Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Has It Come to This?

James Taranto, of the Wall Street Journal, was discussing a cartoon kerfuffle at a university and had occasion to make the following comment:
So there are decent people among the administrators of America's institutions of higher learning, even if their existence at Auburn is, at this juncture, a speculative proposition. (If you're at Auburn and fit the bill, we'd love to hear from you. . . .)

But too many administrators, and not a few faculty members, are petty tyrants.
This elicited the following comment from professor Glenn Reynolds:
But as Taranto goes on to demonstrate, not all college administrators are idiots. Which, these days, seems like news. . . .
I have known a number of former university administrators who were decent, wise, kind, intelligent, thoughtful, generous, and well-informed people. I think it sad that so many college administrators behave like tyrants and idiots that some who are not make the news.