Colleges: Perils of Parsons

Seeking to stave off a threatened loss of accreditation, the trustees of Iowa's Parsons College last week voted to fire the man responsible for its growth from near bankruptcy to a booming, 4,900-student campus: President Millard Roberts. The action was intended to placate the powerful North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, which voted to lift Parsons' accreditation by June 30 for financial mismanagement and relaxed academic standards (TIME, April 14).

The N.C.A. action could throw Parsons into still deeper trouble since its expansion was financed in part by $5.2 million in mortgages from Connecticut insurance companies, which were secured by a pledge to maintain accreditation. Parsons' trustees last week also brought suit in a federal court for an injunction preventing the N.C.A. from lifting the college's accreditation.