Professor Coutu is to be commended for synthesizing in a brief paper a great many insights bearing on the management of teaching, research and extension in the next decade. As a discussant, I feel much as a blind man trying to describe the Taj Mahal—I can only reach so high. The future is as yet unknown and any predictions are at best pretty wild guesses. But there are insights gleaned from the past that can guide us in anticipating the future.

In developing his anticipations, Professor Coutu drew upon several important sources of information, including his personal observations on the status of the university, his recent research on organizational structures used by the University of North Carolina system to manage research, and the Carnegie Commission report on higher education.