College Leaders Resist Pull to Stray From Mission

By Jack Stripling

National Harbor, Md.

If the conversation here Monday is any indication, higher-education leaders see a growing tension between their presumed mission to produce better citizens and the myriad other functions that students, parents, and lawmakers would have colleges serve.

Indeed, the voices calling for colleges to prepare students for employment, or to stimulate stagnant economies with research breakthroughs, are often louder than those suggesting higher education is really about building better human