Regarding your recent story about Stevenson University president Kevin Manning ("Report: Stevenson chief among highest-paid at private colleges," Dec. 5):
Since leaving Towson in 1978, I have served on the boards of 10 colleges and universities and two preparatory schools, and I can say from experience that no college president in America has been more effective than Mr. Manning at Stevenson.
During a generally declining period, he has increased enrollment, academic programs, faculty credentials and private support for the school. He has built a stunning new campus with a dramatic stadium that hosts an impressive football program. At the same time, unit costs have gone down.
Stevenson is now known across America, and Mr. Manning is in the front rank of college presidents. Neither Stevenson nor Maryland can afford to lose him. Hats off to the school's board of trustees for making it possible to keep him.
James L. Fisher
The writer is president emeritus of Towson State University.