 |
The President as Public Intellectual
By Sanford J. Ungar
[C]an anyone today imagine that political kingmakers
looking for new and inspiring executive leadership at the state or
federal level would turn to a college or university president? Or,
indeed, that national opposition to demagoguery and intolerance might be
credibly rallied by a small-college president, and that he or she would
then be rewarded by promotion to one of the most important roles in
American higher education?
As likely as not, college and university presidents are
in the news now for rather more uncomfortable reasons—for
investigations into their seemingly greedy and extravagant ways, for
compromising circumstances involving big-time athletic teams and corrupt
coaches, for personal scandals, or for attempts to discuss
pseudo-academic issues that veer off into controversy, confusion, and
even ridicule. Where, many are asking, are the public intellectuals and
national leaders of yesteryear? . . .
Excerpted from the winter 2006 issue of The Presidency. To
subscribe to the magazine, please call (301) 632-6757, or order online
through ACE’s
bookstore.
|
|
