Strategies regarding retrenchment in higher education are examined in three papers and commentaries. In "Basing Public Policy on Student Achievement: A New Agenda Item," Francis Keppel recommends that the federal government undertake a program of acquiring data on student achievement in certain areas of the college curriculum to provide policy-makers with information on what is being learned, how well, and how it compares to past performance. It is advocated that this data be used also in the accrediting process and in decisions regarding institutions that may not survive. Commentaries on these proposals are made by Willard L. Boyd, Alice J. Irby, Elizabeth H. Johnson, and Thurston E. Manning. In "New Roles for the States in Monitoring Higher Education," Carl Kaysen and the Sloan Commission on Government and Higher Education present recommendations on the role of the states in insuring quality and variety in a time of retrenchment. The recommendations center on the composition of state higher education boards, peer reviews, minimum standards of academic conduct, and faculty collective bargaining. In "The Management of Universities of Constant or Decreasing Size," Richard M. Cyert discusses the problems and options faced by higher education institutions whose enrollments are constant or decreasing. He emphasizes that universities must readjust their thinking about equating growth with success, and revise their management techniques to fit the demands of a contracting, rather than expanding organization. (SW)