Editor’s Remarks
Welcome to the first issue of the Journal of Research on the College President, an outlet for the National Lab for the Study of the College President. The Lab is a new research unit within the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas, and has been created to conduct research and provide leadership on the study of the American College President.
Through policy briefings, publications, workshops, grant writing, and hosting speakers, the NLSCP provides national direction for research on college leaders.
The American College President, not unlike higher education in general, has been under siege in recent years. One might need to go back in history 50 years to find a time of so much turmoil, dissension, criticism and divisiveness in the hallowed halls of academia. In the late 1960’s our colleges and universities were literal battlegrounds of protest and objection to the Viet Nam War. Moratoriums across the nation were the order of the day that culminated in tragedy at Kent State University May 4, 1970. It was a horrible time for higher education in our nation.
While certainly a different set of circumstances and issues, it is no less a trying time for higher education and thus a trying time for the leaders of our country’s institutions, both public and private. The assault on the academy comes from many directions, state legislators, congress, the executive branch not to mention students and parents tired of tuition increases and concerned about college affordability.
Everything from campus sexual assault, alcohol consumption, fraternity hazing, budget cuts, first amendment conflicts, onslaught on tenure, curriculum relevancy, accountability measures, guns on campus, decline in physical facilities, the athletic industrial complex to mention only a few of the relevant and serious issues facing college presidents.
Yet, despite the very real and acute problems, America still remains the best higher education system in the world. It will be up to our presidents and chancellors to insure the continuation of that place in education and reverse the perceived slippage that has occurred on the world stage.
We hope, that in a small way, this journal will contribute to America’s best hope for revitalization and relevancy in the world, that being leadership in higher education.
G. David Gearhart
Editor, Professor, Chancellor Emeritus
Journal of Research on the College President
College of Education and Health Professions
University of Arkansas
P.S. For this inaugural issue of the Journal, we had 13 manuscripts submitted for possible publication (31% acceptance rate). We hope the number grows in 2018!