College Leadership Crisis:
The Philip Dolly Affair
By Jann M. Contento and
Jeffrey Ross
Biographies
Jann M. Contento has a broad
range of experiences in higher education including student affairs
administration, athletics, and institutional research. He is currently working
in a community college setting and has co-authored several articles on
leadership and college culture.
Jeffrey Ross, who resides in
Arizona with his wife and son, is a writer, rockabilly musician, and former
full-time community college teacher. He has had four "Views" pieces
published on InsidehigherEd.com since 2007, has authored and co-authored
several op-ed articles on community college identity, purpose, and culture, and
has recently had several parody poems published on the Cronk News higher
education satire website.
How much truth is there in what you portrayed in the book?
We would like to think a great deal of Truth is portrayed in the Philip Dolly Affair — at least representational Truth. Co-author Jann and I were very careful not to simply make up situations. We made an effort to find at least three instances (the Washington Post method) of any situational issue we portray—such as college president dismissals. [Google was a great help!] Colleges, like every workplace, have employees who are heroes and those who are not so heroic. Our characters are clearly fictive, clearly exaggerated, but they should function as ghosts or whispers of recognition for our readers.
Personal career ambition, unrelenting commoditization and compartmentalization of learning and culture, predictable and obvious staff behaviors (such as daily emails about social gatherings, management advice, fund raising, and fatiguing meetings) and ACRONYMS seem to be part of nearly every work place and educational setting.
[PS--I actually learned about hummus and quiche at work-related pot lucks— WRPL’s.]
Our characters, we would venture, are almost caricatures of representative staff types. And these types magnify successful and failed employee personalities everywhere.
For all the talk of individualism in our society, conformity seems to be the “best practice.” Somehow, our society’s decision to “follow the money”— while joked about daily and ridiculed in popular culture — has clearly articulated and defined our emotional, spiritual, and work lives. For most of us, K-12 and college are things to “get out of the way” so that we can hitch to the career path and . . . .
Well, what is the final outcome of all this?
The American public complains about Wall Street, but continues to chase segmented materialistic dreams anyway. Our characters, we think reflect different pathways to such dreams and different dreams and even thwarted dreams. [And we also consider the difficult Truths, the pathways, of a few thwarted romantic relationships!]
Since 2000 or so, many institutions have worked tirelessly on issues related to organizational management, strategic planning, mission statements, and professional development. I once asked a very personable and bright college administrator— “Why has there been such wholesale adoption of corporate management practices at educational institutions?”
She told me, clearly, without pause, and to the point-- “Because we have to act like corporations now.”
And I suppose she is right. But what is the rest of the story? What will the final outcome be? Are we headed towards a greater good, towards happier lives, better families, and improved personal-fulfillment?
There are, undoubtedly, many excellent administrators, staff, and faculty members who work at America’s community colleges. But the Truth we write about in PDA is based on our emerging composite experiences with the culture’s endless discussions about leadership, careers, and professionalism. Getting the good work done of helping students, of improving our communities, we think, can be easily lost in the shuffle.
We hear about commitment to excellence, leadership training, quality improvement— at the same time, we hear American education is failing. Which represents the Truth?
At some point in time, education institutions determined they should be leaders rather than Stewards of the Public Trust. Our position in the novel is clear: We should be Stewards first, and lead when called. Teaching and learning should be our first priorities. That is the Truth we hope to convey. Thank you.
Excerpt
College Leadership Crisis:
The Philip Dolly Affair
Jann M. Contento and Jeffrey
Ross
Excerpt Heat Level: 1
Book Heat Level: 1
Buy at:
www.roguephoenixpress.com
Call Me Phil
I'm Phil Dolly, EdD,
recently resigned, or deposed, community college president.
Yesterday I was the CEO at
North East Central Community College here in Folsom County, West Dakota. Today,
I'm contemplating my own crisis in leadership. Following a faculty vote of no
confidence and caving in to growing board pressure, I packed it in this
morning. No one was surprised, really, including me. But more about that
later...
This evening I am sitting
here at the bar nursing a weak gin and tonic, assessing the landscape of my
shattered career. This place is nothing fancy, that's for sure. I don't know
when it saw fresh air last. Located in Payson, West Dakota, this bar and grill
has been owned by the same guy, I.M. Tyred, for nearly a decade. I'm a little
bit out of my element--but I'm comforted by the visual relics of my own blue
collar past--seed company calendars, jars of pickled pig's feet, softball
trophies, and the effervescent aroma of bacon, beer, and cheese. Many of the
locals know me and enjoy seeing me stop in for an occasional drink. I probably
get in here once a month. Maybe more.
I'm not sure what happened.
Enrollments didn't increase, but they didn't decline much, either. We opened up
more centers. I had bandwidth upgraded. I was in Rotary Club. I brought in some
of my former graduate school colleagues from University of Toledo at Arlington
to help invigorate the executive staff and to help bring this district into the
21st century in terms of management. I wanted diversity on the management team.
Hmm, I made all of the
directors deans and all of the deans became associate VPs. Only one of the new
VPs had emotional problems, but no damage was done. He checked into rehab. Our
quality initiatives must have moved the college forward. We redid offices, put
in new floors and windows, and really spruced the place up too. We won several national
awards.
I remember there was some
grousing when I had the president's salary increased to 475K, but the board
agreed we needed to be competitive in future presidential searches.
I guess the future arrived
more quickly than I anticipated.
The hazy blue smoke in
this bar settles at about stool seat level. I wish I.M. Tyred would do
something. Why doesn't he install some fans or air purifiers or something? I
should say something before I have another asthma attack. The country music
just drones on and on. All those sad songs about lying, drinking, and needing
to be somewhere else are driving me crazy. How do these people stand it?
The lights around the
mirrors seem so harsh. I barely recognize my own face in the mirror--the
burdens of leadership, I guess. All those retreats, keynote speeches,
conferences, dinners, trips to Europe--just so much, so much over the years.
The governing board said I
spent too much time out of state. They said I belonged to too many national
organizations and attended too many conferences. They just don't understand the
difficult and complicated nature of being a community college president.
Networking means survival and prosperity for the institution and for me. They
don't understand the community is much bigger now. We can serve China! GIs!
Nebraska! Technology has empowered us to do so much more than teach welding,
massage therapy, and fertilizer applications.
We ought to do more than
just serve the needs of our county taxpayers! We can have the reputation of
being a global higher education leader! Oh, I guess it's no longer we.
3/12
3/13
3/15
Thank you for posting this, Christine. I had fun responding to your question about truth! Thanks again, Jeff.
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