Originally posted 5.3.19, updated 5.17.19. Although another candidate has withdrawn from the final pool of applicants for a new UW-Whitewater chancellor, conditions that led to the present (stretching over the last two chancellors’ tenure) matter more than the immediate and futile hope that a single appointment will overcome years of the wrong direction. Genuine change requires genuine work, and work of that kind takes time.
The original post follows:
One would wish to believe that in a small town, far from commotion elsewhere, officials appointed or elected would undistractedly reflect on sound policies and principles. Too often, they fill the relative tranquility of their communities with personality and self-promotion.
And so, and so — the coming or going of a person matters more than policy, and in truth, personality (and selfish pride) substitutes for policy.
In the years during which I have written, so many officials have held office, many having come and gone: “two city managers, three chancellors, four district administrators, and dozens upon dozens of other municipal, school district, and university officials. A commitment to simple principles would have produced more stability and been far better for Whitewater.”
City, school district, or university — coming and going depend on doing, and doing well depends on doing rightly.
All the rest is pride.