If colleges are to avoid becoming mere self-perpetuating bureaucracies, administrators should dispel the notion that retrenchment in times of fiscal constraint must necessarily compromise institutional mission. Indeed, institutional mission is anchored in the rationale for a college's existence in the first place. Mission statements articulate educational goals which transcend, to a great extent, economic and demographic changes; as such, these statements should never be formulated as transient policies to be refocused in times of serious external pressures. As diminishing student enrollments and declining financial resources necessitate retrenchment policies, colleges should keep in mind that attempts at institutional survival and job-preservation tactics, such as cutbacks in high-cost programs and recruitment campaigns which promise education without study, can only diminish the ability of the college to fulfill its mission. Institutional integrity can be protected by concentrating efforts on retention, as well as recruitment, and by participating in regional educational planning to assure that necessary cutbacks do not inhibit the fulfillment of area educational needs. Such actions, while requiring different approaches to a college's mission, do not change that mission itself. (JP)