William G. Tierney in Inside Higher Ed: Why University Presidents Are (and Aren’t) Losing Their Jobs
This op-ed, authored by Pullias Center co-director William G. Tierney, was originally published in Inside Higher Ed on Sep. 12, 2018.
Over the last few years, a startling number of college and university presidents have suddenly lost their jobs. The trustees and faculty members at Pennsylvania State University, Michigan State University and, most recently, the University of Southern California have all seen their presidents resign. Other campuses have also experienced similar eruptions.
A handful of well-publicized downfalls by college and university presidents doesn’t necessarily suggest all of academe is in similar danger. After all, with more than 4,600 degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the United States, trends rarely apply to every sector. Still, the resignations suggest something different from the norm is at work in academe.
So what went wrong at those institutions? Conjectures abound, but many of them don’t hold up to scrutiny. Here are four often-blamed factors that don’t cause the downfall of university presidencies:
Read the rest of this op-ed in Inside Higher Ed.
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William G. Tierney is University Professor and Wilbur-Kieffer Professor of Higher Education in the USC Rossier School of Education and the co-director of the Pullias Center for Higher Education.