Book 
Notes 

Vincent A. Tinto. 
Leaving College: Rethinking the 
Causes and Cures of Student 
Attrition. 
Chicago: University of Chicago 
Press, 1987, 246 pp. 

In Leaving College, Tinto reminds us 
that total enrollment in higher education 
11 is predicted to further decline to an 
estimated low of 10.5 million in 1995 before 
increasing again in the later part of that 
decade." (p. 2) While institutions will 
experience this decline differently in 
response to this reality, there is a growing 
concern on our college campuses about 
student retention. By challenging 
administrators to come to operational terms 
with the notion of dropout and to reframe 
their thinking about departure as failure, 
Leaving College helps administrators to think 
pragmatically about retention. Tinto 
suggests that not all departures can be 
prevented and that students who do drop 
out are not deviants. He encourages 
institutions to view retention as secondary 
to a concern for the intellectual and social 
growth of students. This kind of thinking 
may be difficult for institutions faced with 
declining enrollments, but it is important 
thinking for long-term efforts. 

Of particular interest to college 
administrators is Tinto's chapter on 
strategies institutions can use to confront 
student departure. According to Tinto, 
institutions must first clarify mission and 
goal statements, as these are the primary 
tools to be used in directing an institution's 
retention efforts. Institutions must also 
recognize that not all students can be 
retained and use institutional goals to focus 
retention efforts for identified groups of 
students. In essence, Tinto reinforces the 
notion that colleges and universities can't 
be all things to all people, and that 
administrators must focus their efforts on 
those students whom the institution wants 
and has the capacity to retain. It is for these 

students that colleges and universities 
should develop strategies to increase 
institutional commitment. The strategies 
he discusses relate to effectively integrating 
students into the college environment. 

Leaving College provides university 
administrators with a scholarly grounding 
in the literature of student departure, 
presents Tinto's own theory of individual 
departure from higher education 
institutions, and engages us in a solid 
discussion of institutional strategies that 
promote the retention of students. Leaving 
College is a unique blend of theory and 
practice and, as such, is clearly an important 
piece of scholarship. 

Ernest T. Pascarella and Patrick T. 
Terenzini. 
How College Affects Students. 
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1991, 
894 pp. 

How College Affects Students is an 
invaluable resource for college and 
university administrators, scholars, and 
researchers, and students of higher 
education. In this impressive work, 
Pascarella and Terenzini masterfully 
organize, review, analyze, and synthesize 
the major research on and about college 
students from the late 1960s through the 
1980s. They organize their review according 
to four types of outcomes or ways that 
college may affect students (cognitive-
psychological, cognitive-behavioral, 
affective-psychological, and affective-
behavioral). These four outcomes provide 
the general framework for the authors, who 
then also use a series of basic questions to 
guide the reader. Each question addresses a 
kind of potential effect that college may 
have on students. 

For administrators, How College Affec.ts 
Students is a tremendous practical resource. 
The final two chapters provide a summary 
of the research findings presented in more 
detail in earlier chapters. The final chapter 



is a practical one. In it, Pascarella and 
Terenzini discuss implications for policy 
and practice of the research they review, 
making notations for the reader interested 
in exploring ideas and action plans in 
further detail. 

While Pascarella and Terenzini note 
the limitation of the present work as being 
focused only upon traditional four-year 
residential college students, this limitation 
pales in light of the contribution this work 
makes to research and practice. In terms of 
the former, by summarizing where we are, 
further research is focussed and stimulated. 
By reviewing implications for policy and 
practice, How College Affects Students 
challenges administrators to carefully and 
thoughtfullyevaluatetheirowninstitutions 
from a solid research perspective-and in 
so doing, guides administrators toward 
effective decision making regarding 
program alternatives. 

Margaret J. Barr and Associates. 
Student Services and the Law. 
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1988, 
409 pp. 

I tis no surprise, as our society becomes 
increasingly more litigious, that colleges 
and universities need to be cognizant of 
the legal implications of their policies and 
practices. This is certainly true in student 
affairs. Indeed, as Barr in Student Services 
and the Law comments, "responsible 
administration requires that professionals 
understand the legal implications of both 
their actions and inactions." (p. xv) Student 
Services and the Law introduces 
administrators, and specifically student 
affairs administrators, to the basic concepts 
of the law governing higher education, 
examines areas of the law related to areas of 

Book Notes 93 

particular high risk to student affairs 
practice, and then explores the law relative 
to specific areas of student affairs 
administration. 

This useful resource is divided into 
three sections. Part I introduces the reader 
to basic concepts of the law and provides 
the general framework from which to 
understand the impact of the law on college 
campuses. Of particular interest to student 
affairs administrators is the chapter that 
explores the applicability of the law to public 
and private institutions, highlighting the 
differences. 

In Part II, Barr and associates take on 
critical issues facing student affairs and 
explore the legal liability of which 
administrators need to be aware. Chapters 
7, 8, and 9 should hold particular interest 
for most student affairs administrators as 
these chapters deal specifically with the 
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act 
(FERPA) of 1974, student conduct and 
discipline, and some of the major issues 
facing institutions related to negligence and 
alcohol. Finally, Part III explores the law 
from specific areas of student affairs, such 
as residence life, admissions, counseling 
and health, as well as the management of 
student records and staff supervision. 

This useful reference is a tremendous 
supplement to W. A. Kaplin's (1985) The 
Law of Higher Education: A Comprehensive 
Guide to Legal Implications of Administrative 
Decision Making. Together, these works 
provide student affairs administrators with 
a comprehensive understanding of the legal 
implications of their work. 

Susan M. Roberts 
Special Assistant to the 

Vice President for Student Affairs 
University of Southern Maine 

96 Falmouth St. 
Portland, ME 04103