Winter/Spring 2003 - The Council of Independent Colleges

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PRESIDENTS INSTITUTE(Bornstein, cont’d from page 11) (Morrill, cont’d from page 11)3. Respect board and facultygovernance;4. Consult, collaborate, and communicate;5. Absorb the culture and listen to opinionleaders;6. Stay attuned to trends in educationand society;7. Develop a vision that resonates withthe culture and aspirations of constituents;8. When the groundwork has beenprepared—act;9. Make principled decisions and expectthe same of others; and10. Maintain a scholarly life, participatingin public discourse on educationalissues.Bornstein’s book, Legitimacy in theAcademic Presidency: From Entrance toExit, is part of the ACE/Praeger PressSeries on Higher Education. It isavailable from www.greenwood.com or(800) 225-5800.arrived from enrolling too few studentsor suffering investment setbacks,” participantssaid. One institution’s trusteeassisted the president by prodding facultymembers on the board’s academicaffairs committee to seek departmentalreviews for all units and to upgrade outdatedcourse offerings; another pleadedfor curricular review at the school,allowing the president to plead for otherenhancements elsewhere.However, a poll of those in the roomrevealed that presidents were concernedthat trustees are becoming more engagedin campus academic affairs than theyhad been in the past, perhaps portendingmicromanagement. For example, apresident said a member of his boardhad recently questioned the benefits ofoutside consulting contracts andappeared to be on the verge of screeningfuture consulting contracts that werenormally routine management decisions.Corporate veterans on the board atanother college, “stung by Enron andthe nation’s accounting scandals, wereWORKSHOP EXPLORES WAYS TO ENGAGE TRUSTEESTrustees often feel that too much of their time is spent in what theyconsider to be routine business, and that at their meetings, “there istoo much paper, too much information, too much show-and-tell, and toomany reports,” said Tom Scheye, a former Loyola College (MD) provostwho has conducted more than 50 workshops for boards. He led an afternoonworkshop during the Presidents Institute on ways to engagetrustees.To frame the two-hour discussion, he posed five questions thatpresidents should have boards address:■■■■■What’s our niche? (How different or distinguished are we?)How big should we be?How good should we be?How diverse should we be?How can we afford it?He maintained that wrestling with these five questions will help tocreate an engaged board by refocusing the trustees on the institution’smission. Answers to these questions, Scheye said, will lead to an institutionalstrategy for fundraising that can also engage the board.scrutinizing more closely everything atthe college that might be seen as a possibleconflict of interest,” said anotherparticipant.Morrill stressed, “You need to movetoward a concept of a board that makessignificant contributions to your campus’strategic decisions. To that end, one ofyour first and most important tasks aspresident is to teach trustees that thereare two distinctly different types ofdecision-making—administrative andacademic—on a campus. The administrativesystem of decision-making isvery comfortable for most trustees. Theacademic system of decision-making isuncomfortable for many. You must helpyour trustees see that this system is alsoa healthy system, and deserves theirrespect.”The engaged board, Morrill says, cancontribute critical dimensions in campusacademic affairs, such as:• understanding the culture ofacademe;• knowing broad strategic trends ineducation;• actively monitoring strategic goalsfor the academic program;• evaluating programs and policies,assuring assessments and evaluatingagainst the goals;• ensuring accountability by holdinggroups and individuals responsiblefor reaching the goals; and• making decisions on policies andprograms.Morrill noted that too many campuseswaste time arguing about whether thefaculty or the trustees is the final governingauthority on academic matters.The campus leadership should, hebelieves, work closely together foreveryone’s benefit.Morrill said that he had arrived atmany of his conclusions about engagingtrustees during the development of hisbook, Strategic Leadership in AcademicAffairs. The book was published recentlyby the Association of Governing Boards,and is available for $34.95 from the AGB,at www.agb.org or (202) 296-8400.Independent 12 www.cic.eduWinter/Spring 2003
