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SERVING THE CAUSE advisory panel to the Secretary of the Air Force on R.O.T.C. affairs. In 1969 he joined with the presidents of Dickinson, Franklin and Marshall, and Wilson Colleges to organize the Central Pennsylvania Consortium of Colleges, whose main purpose was to improve the entire educational program of all four members through a great variety of cooperative undertakings. Charles E. Glassick was considerably more interested than his predecessor in actively participating in national educational organizations. While still placing a high priority on attention to agencies concerned with Lutheran and Pennsylvania higher education, he read papers before meetings of the American Council on Education in 1981, 1982, and 1984. He also served on the board of directors of the Council of Independent Colleges.310 Between 1945 and 1985 most faculty members belonged to one or more state, regional, and national professional organizations. Many read papers or were commentators at their meetings. Some assumed positions of leadership in the organizations. A number served on accrediting teams of the Middle States Association or the Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruction (later the Department of Education).311 In its issue of November 28, 1983, U.S. News & World Report published the results of a survey of 662 presidents of four-year colleges who responded to a request that they name the country's best undergraduate programs in either colleges or universities. The institutions mentioned in the responses were divided into five categories: national universities, national liberal-arts colleges, comprehensive universities, smaller comprehensive universities, and regional liberal-arts colleges. Gettysburg was ranked ninth among fifteen leading smaller comprehensive universities (having a liberal-arts and at least one professional program). While this recognition was welcomed and appreciated, in reflecting upon it any prudent student of American higher education would be aware of the difficulty in selecting the criteria adequate to measure the quality of education at any level and then in applying those criteria fairly to a particular institution of learning. 310Founded in 1956, the council was the first national independent college and university association. The 1985 by-laws defined its general purpose as the "promotion and advancement of small, independent private colleges of liberal arts and sciences in their historic and vital contribution to ethical, moral, and spiritual values." 311 As before, the College placed its claims before the public by means of its several publications and, after 1952, through a public relations office. Just as in the 1930s its faculty and administrators used the relatively new medium of radio to bring the College to the attention of the nearby public, in the 1950s and early 1960s their successors presented educational programs on television in order to achieve the same end. 99