I agree the administration’s decisions often come down like fait accompli. But this article omits two of the biggest campus controversies of recent years when administrative decisions met significant and successful push-back from faculty and, in one case, from many students as well. Those were the administration’s white-paper to redefine the relationship between the College of Arts and Sciences and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in spring 2010, and the library’s off-site storage proposal the previous fall. Both proposals produced widespread criticism that led to many negotiations and, in the end, very different outcomes than the administration originally planned. I was actively involved in both debates and never felt intimidated or threatened – instead pleasantly surprised at the administration’s responsiveness.

By the way, both The Daily Orange and the Chronicle of Higher Education should realize that some of us refuse to speak to reporters about sensitive issues like this because we don’t trust reporters to get our words right. We would rather write them ourselves, as I am doing here.

Jim Watts
Professor and Chair
Department of Religion