PRESIDENTS INSTITUTECHANGING STUDENTPOPULATIONUnderstanding theMillennial GenerationThe new generation of studentsapproaching college age is not, as manyexperts have predicted, more cynical,alienated, pessimistic about the future,attracted to risk, or prone to criminalactivities, said author Neil Howe duringa plenary address at the PresidentsInstitute. Rather, prospective students inthis “millennial generation,” as Howecalls them, are “attracted to big-nameuniversities, long traditions, and a tightsense of community. They are riskaverse,and they like to work with thebest and latest high-technology gadgets.”Howe is an authority on characteristicsof different generations in Americaand author of a 100-page handbookentitled Millennials Go To College:Strategies for a New Generation onCampus—Recruiting and Admissions,Student Life, and the Classroom, designedto help college administrators anticipatehow the new millennial generation ischanging and will continue to changecollege life.Based on his data and observations,Howe offered college and universitypresidents a number of recommendationsand suggestions as to what toexpect and how to plan for the millennialgeneration.The millennial generation is raciallyand ethnically diverse (38 percent arenonwhite or Latino; 33 percent areAsian), Howe said, adding that the dataon cohort characteristics are much morepositive than had been predicted.“There has been a 60-70 percentreduction in the rate of serious, violentcrime among this age cohort; rates ofpregnancy, abortion, and birth rates aredown to one-half of what they were inthe early 1980s; drug usage is down;tobacco usage is the lowest ever recorded;and alcohol consumption is down,”Howe reported. In fact, he said, “themillennials are into teamwork, groupprojects, service learning, andcommunity service. These changes aredue to many factors, according to Howe.“The consciousness revolution wasebbing when they came along—by the1990s, society’s emphasis was on raisinga better generation of kids, and therewas a more positive depiction of kids inthe media and movies. In addition, duringthis time period, divorce rates werefalling, school accountability was up, theU.S. was going through an expansiveeconomic boom period, and child carehad become more professional.These and other changes in thecoming generation will have an impacton colleges in myriad ways, Howe said,and college administrators need to beprepared.Millennial children have been sheltered,so colleges should:• play up tradition and the public trustdimension of college policies;• assume there are no acceptable risks;• market a safe environment;• emphasize a top health staff;• expect in loco parentis to dethroneFERPA; and• promise protection from corruptingvalues and commercialism.The millennial students areconfident, happy, and optimistic,so colleges should:• prepare for students who have a lotand expect a lot;• stress good outcomes;• use social norming; and• create the expectation of success forall, including special needs kids.This cohort is team-oriented, socolleges should:• stress friendship and duty to helpothers;• showcase groups and team skills; and• prepare for rapid growth in mainstreampolitical and communityorganizing.Millennial students are pressured(an unprecedented number plan to go tocollege—84 percent in 2002, 66 percentof whom plan on attending a four-yearinstitution), security conscious (84 percentsay security is very important),sleep deprived (two-thirds of highschool students say they don’t getenough sleep), and planners (88 percenthave specific five-year career goals).Therefore, colleges should:• expect admissions and grading togrow ever more selective;• retool classrooms for constant testing,feedback, monitoring, and skillsmastery;• stress long-term life planning overshort-term opportunities; and• offer a balanced life—not push onething too much.They are achievers, with rising proficiencyin math and science and higherSAT scores. They spend a lot more timeon their homework than previouscohorts; more of them have a stay-athomeparent who is focused on their(cont’d on page 16)Plenary speaker Neil Howe, best-sellingauthor and speaker, described the characteristicsof the emerging “millennial generation”based on data in his new handbook,Millennials Go to College, during hisPresidents Institute address. He is an authorityon characteristics of different generationsin America and has co-authored four widelyused books: Generations, 13th-Gen, TheFourth Turning, and Millennials Rising.Independent 13 www.cic.eduWinter/Spring 2003
Page 1 and 2: WINTER/SPRING 2003From the Presiden
Page 3 and 4: BOARD UPDATECIC Board of DirectorsW
Page 5 and 6: CONFERENCESDepartment Chair Worksho
Page 7 and 8: CONFERENCESWorkshop Explores Effect
Page 9 and 10: PRESIDENTS INSTITUTE(Tuition Discou
Page 11: PRESIDENTS INSTITUTELEADERSHIP ISSU
Page 15 and 16: INFLORIDA, AGAIN ATTRACTED RECORD-B
Page 17 and 18: PRESIDENTS INSTITUTEToday’s and t
Page 19 and 20: MAKING THE CASEInstitutions can mak
Page 21 and 22: PROJECT NEWSFirst-Year Programs Are
Page 23 and 24: CAMPUS UPDATE(Campus Update, cont
Page 25 and 26: CAMPUS UPDATEGetting GrantsTwenty-t
Page 27 and 28: CONNECTING WITH CICCIC ISSUES CALL

Winter/Spring 2003 - The Council of Independent Colleges

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