Yes, university presidents are expendable, but not always. Three or four years ago, it looked as though John Fry was on his way out at Drexel, and deservedly so, having presided over two budget “crises” in three years and the preposterous mishandling of the Rudy Giuliani honorary degree revocation, among other things. He announced his departure publicly on television, standing alone on the roof of the Business School building and looking, to my eye at least, ready to jump. Next thing anyone knew, he was rewarded with a six-year contract extension instead, and he happily goes on building Drexel Corporation, that new academic entity prefigured by his predecessor, Constantine Papadakis.
I take issue with your characterization of tenured professors, at least at teaching universities, where I taught for 49 years. Most of us were engaged with our students and treated them with respect. I can't speak to the attitude of the faculty at R1 universities. You may be correct in that case, but that's an awfully big brush you're tarring with.
It is true that Penn’s FY24 Academic Operating Budget totals $4.4 billion. Add to that the Health System budget of $10B, and the Consolidated Operating Budget totals $14.4 billion. When I was in the administration, I used to tell people that any university that includes a health system should be described as a health system with a small college attached.
I read this in an airport, waiting for a flight, and laughed out loud several times. I don't know very much about the inner workings of either situation, but I can't help wondering if any part of the fates of these two presidents, particularly their assumed culpability in their individual downfalls was related to their shared gender. I hope not.
UArts' previous president and trustees may have set in motion all the reasons for the sudden collapse much more than President Walk ever could have done in her short term there as president. Yet Walk is being blamed for everything. What were the trustees doing before with the previous president?
Penn trustees fired the wrong President. Mcgill had barely done anything, too.
It was clearly President Amy Gutmann who set in motion numerous very bad decisions that caused the rot and turmoil at Penn. Allowing the Biden Center on campus with highly suspect funding, allowing a male to pretend to be a female swimmer and to steal trophies from the winning females, undercutting the integrity of Ivy sports, and essentially killing Freedom of Speech on campus as no one ever has done in the 300 years of Penn to protect her bizarre transgender decision against women athletes, and not protecting freedom of speech nor the freedom to be a contrarian professor in the interest of teaching law in Penn Law School.
Was there a quid pro quo that if Gutmann allowed all these subversive things initiating rot and turmoil at Penn and vigorously shutting down/suppressing any opposition by her threats, that she and the Chairman of the Trustees would be awarded ambassadorships by Biden?
Amy Gutmann is now ambassador to Germany and David Cohen, Chair of Trustees, is ambassador to Canada.
If it walks like a quid pro quo.... and quacks like a quid pro quo...
From reader Robert Zaller:
Yes, university presidents are expendable, but not always. Three or four years ago, it looked as though John Fry was on his way out at Drexel, and deservedly so, having presided over two budget “crises” in three years and the preposterous mishandling of the Rudy Giuliani honorary degree revocation, among other things. He announced his departure publicly on television, standing alone on the roof of the Business School building and looking, to my eye at least, ready to jump. Next thing anyone knew, he was rewarded with a six-year contract extension instead, and he happily goes on building Drexel Corporation, that new academic entity prefigured by his predecessor, Constantine Papadakis.
From reader David Kann:
I take issue with your characterization of tenured professors, at least at teaching universities, where I taught for 49 years. Most of us were engaged with our students and treated them with respect. I can't speak to the attitude of the faculty at R1 universities. You may be correct in that case, but that's an awfully big brush you're tarring with.
From reader Peter Conn:
It is true that Penn’s FY24 Academic Operating Budget totals $4.4 billion. Add to that the Health System budget of $10B, and the Consolidated Operating Budget totals $14.4 billion. When I was in the administration, I used to tell people that any university that includes a health system should be described as a health system with a small college attached.
I read this in an airport, waiting for a flight, and laughed out loud several times. I don't know very much about the inner workings of either situation, but I can't help wondering if any part of the fates of these two presidents, particularly their assumed culpability in their individual downfalls was related to their shared gender. I hope not.
Very good comments about the two institutions.
May I add this?
UArts' previous president and trustees may have set in motion all the reasons for the sudden collapse much more than President Walk ever could have done in her short term there as president. Yet Walk is being blamed for everything. What were the trustees doing before with the previous president?
Penn trustees fired the wrong President. Mcgill had barely done anything, too.
It was clearly President Amy Gutmann who set in motion numerous very bad decisions that caused the rot and turmoil at Penn. Allowing the Biden Center on campus with highly suspect funding, allowing a male to pretend to be a female swimmer and to steal trophies from the winning females, undercutting the integrity of Ivy sports, and essentially killing Freedom of Speech on campus as no one ever has done in the 300 years of Penn to protect her bizarre transgender decision against women athletes, and not protecting freedom of speech nor the freedom to be a contrarian professor in the interest of teaching law in Penn Law School.
Was there a quid pro quo that if Gutmann allowed all these subversive things initiating rot and turmoil at Penn and vigorously shutting down/suppressing any opposition by her threats, that she and the Chairman of the Trustees would be awarded ambassadorships by Biden?
Amy Gutmann is now ambassador to Germany and David Cohen, Chair of Trustees, is ambassador to Canada.
If it walks like a quid pro quo.... and quacks like a quid pro quo...
The Penn trustees fired the wrong president!
As usual, your wit and insight are nicely bound together. I wonder if humor is the last refuge of the truth.