Regardless of the pressures and problems confronting colleges and universities today, they can ill afford to assume that the only essential qualities of those chosen to be presidents are their abilities to be sound managers, institutional developers, and public relations experts. Nelson argues that college presidents must possess the capacity to use the presidential pulpit as moral leaders.

Presidents are profiled as leaders who shape student character, lead campus communities, and are in the forefront of issues critical to education. From this vantage point, we can better examine the moral beliefs at the core of colleges and universities, understand and appreciate moral leadership in higher education, and consider the foundations and future of the presidency.