Opinions of senior academic officials about changes in the quality of students in the humanities over the past 5 years were surveyed in 1982. Responses were received from officials from 385 institutions with undergraduate programs and 295 schools with graduate programs. Sixty-two percent of the officials believed that undergraduate student quality had not changed significantly; among officials at graduate institutions, 57 percent believed that no change had occurred in the quality of graduate school applicants in the humanities; important indicators on which respondents based their opinions were faculty perceptions, achievement test scores of entering students, and high school grades of new students; 65 percent indicated their opinion that the most able entering students were shifting away from the humanities; the most important reasons for a shift away from the humanities, according to the officials, were the perceptions of limited employment opportunities after earning a baccalaureate and after completing graduate study; and 47 percent of the respondents from the top 50 doctorate-granting institutions noted no change in the quality of graduate school applicants. Detailed statistical tables, questionnaires, and technical notes are included. (SW)