Contents

• At the Forefront
• Articles
• Review Essays
• Abstracts: ASHE Annual Meeting

Mourad, R. P. (Roger Philip), 1958-.
• Postmodern Interdisciplinarity
  Subjects:
  • Interdisciplinary approach in education.
  • Postmodernism and education.

  Abstract:

  In many fields, postmodern forms of thought have recently emerged, posing fundamental challenges to modern assumptions concerning knowledge. This article explores the implications of four post-modern philosophical positions on knowledge to show how they reject absolute foundations and seek to expand the possibilities for scholarly practice. It further argues that an absolute foundation pervades higher education and that it unjustifiably constrains the capacity of intellect. This absolute foundation is the notion that legitimate intellectual activity is the disciplinary pursuit of knowledge of entities that exist before and independent of inquiry. A postmodern conception of higher education that would expand the playing field for inquiry is advanced based on the flexible concept of intellectually compelling ideas.

Sabloff, Paula L. W.
• Another Reason Why State Legislatures Will Continue to Restrict Public University Autonomy
  Subjects:
  • University autonomy -- United States.
  • State universities and colleges -- United States.
  • Education and state -- United States.

  Abstract:

  Change in the political structure of state legislatures may influence their members to propose and pass more regulatory bills that restrict public university autonomy. This article reviews the political science literature on changing state politics, followed by a statistical analysis of the 50 states and a case study of Pennsylvania. The latter suggests a possible causal relationship between the changing political structure and continued limitation of public university autonomy.

Kraemer, Barbara A.
• The Academic and Social Integration of Hispanic Students into College
  Subjects:
  • Hispanic American college students -- Social conditions.
  • Student adjustment.

  Abstract:

  Academic and social integration into college is key to persistence in models of student attrition. This study operationally defined academic and social integration to fit a Hispanic 2-year college population and examined psychometric properties of the measures through confirmatory factor analyses. Findings confirmed the importance of appropriate and culturally sensitive operational definitions of academic and social integration when including these constructs in persistence studies of Hispanic students at 2-year institutions.

Gautam, Kanak.
Whetten, David A. (David Allred), 1946-.
Cameron, Kim S.
• Theoretical Implications of Measurement Inconsistencies in Organizational Decline Research
  Subjects:
  • Organization -- Research.
  • Research -- Evaluation.

  Abstract:

  What should be the appropriate measure of decline in institutions of higher education? Though different scholars emphasize either objective or perceptual indicators, we contend that studying the differences between objective and perceptual idicators of decline is itself a useful mechanism for theory-building. The authors examine 82 universities where objective and perceptual measures of decline contradict each other. Their results indicate that institutions suffering from "objective decline" without "perceptual decline" are characterized by processes of "decline as crisis." In contrast, institutions with "perceived decline" only are characterized by processes of "decline as stagnation." Results indicate the need to recognize that objective and perceptual indicators may often address different aspects of decline and that institutions of higher education using any single type of measure may have a limited perspective on the decline phenomenon.

Baxter Magolda, Marcia B., 1951-.
• Review Essay: Knowing and Reasoning in College: Gender-Related Patterns in Students' Intellectual Development
  Subjects:
  • Learning -- Longitudinal studies.
  • Reviewer: Welte, Sheryl Lyn.
  • Review title: Transforming educational practice : addressing underlying epistemological assumptions.

  Abstract:

  This paper reviews and critiques Baxter Magolda's (1992) book, Knowing and Reasoning in College: Gender-Related Patterns in Students' Intellectual Development. Baxter Magolda discusses different ways of knowing and their implications for educational practice. She contributes to our understanding of students' intellectual development by considering both curricular and cocurricular ways of knowing. The author, informed by her current case study research, contends that Baxter Magolda's use of yearly interviews distorts the context-dependent nature of students' ways of knowing by describing students as being types of knowers versus having ways of knowing. The interactive, intersubjective, and interdependent nature of ways of knowing suggests that both students' and teachers' epistemologies must be considered in reshaping pedagogy and, hence, in transforming learning.

Bromwich, David, 1951-.
• Review Essay: Politics by Other Means: Higher Education and Group Thinking
  Subjects:
  • Politics and education -- United States.
  • Reviewer: Nemec, Mark R.
  • Review title: Role of curricular debate in the university.

  Abstract:

  This paper examines two considerations of curricular debate's place in the university. The author compares Gerald Graff's argument for "teaching the conflicts" with David Bromwich's claim that education is "an adventure in its most precise sense" and finds that the two scholars' basic diferences originate from (a) contrasting conceptions of students and the teaching and learning process, and (b) clashing perceptions of the forces shaping the struggle over curriculum.

Graff, Gerald.
• Review Essay: Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts Can Revitalize American Education
  Subjects:
  • Education, Higher -- Social aspects -- United States.
  • Reviewer: Nemec, Mark R.
  • Review title: Role of curricular debate in the university.

  Abstract:

  This paper examines two considerations of curricular debate's place in the university. The author compares Gerald Graff's argument for "teaching the conflicts" with David Bromwich's claim that education is "an adventure in its most precise sense" and finds that the two scholars' basic diferences originate from (a) contrasting conceptions of students and the teaching and learning process, and (b) clashing perceptions of the forces shaping the struggle over curriculum.

• Abstracts of Papers Presented at the 1995 ASHE Annual Meeting