Ladner is not the first president to leave AU under a cloud. A colleague dropped by the other day to express his fear that the "curse of the presidents" would never be lifted. In 1994, Ladner became AU's fourth president in five years; one of those left after being caught making obscene phone calls. My colleague asked, "What do we get next? A narco-trafficker?"

For all of our dark humor and collective embarrassment, there is a serious question in this: Is there something wrong with the way the school's trustees are governing our university? Perhaps our board of trustees, whose members are drawn almost entirely from the ranks of big business, does not fully appreciate how a college president differs from a corporate CEO. The trustees were, it seems, swayed by Ladner's claims that his salary and perks were commensurate with the many-fold increase in the university's endowment and the money he raised for the beautiful new Katzen Arts Center.

But college presidents are supposed to remain committed to the teaching and ethical mission of the university while they are raising money. They cannot expect to work on a percentage basis like managers of a hedge fund. If that is the prize that motivates them, they should go to Wall Street. As Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity University here in the District, observed, alumni who give their hard-earned wealth to a university do not want the president to waste the money on himself. Many wealthy donors whose values are intact gag at crass displays intended to entice them.