Universities and their Leadership ed. by William G. Bowen and Harold T Shapiro (review)

who engage in multiculturalism, feminism, and ethnic studies; and essays byscholars who are in the earlier stages of their career, rfc William G. Bowen and Harold T Shapiro, eds. Universities and their Leadership. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998. 268p. Joyce Kinkead Utah State University Much ofthis volume — essays gathered on the occasion ofthe 250th anniversary of Princeton — serves as a primer for the academic reader who wishes to understand contemporary higher education. Written in an accessible style with concrete examples, it stimulates a general reader. The authors ofthe essays are largely presidents or presidents emeriti. For instance, Frank Rhodes, the former leader of Cornell, provides a dandy overview in "The Universityand Its Critics" that should be required reading for university faculty. Marred slightly by the repeated references to the celebratory occasion (e.g., "Princeton has done that superbly"), the essay provides a longview ofhigher education in America. Even Princeton though is caught in the paradox ofhigh public expectations and low public confidence. Research universities especially face attacks on their programs, curricula, and faculties . To counter, universities must, in his opinion, link research to the undergraduate experience; affirm that service is a social obligation; and remember that teaching is a "moral vocation" (9). Accreditation agencies concerned about the lack ofcoherence and connections in the curriculum would applaud his notion that responsibility for the curriculum must be wrested from individuals and placed in the hands ofa community of faculty who should ask questions such as "what is the point ofthis class?" and what should ourgraduates "be expected to knowand be able to do" (11). Rhodes quotes liberally from President Woodrow Wilson — in his role as Princeton's President — and these are gems: e.g., "it's easier to move a graveyard than revise the curriculum ." Mark Trow draws, too, on the themes ofaccountability and autonomy in the next, more comprehensive, essay, although he ranges widely from quality offaculty to internal financial audits. He reminds institutions that they are responsible for critical self-examinations, and it is this process of examination that accrediting bodies should evaluate. He calls measures ofeducational outcomes "spurious," given that the university's impact on students emerges over a lifetime and in various forms. He notes, too, that "best practices" of universities are not typically gathered or widely distributed — a role accrediting bodies could take on. 140 + ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW + SPRING 1999 Reviews The next section spotlights "The Presidency," and although the essays here continue in a tone of speechifying, they illuminate the changing nature of the prime leadership role: moving from manager, taskmaster and entrepreneur, "philosopher king (or queen)" (69) to one who balances the interests ofa wide range ofinstitutional stakeholders. Not surprisingly, the presidential authors write sympathetically ofthe CEO's role; again, facultywould benefit from hearing the story ofthe day-to-day working hours oftheir leaders in an erawhen presidents are often satirized as "gutless politicians or power-hungry bureaucrats" (105). The remaining two sections ofthe collection are "The Faculty" and "The Planning and Oversight of Science." Henry Rosovsky, author of The University: An Owner's Manual, kicks offthe section on faculty by arguing that practice ofa professional code ofconduct and ethics among faculty is not to be taken as self-evident . He and co-author Ameer offer cases to stimulate discussions among faculty, one of them the Stanford debate on the Western Civilization course. Bemoaning the rise of individualism and the fall ofthe apprentice/mentor model in the professional ranks, they fail to acknowledge the effect ofoverpriced real estate, long commutes to campus, and increased technology on the campus "community." Especially in urban areas, faculty may find themselves priced out of the close-tocampus housing market and forced to spend time commuting orsetting up a home office. The effect may be a faculty with less sense of "community." Faculty may take umbrage that when the essays do turn to them as subject, that the topic is their ethical conduct. Oliver Fulton offers a cross-cultural perspective ofacademe, drawing on survey research in England, Sweden, Netherlands, and Germany, most notably in areas ofjob satisfaction, research, and involvement in teaching. He concludes that continuity in the academic profession cannot taken for granted. In other words, a university...