Looking to the future.
The college I just graduated from announced they are changing their name AND trying to attain university status. It’s a small, private liberal arts college, and in the past 4 years, I’ve seen them sink to levels of administrative patheticness I had not thought possible when I first enrolled.
Being an educational administrator in a private (i.e. religiously-affiliated) school system is difficult at best and hopeless at worst. You have to be a singular type of person to succeed, especially in higher education administration. You can’t be too focused on fund-raising, although that’s important. You have to value your employees, nurture students and look out for the best for all parties involved. You can’t be the board’s “bitch,” doing what they say without free will or opinion. You have to be willing to get involved at a grassroots level to gain respect of those you serve. And, you have to realize you are working for the school. You are not some god-given gift to the minions who troll around for you day to day. You work for students. You work for faculty, staff, parents.
The current president exhibits none of the essential qualities needed for school leadership and administration, and he doesn’t even seem to try and attain them. He lives in the back pocket of the board chairman and has made so many critically terrible decisions that the school has, in my opinion, less than a year to reclaim its reputation before it is too far gone to salvage.
They are attempting some pitiful rebranding effort and have been doing so for the past year. It’s really quite sad. Rebranding is good, but you only want to do it if you have actual change and positivity to go along with it. The students aren’t on board, and the faculty and staff are wary. Marketing materials are less than 10% of the equation. As soon as a potential student sets foot on campus, they can smell the discord. The tension is palpable. Who is the current leadership trying to fool?
The missteps are numerous and although I was under a gag order while a student, I feel like I have an obligation now to report what was done to students and faculty during my time there.
A local newspaper reporter contacted me in March about general issues and a few specific things that had leaked out to him. I wasn’t comfortable talking to him at the time, but I wrote him an e-mail this morning. They can’t get away with their god-like superiority complex forever, and if I can help bring some humility to an administrator with a seeming lack of humanity, then that’s what I’ll do.
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