Vendors sometimes get the chilly on-campus reception. While they believe in building long-term relationships to make universities more competitive, some CIOs simply aren't interested. On the flip side of the coin, many administrators feel such coolness is warranted. Indeed, anyone who has attended a higher education IT conference can detect a palpable hostility among some college officials toward vendors. So what has brought vendors and schools to this icy pass? For one thing, IT leaders have decried for years confusing or inflexible licensing arrangements and nondisclosure agreements regarding pricing. Distrust can also develop if vendors fail to abide by their contract terms, or if customers sense that companies aren't keeping pace with technological changes. Of course, marketing hype and ROI claims also make CIOs skeptical, but is some of the blame for the distrust properly placed on the other side of the relationship? While universities collaborate well with each other, they don't work so well with vendors. So how can higher education IT leaders and the vendor community spend less time haggling over price and contract terms and find more meaningful ways to leverage each other's strengths? This article presents six ideas to get those relationships back on track. (Contains 1 online resource.)