The author shares a story told to him by a colleague more than thirty years ago. The dean of a midsized American university was explaining the path to tenure to a roomful of newly appointed assistant professors. "We know you boys can all "field"," he declared. "Now we want to see if you can hit." A lot has changed over the intervening decades. If…

The trend toward use of corporate language in campus management coincides with, and may correspond to, a decline in collegiality and the unique qualities of academic life. (MSE)

Faculty salary data, based on information collected by the National Center for Education Statistics and the AAUP is reported. Data showed that salary increases averaged 9 percent while the purchasing power of faculty salaries declined more than 20 percent during the last decade. (Author/MLW)

The academic department is viewed as a form of cartel, a model of monopolistic behavior characterized by control over a particular differentiated product. The development and operation of this academic cartel is explored. (MSE)

Rankings of colleges and universities in the popular press have two problems: (1) they are gimmicks to sell publications; and (2) institutions have become pawns, juggling numbers in quest of higher rankings, the ethical equivalent of cheating. Higher education must return to truth, fairness, and honesty to regain its purpose and integrity. (MSE)

While colleges and universities are increasingly retreating to management models already considered counterproductive in industry, corporations are beginning to appreciate the principles of shared authority and are developing collegial-style cultures. (MSE)

Religious studies should be pluralistic, comparative, interdisciplinary, and objective. When these four criteria are met then the study of religion will be consistently academic and humanistic--free of partisan control, open to radical doubt, responsive to cultural interaction, and concerned with human enrichment. (MLW)

An analysis of data reveals that women remain severely underrepresented in certain traditionally male areas and that women are even more overrepresented in traditionally female areas than they were 10 years ago. Tables of degrees conferred by gender in 1971-72 and 1981-82 are presented. (MLW)

The British experience with liberal arts and education is reviewed, and reasons are given for the U.S. difficulty in nurturing the liberal arts. Two aspects of America's education are criticized: the scholar's detachment from society, and the constrictive framework of support for scholarship. (MSE)

The role of merit pay is examined in the contexts of two different faculty salary systems, and the interaction of the salary system and assessment of individual merit to produce particular patterns of faculty mobility is discussed. (MSE)

Although college rankings published in mass media may not be the best way of comparing colleges, they provide more useful information than accrediting agencies, college catalogs, and most college guides. Administrators, not magazines are to blame for their misuse. Rankings can help motivate programs, departments, and institutions to improve…

Data from the 1988 report of Committee W on the Status of Women in the Academic Profession suggests that sex discrimination in salaries, rank, and tenure persist. A comparison of women faculty's salaries and ranks in five institutions of widely varying types is provided. (MSE)

Disciplinary and rank salary differences in higher education are immense and growing, and neither a marketplace nor a uniform approach explains or guides the setting of academic salaries. Salary differences must be prevented from generating feelings of second-class citizenship to maintain a common purpose among faculty. (MSE)

A discussion of the status of women college faculty looks at the slow rate of gender integration in academe, patterns of full-time women faculty in different institution types, strategies for changing the gender imbalance, and further steps for overall diversification of the professoriate. (MSE)

The average salaries for full professors and new assistant professors in 21 disciplines for 1976-77 and 1984-85 are ranked and the percentage increases in the intervening period are listed and analyzed. (MSE)