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November 2, 2007
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Delaware backs down
Despite the sanguine assurances of Delaware's vice president for student life, the University has decided it's not a good idea to keep its Orwellian residential program in place. Delaware's president issued a statement tonight, stating, "I have directed that the program be stopped immediately. No further activities under the current framework will be conducted." He also called for a "full and broad-based review" of the program--one I hope includes some stiff accountability measures. FIRE has the details.
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Comments:
So, was the president aware that this program was being conducted?...and if not, why not?
A leader cannot be aware of every single thing that goes on in his organization, but one of the principal duties of leadership is to create a climate in which concerns will be surfaced rather than being swept under the rug.
Seems to me that students should have felt free to bring their concerns to faculty members or administrators, who in turn should have brought them to the president. If this didn't happen, then the organizational climate is not a healthy one and the president's leadership skills are in question. If it did happen, then I think the president's judgment is in question.
Addition to the previous comment....I see that the current president has only been in office since July (though he was appointed last December and presumably made some attempts to familiarize himself with the organization before formally taking over)...this may give him some excuse if he really didn't know what was going on. But it still indicates a very bad organizational climate that needs to be dealt with.
