October 7, 2013: Four and Out

Time for some Monday Morning Quarterbacking about higher ed comings and goings, as reported in the industry's two leading journals:  Inside Higher Ed and The Chronicle of Higher Ed.

• How can one not be fascinated by this story out of Yale, as posted in Inside Higher Ed?  Some idiot is soiling people's clothing "in urine, feces and food waste," as well as draping "several items of clothing smeared with feces outside a different residence hall." Here's the kicker line from the article, though:  "The emails were signed 'Copro Philiac,' presumably referring to coprophilia, an obsession with excrement."  Presumably?  What else could we presume?  That the writer is referencing the obscure 6th century BCE Greek Philosopher Coprop Hiliac?  Or, maybe, Copro Phil Ac, the dead singer of some unknown Los Angeles punk band of the late 70's?  Good God, Inside Higher Ed, do you understand the context of your story and your readers? Only some immature college kid, probably majoring in pre-med, is even going to know what coprophilia is.  Your readers get that.

• Moving on: Needless to say, I have always found the idea of an "endowed chair" to be a bit of a silly phrasing (speaking of immature college kids). Now, we find that institutions need to play reverse musical chairs with their endowed chairs.  As reported by our friends at Inside Higher Ed, "endowed chairs [in Louisiana] can be hard to fill," and as a result institutions will not be able to add a new endowed chair if more than 20% of their current chairs are unfilled."  So, let's start the game, Louisiana:  A little Zydeco music, a few full professors, and we're off.  When the music stops, we'll have Endowed Chairs of Acadian Culture, Creole Cuisine, and Delta Geology.

• In other news, let's fall back on some presidential stoogery. My favorite current example of bad leadership, Westfield State’s Evan Dobelle, is in the news again.  The Chronicle points out that he may soon receive the not-so-dreaded vote of no confidence by his faculty, one of whom is cited as saying that “our new science building is being jeopardized while President Dobelle works to protect his reputation.”  No outrage about ethics, no concern for students, no lamenting for scholarships. Just a plea for the science building.  I know that a new science building is ultimately construction for students, but does it not sound a little insensitive to use a building project as the “default” crisis because of the funds siphoned off by the President? A vote of "no confidence" may be exactly what Dobelle needs.

• Also, at the end of last week, Inside Higher Ed reviewed the new book Presidencies Derailed: Why University Presidents Fail and How to Prevent It, and immediately (I mean, we're talking the first words of the review) categorize it as "a slim new book."  It seems like an entry in the standard contest to name the world's thinnest books.  You know, fictitious titles such as, People Who Know O.J. Didn't Do It.  I have to assume that it is the "how to prevent it" part that is difficult to substantiate. Certainly it is not the fact that the book discusses fifty (yes, 50!) presidents who "left or were pushed out" from 2009-2010.  Assuming the book is scholarly enough to have a standard forward, generic introduction, an index and hopefully endnotes, at 184 pages, the book possibly devotes about two pages to each of these fifty presidents.  Heck, one could think the authors could write 184 pages about the dangers of the search firm (a frequent effigy hanging in these blogs).