I’ve read that the number of candidates for our highest
management position, fancifully called Chancellor, has been winnowed from 50 to
10. That bit of data is presented as if it indicates anything meaningful.
People love to supply numbers in situations where quantity is irrelevant. It
means they don’t have to actually tell you anything.
It’s a bit odd that a government institution feels the need
to work in such great secrecy as it looks for a new chancellor. It’s
unfortunate that it has chosen to do so even in the face of overwhelming
support for a more open search. It’s tragic that it has done so on the heels of
such traumatic obfuscation by its former administration.
When President Tom Ross spoke at UNCG in the fall, he was
clear that courage was a primary prerequisite for this position. In theory, the
secrecy in this current search is to protect the candidates from the types of uncertainty
the rest of us experience on a regular basis.
If they aren’t courageous enough to admit they have applied
for the position (whether for fear of it being known if they don’t get it or
for fear of retribution or fear of the unpleasant feeling they get from telling
their current community that they are considering joining another one), then it’s
pretty clear they don’t live up to the minimum expectations that we have set.
If there is any among the candidates that is not a coward, I
call on them to out themselves.
Stand up, show us that you have the courage required of a
Spartan. This place needs no more shadow candidates and disdainful leadership.
Join our community not because of the lure of power or the promise of a renovated
mansion and a higher salary, but because you wish to be a part of UNCG.
Reveal yourselves, don’t come in as the Wizard of Oz but
stand up and show us that you had courage, a heart, and brains of your own all
along.
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