Presidents Make a Difference: Strengthening Leadership in Colleges and Universities, edited by Clark Kerr (Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, 141 pp., $13)
A hundred years ago the presidents of America’s blossoming colleges and universities were real presidents. They were commanding figures in charge of the academic affairs of their institutions—molders and shapers of educational philosophies. They were also the unquestioned chief administrators of their campuses, with the power to appoint, the authority to institute and decide, and the will to act. And most importantly, they were the chief executive officers of their confident boards. In these capacities, they had opportunities to carry out curricular changes, establish new areas of instruction, found new schools, and build outstanding faculties. They had the freedom to develop administrative structures and procedures that served far-sighted educational ends—to expand the endowment, fund the right programs, make the best use of the budget. And they had the credibility to implement policy in the name of their trustees, in ways that earned them public esteem and philanthropic endorsement. For they were reformers, builders, and educational entrepreneurs. They were leaders, and made no apologies for it.
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