A fictional account of 1 school year in the life of a university president is presented to illustrate the conflicts within the university. A meeting with state officials regarding the university's 1979-1980 budget request is described, including the president's premeeting anticipation and his thoughts about the dynamics of interactions. Diverse phone calls received by the president are interspersed with his serious reflections regarding the budget request document and the political influences to the state decision-making process. After the legislative budget committee meeting, the president's responsibilities included: an all-day planning retreat on general education; a meeting with the State Education Commission regarding the university's academic master plan; meeting with the campus attorney regarding employee and student litigation and grievances; and a session with the faculty executive committee. The concept of "up-tight management," which emphasizes the simultaneous, or mixed, presence of conflict-oriented models along with various models that deemphasize conflict, is discussed in an afterword. The president placed a high priority on building a consensus on institutional purposes and priorities. The college was stressful because of disagreements about the university's goals as well as conflicting process or procedural models. The school was in transition from a teachers college to a liberal arts college, and then to a regional university. (SW)