 In his own words, he rationalized that ETSU's "single most important commodity" was its academic reputation, and that "[r]elaxing standards in order to attract students is not the answer to long-term growth and development of the university".Between 1983 and 1985, the university raised the ACT, SAT, and GRE scores it required for admission, eliminated exceptions in its admission process, and refused to any longer accept self-reported grades in lieu of transcripts.Enrollment continued to fall until the mid-1980s, from 7,757 in fall 1982 to 6,867 in fall 1985 (down 11.5%), before starting to grow by the end of the decade, reaching 7,811 in 1989.