Learning communities have been in operation at Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) since 1993. The goals of the program focus primarily on the creation of stronger social bonds among students as well as enhanced interaction within the classroom. The learning community approach attempts to foster an intellectual environment within which…

Non full-time faculty--whether adjunct, part-time or contingent--has become the lifeline of a vast majority of colleges and universities. They teach many of the foundation and core courses taken by first- and second-year students, teach professional courses in which their own life experiences are invaluable, and step in at short notice to fill-in…

The impacts of market-related policies and revenues on higher education are not uniform but globalisation has opened most institutions to new pressures. The public funding models developed 50 years ago underestimated the full cost of mass higher education as an entitlement while the sheer scale of resources needed to sustain a comprehensive…

This article discusses Antioch College, a once-prominent countercultural institution that will be closed in 2008 due to serious financial problems. Antioch has been hemorrhaging money for years. Its Board of Trustees has decided to shutter the college by July 2008 and lay off most of its 160 staff and faculty members. Although the administration…

The present study describes the development and initial validation of the Coping with the College Environment Scale (CWCES). Participants included 433 college students who took an online survey. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) revealed six coping strategies: planning and self-management, seeking support from institutional resources, escaping…

Background: Few studies have examined physical activity during the transition from high school to college. Purpose: To examine changes in physical activity and physical activity patterns among females during the transition from high school to college. Methods: Sixty-nine females (age 18.2 [plus or minus] 0.4 years; body mass index 21.8 [plus or…

"Politically correct" has become an all-purpose pejorative epithet conflating and condemning a number of initiatives, such as affirmative action in hiring and admissions, multicultural education, broadening the "canon" of classical texts to include women and minority groups, protests against unpopular, usually conservative…

Recently, some critics have argued that the academy has become infected by a new brand of censorship which threatens the openness central to a university's purposes. Dinesh D'Souza has argued that this censorship is a manifestation of influence enjoyed by leftist radical professors and students. D'Souza is correct that the First Amendment is being…

This conference presentation describes how Virginia Wesleyan College's (VWC) arbitration process, in conjunction with the ideas contained in Ernest Boyer's special report, "Campus Life: In Search of Community", enhances the concept of community at VWC. The paper opens with a brief profile of VWC, a 1,400 student liberal arts school…

In spring 1990, the classified staff of the Sierra College Staff Development Committee requested and obtained funding to sponsor four all-day retreats for all classified staff. Participants were assigned to one of the retreats based on their own preferences and an attempt to ensure a cross section of staff at each retreat. As a result of the…

Implementation of a "master contract" between the Minnesota Community College Faculty Association and the state board has altered relationships between faculty and administrators, promoting animosity and distrust. This article discusses the conflict between union tactics and the traditional character of the academic community. (NHM)

What is the intersection between women's studies and academic freedom? How does the work that is done by women's studies educators, the development of both new courses and programs, and the transformation of the traditional curriculum to make it more inclusive of the concerns of women and other minorities, impact on academic freedom--the basis of…

Organizational change in college academic administration and structure is discussed, with attention to both the programs of study and the organizational units. The ideas of Miles and Snow on organizational adaptation are examined, along with the literature on organizational analysis in higher education over the past 20 years. Three main ideas of…

The dimensions of effectiveness pertinent to postsecondary institutions are discussed, along with approaches for assessing effectiveness. A paradigm of effectiveness is presented, based on six concerns: whose perspective is taken; assessment criteria, the referent for judging effectiveness, level and unit of analysis, time frame, and types and…

College dropout rate as a function of poor fit between institution and students has been studied extensively, but how this phenomenon operates for disadvantaged students is not adequately understood. This study examines the effects of a project that attempts to use peer relationships--tutoring and mentoring--to improve academic performance and…