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Tuesday, December 20, 2005

There's Always Botstein

John Merrow has an opinion piece in the Christian Science Monitor in which he notices that the public intellectual university presidents of yesteryear (think Kerr, Brewster, and Hutchins) have been replaced (with few excep... actually, Merrow can't think of any exceptions) by vague nonentities.

How could the public know the names of higher education leaders, who are largely silent on the great issues of the day? Today's presidents only get noticed if they say something outrageous (Harvard's Lawrence Summers's comments about women and science), live too lavishly (former American University President Benjamin Ladner), or make millions (Lynn University's Donald Ross). …Presidents I met said they devoted much of their time to fundraising, often to build dormitories with wi-fi, athletic facilities with climbing walls, and stadiums with luxury boxes.


Merrow notes that few of them have had anything to say about the ongoing controversy over teaching intelligent design:

[T]he overwhelming silence on this topic, among others, shows just how far higher education has slipped from its pedestal. Greater leadership in public debate on critical issues is what's needed to stop academia's declining prestige, not a fixation on the bottom dollar.


To be fair, most college and university presidents have always been genial political sorts rather than great public debaters. But it is notable that, as Merrow suggests, it’s hard to think of any consistently strong voice among them (the late Bartlett Giamatti of Yale was impressive, though).

UD can think of one strong-voiced contemporary American college president: Leon Botstein of Bard. (Bard’s website has a wonderful welcome page.) Outspoken on the subject of education, Botstein is also an extremely talented musician.