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Changing Consciousness in a Changed World: the Aftermath of September 11

In the midst of solid enrollments and adjustments to a new academic year, the shocking intrusion of the September 11 tragedies initiated a search for meaning on ANAC member campuses not seen since the 1960's. Although, for the most part, the direct loss of life was limited to a small number of parents, alumni, and friends, the grieving, questioning, and sense of shattered security are profound and continuing. ANAC member colleges and universities report that memorial observances, chapel convocations, prayer services, forums and teach-ins, and a need for counseling have continued for days afterwards. For many traditional-age students, whose lifetime exposure to violence, destruction, and hatred may be limited, September 11 appears especially unsettling.

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Articles In This Issue:

In the Headlines

• Questions and Uncertainty in the Wake of September 11
• ANAC 2005 Plan Implementation Underway
  
• Positive Enrollment Picture to Begin the New Academic Year
  
• ANAC Members Still Highly Regarded in National Media Rankings

ANAC Projects and Activities

• A New Academic Compact to be Available in December
  
• ANAC Data Exchange Reports Preliminary Findings
  
• Media Project Visits Press in Boston
  
• ANAC IT Task Forces Organized

ANAC Members in the News

• Valparaiso and Drake Respond to September 11
  
• University of Redlands Linguist Promotes Airline Safety
  
• Elon University Poll of North Carolina Views on Terrorism, Politics, and the Economy
  
• Hampton University Offers Summit, "On the Road to the Presidency"
  
• Education Deans Create ANACTE
  
• Quinnipiac University Professors Launch "Mummy Road Show"
  
• University of Dayton's Award-Winning Technology Innovations
  
• North Central College Experiments with Student Housing
  
• Susquehanna and Elon Complete New Athletic Facilities
  
• University of Hartford Opens Magnet School
  
• Butler and Mercer Universities Name New Provosts
  
• Fall Visits to Hampton, Hartford, and Quinnipiac Universities

ANAC Commentary: Featuring Frank H. T. Rhodes

• Rhodes on the "New American University"
  
• Rhodes Calls on Faculty to "Recapture the Curriculum"
  
• Sir John Daniels on "Lessons from the Open University"

ANAC Upcoming Events

• Jossey Bass Online Dialogue, "Teaching the Arts of Democracy"

A New Academic Compact Announcement

The stunning autumn vista and view of the central quad
at Quinnipiac University
.

Questions and Uncertainty in the Wake of September 11

College students, like other Americans, seem suddenly conscious of our nation's interdependence and vulnerability in a world whose perils have seemed distant for most of our history. Many are wondering about the price of a secure future in a world where hatred for Americans seems palpable. Will American campuses continue to be attractive to international students, especially from the Muslim world, and can their safety be assured? What precautions will be needed to assure a high level of safety for American students studying abroad? Indeed, what should the international education focus be in new and hazardous times?

College and university leaders also have anxieties about other questions. How will a soft economy and uncertainty in the stock market affect college endowment earnings? In this financial environment will private higher education continue to compete well against lower sticker price alternatives? And, in ways not seen, perhaps, since the launch of Sputnik in 1955, a rethinking has begun about the significance of higher education and how undergraduate general education, the liberal arts major, and professional programs might respond appropriately to a post-September 11 world. These reflections loom large as ANAC weighs initiatives of greatest value to members in undertaking new grant projects to succeed those supported in recent years by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

ANAC 2005 Plan Implementation Underway

The executive committees of the ANAC Presidents Council and Institutional Representatives have approved steps for implementation this fall of the ANAC 2005 Plan. The Plan has four central goals:

1. Achieve a stable and engaged membership of 25 institutions, representing all major regions nationally.
   
2. Strengthen ANAC marketing and organization at both the national and local levels.
   
3. Create opportunities for major collaborations that bring significant and unique benefits to ANAC and its members, e.g., the proposed ANAC Academy, information technology collaboration.
   
4. Realize the full potential of current ANAC activities and projects, e.g., national media relations project, affinity groups, ANAC Data Exchange, faculty development, and ANAC Study Abroad (ANACSA).

Activities are underway to accomplish each goal. Each member institution has been asked to create a steering committee of administrative and faculty leaders to coordinate campus involvement in ANAC events and projects. Several initiatives are underway to attract new grant project support with higher education in a post-September world in mind. Task forces have been created to assess the feasibility of ANAC collaboration regarding information technologies, either as a cost savings move or for distance education purposes.

A Positive Enrollment Picture to Begin the New Academic Year

ANAC members generally report increased enrollments this fall. Enrollments are especially strong at the undergraduate level with some unevenness in enrollment of older adult, part-time and professional program students. North Central College, for example, enrolled its largest freshman class in history and the University of Hartford its largest in two decades. Elon University reports its most qualified freshman class in history with an average SAT score of 1125. Valparaiso University continues to experience strong freshman class quantity and quality (1192 SAT average), but has seen a decline in nursing enrollments. Drake University reports an overall student headcount increase, including in pharmacy, but a slight decline in the number of part-time students. Quinnipiac University continued its substantial enrollment growth since the late 1980's and the University of Redlands maintained its solid enrollment increases of recent years.

ANAC Members Still Highly Regarded in National Media Rankings

The fall 2001 national media ratings demonstrate that perennially highly ranked ANAC members not only held their positions in US News & World Report, but advanced in some cases (e.g., Valparaiso University is once again #1 among Midwest Master's institutions), and relative newcomers "moved up" (e.g., Elon University #9 in the South and Hamline University #10 in the Midwest). Most gratifying, US News & World Report changed its nomenclature under which most ANAC members fall from "Regional Universities" to "Best Universities—Master's"—an acknowledgement that the best Master's universities are also national institutions.

Keeping in mind that there are 573 Master's institutions nationally, here are the rankings of ANAC members by region:

In addition, Russell Sage College, the undergraduate portion of The Sage Colleges, was ranked #3 in the North in the "Best Comprehensive Colleges—Bachelor's" category which includes 322 institutions.

Time magazine selected four institutions representing research, regional, liberal arts, and community college types as "Colleges of the Year" for their outstanding programs for freshmen. Although Time has no category for Master's institutions, Drury University and Elon University were among three institutions cited as runners-up in the liberal arts college category. US News & World Report cited Drury #1 and Valparaiso #2 as best buys for the money among Master's institutions in the Midwest and Drake #5 and Hamline #10, respectively, Ithaca #8 in the East, and Redlands #5 and Pacific Lutheran #13 in the West.

Finally, although the Newsweek Kaplan "How to Get Into College" guide does not rate colleges, it contains a statistics-laden directory of 1,043 colleges and universities. In an article by Anne Underwood, entitled "No Need to Shed Tears for the Liberal Arts," Jerry Berberet, ANAC executive director, is quoted on ANAC message, "It's wrongheaded to view liberal arts and professional programs as two opposing camps." (p. 51)

Photo by North Central College student, Dmitriy O. Makarov.