From Wall Street to College Street: All too often, trustees focus on branding, image, and reputation rather than their academic mission.

Todd Zywicki:

The gruesome sexual abuse scandal and cover-up within Penn State's football program that exploded during fall 2011 rocked the conscience of a community, spawned a raft of criminal indictments of university officials, and ended the careers of the university's storied football coach Joe Paterno and the university's long-serving president.

The severity of the depravity at Penn State renders the incident nearly unique. But the response of the university's leadership--to downplay and cover-up the allegations--is not.

Based on my experience serving as an independent trustee on the Dartmouth Board of Trustees and my academic study of higher education governance, I believe that the cowardly response of Penn State's leadership is consistent with how many university boards today would respond. I submit that the core principle animating the modern university is a fundamental dishonesty that subverts its core mission. Although the events at Penn State are extreme, they merely magnify the smaller dishonesty and lack of integrity that characterize the modern university.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at December 16, 2012 2:44 AM
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