Ed.
As the UW Presidential Search continues with little apparent faculty input, this survey of sitting presidents is very disturbing. 
The bottom line is that these CEOs seem to have no interest in academic quality, whether that means addressing the increasing issue of remedial classwork or the need to preserve excellence in the humanities and social sciences.
That said, the Presidential poll shows great confidence in two things … college athletics and the wisdom of the boards or regents that hire Presidents.
NOTE: Red text is my emphasis.
Three in 10 private college leaders say their tuition discount rates are “dangerously high.” Three quarters of public college presidents believe online learning can help their institutions increase both enrollments and net tuition revenue. And about a third of all college chief executives, public and private, say they would alter their tenure policies and mandate the retirement of older professors if they didn’t have to worry about political blowback on their campuses.
Public college presidents seemed inclined to adopt the “high tuition, high aid” business model that has gotten private colleges into such a difficult position.
It 
shouldn’t surprise academics, Finkelstein says, that many more college presidents would like to adjust tenure than would like to save money by, for example, cutting athletics spending. “People outside the university care about athletics, but they don’t care about tenure,” he says. “Getting rid of tenure would be a popular thing to do.”
(BUT) Presidents had generally positive things to say about their bosses, the members of their institutions’ governing boards. CLICK ICON FOR FULL TEXT
UPDATE
House Bills 1822 / 5136 would allow the state to declare that Western Governors University, an online-only institution, is a “public” university in Washington State.
You can learn more about HB 1822/5136 at this site:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1822&year=2011
I urge faculty to read Professor Johan Neem’s remarkable post about WGU.
http://handbill.us/?p=3631
Johan called WGU to inquire about registering. The salesperon yold Johan that WGU NO faculty … NO faculty! Instead there are mentors who instead of being experts in their fields, are, in effect, part of a a software support center that can direct a student to online resources.
In other words, WGU provides less support for student learning than any of our community colleges.
If what Professor Neem found out is true, than WGU is a public version of Phoenix and other dubious “online” for-profits.
I am pretty upset by this. As a former student of BF Skinner, I know the power of well written, well supported machine learning. Good materials, with the oversight needed to be sure they are working, and access to teachers, IS a way to make education more efficient.
WGU, however, appears to be a fraud.
The larger issue of academic quality, online solutions, and privatization is found at this link on the Ave.
http://handbill.us/?category_name=online-learning
Faculty may also be wary of the impact of this bill on the UW Presidential Search. A recent survey of sitting University CEOs found that they believe in “online education” as a way of cutting costs. Again, I would welcome that view if I had any reason to suspect that these CEOs had the smae devotion to academic quality most faculty treasure.