ABSTRACT
This chapter began by noting faculty strengths and it resumes this theme in closing, but the central focus is on the priorities of American higher education. An administration must play a direct role on the budget side of picture with greater self-discipline as well as clearer communication. They can also facilitate greater student success, and hopefully they will be active as well in defining and preserving existing academic strengths. However, it's the faculty who are the front line for preservation and for student success, and unfortunately they must be asked to respond more constructively to the new budget realities as well. The faculty also have some fundamental responsibility for maintaining standards, in research, teaching and learning alike. Faculty conditions are unlikely ever to recover the ease of the 1970s, but we can legitimately begin with the positive. Faculty determine more about the strength of a university than any other element, though student qualities, which are linked, are not far behind.
