By James H. Banning Competition can be found everywhere in the campus ecosystem. Students are competing with each other in the classrooms. Athletic contests are occurring almost on a daily basis in both formal and informal settings. Faculty members are competing for advancement, tenure slots, and grant funds.
Administrators are in constant competition internally over turf and funds.
Externally, the institution is in competition with other state institutions, systems of higher education and other departments of state government. From all perspectives, competition is a major ingredient in the institution's ecosystem. It is not a competition that relates to process. The important element is the outcome not process. It is a zero-sum game.