Reviewed by: Old Main: Small Colleges in Twenty-First Century America Lois Calian Trautvetter (bio) Samuel Schuman. Old Main: Small Colleges in Twenty-First Century America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. 280 pp. Cloth: $39.95. ISBN: 0-8018-8092-0. Samuel Schuman argues that small colleges were historically the "main" thread of the American higher education system but that this "centrality has been lost" (p. 1). Today, only about 4 to 10% of college students enroll in small colleges, a decline that often leaves some of these "venerable and valuable institutions also vulnerable" (p. 1). Schuman further asserts that this threat is not just to small colleges themselves but also to the larger network of American colleges and universities. He argues that small colleges may be "the canary in the mine" for larger institutions of higher education. Although many small colleges are thriving, some are facing low enrollments, ballooning debts, visibility issues, or other misfortunes. Old Main does [End Page 542] not emphasize that small colleges are better than large institutions; rather, it argues that for some undergraduates, faculty, and staff, it may be the best educational/career option. It is important to note that the book's focus is on an institution's size (e.g., small) rather than curricular focus (e.g., liberal arts) as compared to other research covering small colleges (e.g., Breneman, 1994; Koblik 2000). Schuman reports research demonstrating that college size has a measurable effect on community. In this book, small colleges, numbering 600 in the United States, are defined as public or private institutions that enroll between 500 and 3,000 full-time students and award primarily baccalaureate, four-year degrees. Although Schuman does point out that a number of small colleges seek to create the diversity of programs of larger institutions and that some big institutions are looking for ways to offer students the advantages of academic community found in small colleges (a phenomenon called "blurring the boundaries"), it is Schuman's intention to update and answer questions about small colleges and to raise questions for other researchers to pursue by advocating more empirical studies of small colleges' processes and trends. The intended audience for this book is wide. As a graduate of a small college, prospective college student parent, administrator, researcher, and faculty member, I fit most of the categories of Schuman's intended audience, with the exception of being a recent newcomer to a small college or educational policymaker. The book's bipartisan effort is to describe the variety of missions, histories, people, and resources of American small colleges. The author does not hide his biases, informing the reader that he has found his "personal and professional home" in small liberal arts colleges and believes that these colleges offer places where students can come to know themselves and others through student and teacher engagement, safe environments, and free space. Schuman draws on historical and developmental literature, national data samples (e.g., National Survey of Student Engagement), in-depth profiles of 12 selected institutions and interviews with people affiliated with small colleges, and his firsthand observations as an administrator and teacher to tell the story of small colleges in America—a "combination of induction and deduction, of research and editorial" (p. 6). Schuman's sample of 12 small colleges includes public and private colleges scattered geographically. Some are focused liberal arts institutions while others have an entirely different professional mission. All four tiers of the Carnegie National Liberal Arts College classification are represented, as well as regional comprehensive bachelor's and master's schools. These colleges vary in religiosity also. Schuman interviewed the president, chief academic officer, members of the senior leadership group, faculty members, students, and member(s) of the governing body at each institution. The book provides a broad and thorough historical overview of small colleges. The founding small colleges defined a pattern for American higher education that was distinct from its European antecedents and out of which grew all of our contemporary institutions. For example, most of the colonial colleges had a religious affiliation, and so do most of today's small colleges. In addition, colleges and universities were seen as playing a civic role. Other...
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Apr 1, 2011
Judy K Favor 
Open Access