ABSTRACT
Higher education's financial crisis can be a time when a president and board may invoke the academic equivalent of martial law. The message is that those who are active in higher education should avoid complacency and the stagnation associated with unexamined "business as usual". Even major donors and well-endowed universities have problems with "business as usual" in their own decisions about philanthropy. To go beyond business as usual one needs a summit of representatives from various higher education constituencies. The federal government, through both the legislative and executive branches, probably will deal with higher education issues with a focus on increased consumer protection and asserting a regulatory role along with continuing to serve as a provider of student financial aid and sponsored research grants. The net result is that innovation in teaching, through Internet courses and programs, has been fused into the fabric of all higher education.
