Volume 35, Issue 4

The percieved needs of nontraditional aged undergraduate students living off-campus are compared to those of traditional undergraduate students living off-campus. Findings suggest that differences exist between traditional and nontraditional students and that nontraditional students are not the students most in need of services on campus.

The author demonstrates how the use of SERVQUAL, a market-driven assessment model adapted from business, can be used to study student satisfaction with four areas of support services hypothetically related to enrollment managment (academic records, admissions, career services, and financial aid). The sample included 748 students enrolled in general education courses at ten different private institutions.

Bill Kaplin and Barbara Lee let their readers know up front - on the book's cover in fact - that "A Legal Guide for Student Affairs Professionals" has been adapted from their highly regarded third edition of "The Law of Higher Education" [LHE3](1995) ("the big red book," as my students refer to it). The authors have included material already presented in LHE3 but have completely reorganized, updated, and edited the earlier work.

No college or university today seems immune to challenges from internal and external constituents to demonstrate the quality of its programs, practices, and outcomes. Some institutions, moreover, are under considerable pressure from funding agencies, boards, students, parents, and other stakeholders. In response to demands for accountability, many academic leaders have drawn upon a number of management techniques, including Total Quality Management [TQM].

As part of a continuous quality improvement initiative, student affairs staff members at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst were asked to provide opinions on the importance of and satisfaction with certain aspects of their work environments. The data were analyzed based on sex, race, length of service, and employment status (classified or professional), with most reported differences being based on employment status. Results of the survey are discussed, and efforts to improve the climate addressed.

Although preliminary findings suggest that men in the early part of their adulthood are particularly at risk of sexual assault, publications on this type of victimization among college students frequently ignore this population. Administrators in higher education, alerted to the existence of these sexual crimes, are in a unique position to assist potential and actual victims. Through preventative, educational, and theraputic interventions, educators can greatly reduce the incidents of this crime and the traumatic impact that male rape victims often experience.

The creation of small communities has been proposed as a way of enhancing the educational experience of students at large institutions. Using data from a survey of students living in large and small residences at a public research university, this study does not support the common assumption that small-scale social environments are more conducive to positive community life than large-scale social environments.

The author considers the distinct constructs that define moral development and the effect that college has both on moral development and the subsequent development of such attitudes as tolerance. She presents the implications for institutional practice, especially with regard to the influence of college environment and the role of higher education in developing students along all parameters of moral development and attitude reformation.