I get a sinking feeling every time my campus ends up in the headlines of the local newspaper. People are going to ask me about that, I tell myself, but what can I tell them that won't make it worse?
Actually, it doesn't even have to be my campus in the news--if higher education hits the national media, I'm going to hear about it from people in my community, often at the most inappropriate of times. Case in point: last month I was at a funeral for someone I cared about when a person I don't even know came up to ask whether my students are getting involved in "all those crazy protests." I guess they assume that anything happening anywhere in academe must also be happening here in rural Ohio.
But sometimes what happens in Ohio doesn't stay in Ohio, so here we are making headlines in all the local media outlets as well as Inside Higher Ed, which helpfully proclaims, "Incoming President Backs Out of Marietta College Job."
The article is short and lacking in details. Local articles have achieved more length simply by repeating the same statements in different words: No, we can't say why the newly hired president decided not to come here, aside from the aforementioned "unforeseen change in personal considerations"; yes, we have a plan moving forward; no, no further information will be forthcoming at this time.
And the astounding thing is that no further information is forthcoming. Lots of theories are floating around campus without any facts to back them up; even my usual sources of inside scoop are in the dark. So this week while I'm out in the community minding my own business--shopping or attending a play or going to church--and someone walks up to ask me what's going on with the presidential situation, I will honestly be able to say, Beats me. I don't know any more than you do.
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