As academic standards rose, so too did the state's commitment to higher education, and New Jersey now ranks sixth in state appropriations per student, spending nearly $850 million a year on its colleges.
In addition to altering the underlying financial structure of state aid to higher education, Dr. Hollander created a competitive grant system that lets colleges develop specialties in fields such as the arts, cooperative education and international affairs. Although most states dabble in incentive grants, few are so directly targeting where they want their money spent.
Dr. Hollander also pushed for increased autonomy for New Jersey's universities and colleges at a time when most chancellors were seeking to strengthen their agencies' power. Under a law signed last July, the state's schools can now appoint their own presidents, fill vacant faculty positions and establish their own tuitions within certain guidelines.
''Institutions that have control over their destinies are much more excited about what they're doing,'' Dr. Hollander said.
What about those who say it is not prudent finance to hand over millions in state aid to schools to spend at will?
''It's that kind of risk that throws you out of office,'' said Dr. Hollander, a former professor of economics and accounting. ''But if you don't take it, you stifle initiative.''
''In the end, someone else is going to have to decide whether we made a terrible mistake,'' he added, with the characteristic nonchalance that at times unsettles even some admirers.
As with excellence and access, Dr. Hollander is trying to pursue a dichotomous path of accountability to accompany his autonomy reforms.
In a proposal that has concerned a number of college officials, he is calling for a comprehensive assessment system that would measure the effectiveness of New Jersey's public institutions. The assessment would focus on:
* What students are learning.
* What happens to them after they leave school.
* The quality of faculty.
* The effect the institution has on its surrounding community and the broader society.
One of the most controversial parts of Dr. Hollander's plan is a test for college sophomores. Dr. Saul Cooperman, Commissioner of the state's Department of Education, agrees a test is needed but would like to see put in place a basic-skills test that would be used as a gateway to the junior year. Failing the test would mean a student could not advance into the upper levels of college.
Dr. Hollander, however, wants the test to be far more sophisticated, measuring such abstract qualities as the ability to reason, separate opinion from fact and make ethical choices. It would be used as a tool to evaluate the quality of the curriculum at a particular institution, rather than the academic performance of a student.
''That type of test is not appropriate as a gateway because it's independent of what students learn in the first two years,'' the Chancellor said.
A number of college officials doubt that the type of test Dr. Hollander envisions is available.
''The theory is great, but the misfortune is that the testing instruments are not good enough to satisfy those purposes,'' said Dr. Edward J. Bloustein, president of Rutgers, the State University, in echoing the opinion of several college presidents.
Dr. Hollander conceded there was no such test now, but he said testing experts had assured him such an evaluative tool was conceivable. He said the test, which he hopes to begin developing within a year, would probably not take the form of a traditional short-answer exam, but would possibly involve essays or even videotaping a student's performance.