Last updated on 06/18/2014
It’s not just us, apparently it’s a national epidemic. Stephen Trachtenberg has a new book on them, Presidencies Derailed: Why University Leaders Fail and How to Prevent It. It only covers the 2009 derailments: 25 of them, more than Amtrak. What goes wrong? From the review by Jane Shaw of the Pope Center:
Presidencies go off the tracks for several reasons, the authors explain. Some derailments reflect personal failings—ethical lapses such as romantic dalliances or traits such as “arrogant attitudes, volatile tempers, and weak communication skills.”
A larger number of presidents simply aren’t leaders and can’t create good relationships with key constituents like faculty and legislators. Others don’t adjust to the nature of the institution, and some fail to get the school’s financial house in order (or make it worse).
In these and other cases, the board may be largely responsible—both through the selection process and through trustees’ neglect, especially during the new president’s “honeymoon” period.
The authors discuss the search process at length, but they don’t hold out great hopes for perfecting it. They admit that good selection depends on luck and they modestly observe that even following their recommendations is not a “guaranteed path to success.” (Their discussion of the search process is titled “Averting the Train Wreck.”)
The board of trustees is so much of the problem that the authors think that before a board goes looking for a leader, it should investigate itself—“evaluate its own structure, operations, and performance as part of the institutional leadership structure.”
A bit too late for the OUS board, which conducted its spring 2013 review of Gottfredson in near total secrecy. They didn’t even tell the Senate and the faculty, much less soliciting our input on his disastrous performance. Anyone want to pitch in, and buy a few copies of this for the UO Trustees to read?
I do hope that the wider trend does not end up excusing our local version of the same. Let’s not grow tired and complacent before JH is fully cleared out and we’re back on track. Please.
“In these and other cases, the board may be largely responsible—both through the selection process and through trustees’ neglect, especially during the new president’s “honeymoon” period.”
In the case of the UO our board was the OUS and the boosters and administration had decided to throw it out with the bathwater leading to a decade without oversight or accountability. I think a lot of the blame may land on the OUS board. That is why I hope our new board takes the reigns and cleans house and returns to a rigorous mission of public education for the state of Oregon.