March 30, 2019

Given that it is the time of the year that most committee meetings are being sidetracked by conversations about March Madness, I indulged myself by returning to one of my favorite previous blog ideas: creating a bracket of 64 for Higher Education.

The original Higher Education Bracketology was a series of blogs that allowed me to analyze in a little depth a number of issues related to higher education. This time I actually commissioned a small task force (a version of "The Open," the 11th seed in the Make-Up Regional, see below) to design a new higher education tournament. Today, I am proud to present to you the Field of 64 World of Committees tournament, the results of the Bracketology Task Force (BTF).

The BTF decided to capture all about the wonderful world of committee meetings in their final seeding of 64. They created 4 regions: Committee Purposes; Committee Make-up; Committee Amenities; and Committee Clichés. The meetings and conversations were heated at times, which usually just confirmed someone's argument about a seed.  For instance, when some of the task force were tired and wanted to call it a day, another member suggested they "plow on until 5:00," and instantly all members realized that they had to finally concede their 16th seed for the Cliché region.

There is so much intrigue: For instance we all know employee health is important but what chance does The Wellness Committee have against the Duke of Committees -- The Committee of Committees in the Purpose Region?  The Committee of the Committees makes the rules! So sad to know that Wellness will go down faster than the response rates on the annual Wellness Survey.

The Amenities Region is the most competitive in my humble opinion.  The cookies versus bagels debate can start right away, and I know I speak for a nation of grateful academics that Power Bars didn't even make the tournament.  Equally intriguing is the "Round The Table" Agenda item versus the "Other" Agenda item.  Let's go back and forth between people trying to make their visit to the state capital interesting versus everyone else just wanting to stay quiet and get back to real work.

Looking at a second round match-up in the Make-Up Region, how can you not salivate at the idea of "The Turgid" battling "The Boots on the Ground"?  That is a classic Goliath versus David showdown.

Of course, all of us will be watching the Cliché Region closely.  Already the buzz is about how the "three kinds of lies" couldn't get a better seed than 8.  On top of that, it has to go up against the smug self-importance of "social science is not a real science."  Wow, nothing can sum up the tourney better than that match-up.

You can see the full match-ups below.  Remember, no betting on the tournament. I checked with HR on that.