A special committee studying possible changes in Texas higher education is considering a variety of politically troubling alternatives including institutional reclassifications, faculty salary and tenure changes, funding alternatives, restructured governance, and mergers and closings. (MSE)

The Pennsylvania debate between higher education officials and civil rights activists over how aggressively states should order public colleges to recruit minority students may be a preview of controversy in other states where court-ordered desegregation plans have expired or been removed. (MSE)

Bad economic times and the election of a staunchly conservative governor have forced Wisconsin university officials and government leaders into controversy over the future of the University of Wisconsin System. (MSE)

Interest in quantifying the results of state economic development programs, most involving financial support to colleges and universities, in creating jobs may raise new questions about the appropriate relationship of campus researchers and business leaders. (MSE)

Reports issued by the State Higher Education Executive Officers and the Education Commission of the States say that progress toward full participation of minorities in higher education has become stalled and must improve, both to benefit minorities and because that group is an increasing proportion of the college-age population. (MSE)

A federal district judge ruled that state officials failed to demonstrate the need to close Mississippi Valley State University and merge Mississippi University for Women with Mississippi State University to meet desegregation requirements. He ordered Mississippi to provide additional funds to two other black colleges, and approved a state plan…

A federal judge has ordered Alabama's two public, historically black universities to enroll more whites as part of a statewide effort to reduce racial segregation in public colleges. Critics are offended by the judge's comments that the colleges' black heritage discourages white enrollment. The ruling also contained some more welcome results,…