Politics and University/College Presidents (2 Peas (‘P’s) in a Pod)
It isn’t new. That’s worth remembering. The intersection of politics and university presidents (in the context of both their duration and hiring) has been going on since universities were created. Call it the inevitables 2 P’s. Anyone who thinks politics somehow stays outside the university gates and college campuses and ivory towers has missed something omnipresent.
To be sure, the politics can be less overt than conservative media searching out and finding multiple instances of plagiarism by the now former President of Harvard. And those politics have been addressed virtually daily in the media. And not all politics rears its head as overtly as it did at the December Congressional Hearing and its aftermath on how campuses deal with antisemitism and free speech.
But, here’s a statement grounded in reality:
Politics and university leaders intersect, sadly, at times that are not always visible to the folks on their campuses or in other cases to the outside world (and not for an extended period of time).
A few examples — and I led an amazing non-elite small private college in Vermont. In my first six months as president (I was there 8 years), I received what could only be characterized as an antisemitic letter at my home — ultimately traced to a Board Member (or so it appeared to many, me included). Yes, he resigned. Yes the Board issued a powerful statement. He and I had vastly different politics. He dressed his politics up in terms of religion (and I am not religious).
There is the campus in West Virginia where the President awarded a graduate degree to the Governor’s daughter — when she had not actually earned the degree. Ouch. Politics. Imagine the conversations between the Governor and the university president (and he lost his job). It came and went through the media circles.
And then there is the very recent story of the Chancellor whose videos of sexual engagement with his wife on a pornographic site (at least as the story is told in the media) led to his firing (despite his remarkable success as a leader for a decade or more). Free speech boundaries? Ethical line crossing? Politics for sure. Many remain unaware.
Now here’s the interesting fact. My experience and the latter two examples share something in common. We were all in the same Baby Presidents School at — drum roll please — the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Our class of baby presidents had the worst retention rate of any previous class of presidents. Far too many in the group did not make it to Year Five — the sign of at least some success. But, beyond that, we encountered a remarkably volatile, changing world in a myriad of respects.
Presidencies (of anything) are a hard job. When folks want us to delete the acronyms DEI and ESG from our collective settings as if they were swear words or “bad” words, we know something is amiss. When the openings for presidencies in academia abound, we know something is amiss. When four elite universities are all seeking presidents at the same time, something is amiss. When two former presidents left under a cloud of academic impropriety, something is amiss.
Yes, we need to search differently now. We need to vet differently. We need advisers who are wise and not cookie-cutter thinkers (think the opposite of WilmerHale and the story there is worth probing as is their bill). We need to think about the myriad of skills we ask presidents to have pre-entry into office and then exercise and sustain while in office. Who has all those skills? And who can surround themselves with those who can complete the toolbox needed to move universities forward to bring out truth and the best in everyone? Who, even if selected, has thick enough skin to ride forward without being hurt or tarnished or wrongly accused? Tough sledding to be sure.
I know this much. We can say academic leaders should not play politics. That is actually impossible. The better lesson here: understand politics so you can play it very well.
So, as hiring abounds (and I’ve been approached 4 times this past December to lead again in a university and high school setting and said no 4 times), candidates would be wise — very wise — to acknowledge and understand and navigate the abundantly political world in which we operate. Academics are not above politics. Please. Let’s be real. It is more a case of not managing politics well. (And their Boards too). And it is a fragile interrelationship — as expressed by the bowl above (one of my creations).
And as to academic integrity, that seems like the one thing on which we cannot compromise — and the source of the allegations if proven true — is less important than the reality. Academic institutions and their leaders must have academic integrity. If they don’t, who will?
