2008 Woodie Awards
The man who would be king
Tom Jones
Issue date: 10/24/07 Section: Opinion
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For two weeks I have been quietly soliciting past and present members of the Humboldt State faculty to sign a petition affirming lack of confidence in President Richmond. His disastrous administrative style having generated widespread doubt concerning his competency, integrity, honesty and purposes, and he having closed off all channels of communication and revealed a character impervious to and contemptuous of advice or criticism from students or faculty, there is nothing left but to get rid of him. The petition was undertaken from the conviction that the only way to accomplish this is to first embarrass him with a public demonstration of the extent to which his ill-conceived behavior has driven a substantial number of his faculty to the unprecedented measure of stepping forward and identifying themselves as having no confidence in the man.
I have thus far contacted 88 individuals. Of the 88, exactly 58 have signed their names, including department chairs, program leaders, academic senators, emeritus professors, full-time full and associate professors, full-time and part-time lecturers and one adjunct professor. Their academic fields include Anthropology, Archaeology, Biology, Botany, Economics, Education, English, Forestry, Geography, German, Government and Politics, History, Kinesiology, Mathematics, Native American Studies, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Social Work, Sociology, Spanish, Theater Arts, Women's Studies, and Zoology.
The extent and intensity of the hostility and disgust expressed toward this president that I have encountered is immensely greater than I had imagined. I have listened to one instructor after another narrates his or her experience of having attempted to communicate with this president only to be ignored or rebuffed. I have also learned that very few of my colleagues believe much that he says, too many of them having once received assurances later retracted, ignored or nullified without explanation. And I have learned that he has alienated emeritus faculty members to the point that several have rewritten their wills, diverting large sums of money previously marked for Humboldt State to other non-profit institutions. Others have said that they would not give one penny to Humboldt State as long as Rollin Richmond remained president. Altogether, this amounts to a loss of millions of dollars. One major donor wants reporters to interview him so that he can elaborate his reasons for signing the petition publicly.
I have thus far contacted 88 individuals. Of the 88, exactly 58 have signed their names, including department chairs, program leaders, academic senators, emeritus professors, full-time full and associate professors, full-time and part-time lecturers and one adjunct professor. Their academic fields include Anthropology, Archaeology, Biology, Botany, Economics, Education, English, Forestry, Geography, German, Government and Politics, History, Kinesiology, Mathematics, Native American Studies, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Social Work, Sociology, Spanish, Theater Arts, Women's Studies, and Zoology.
The extent and intensity of the hostility and disgust expressed toward this president that I have encountered is immensely greater than I had imagined. I have listened to one instructor after another narrates his or her experience of having attempted to communicate with this president only to be ignored or rebuffed. I have also learned that very few of my colleagues believe much that he says, too many of them having once received assurances later retracted, ignored or nullified without explanation. And I have learned that he has alienated emeritus faculty members to the point that several have rewritten their wills, diverting large sums of money previously marked for Humboldt State to other non-profit institutions. Others have said that they would not give one penny to Humboldt State as long as Rollin Richmond remained president. Altogether, this amounts to a loss of millions of dollars. One major donor wants reporters to interview him so that he can elaborate his reasons for signing the petition publicly.
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