Number of people who actually live at Brandeis choosing the next President: 0.
Number working-class people who toil here every day who get to choose: 0.
The most vital statistic
Number of people who actually live at Brandeis choosing the next President: 0.
Number working-class people who toil here every day who get to choose: 0.
Brandeis needs a new leadership style, that much is sure. Openness, transparency, and accountability have been lacking for far, far too long. But whether students get the right to vote or not is not really an indicator of how the next president will lead.
Also, are these really the most vital statistics? What about the statistic of how much $$ the new president will be able to bring? How about the metrics which will show which president can help Brandeis get back on sound financial footing?
Wouldn’t it be interesting to run a university as a co-op? Funny how we allow autocracy in a business or academic setting, but not in public life.
It isn’t even logistics, Brit. I mean, that’s somewhat of a valid argument [realistically, the board could choose x candidates, and students could voice their say, not the final merely their own, via a webpoll-like how we choose Student Union officials].
Anyway, Sahar, there’s simply NO precedent for this. I dislike the arbitrary distinction between higher education and corporations, so to liken it to that, there’s no corporation where employees [the “working class who toil”] and shareholders [us] have a say in their corporations CEO. This board, be it deserved or not, is a group who has been entrusted with, to some degree or the other, the future of the corporation.
Ideally, would I like some say? Sure. I don’t know that many of us are qualified to say what makes one better than the other, but I’d at least love a list of possibles, sure.
The most vital reason:
Logistics. It would present quite the logistical challenge to have students and employees at Brandeis vote for who the next president should be. Considering that most people would be very uninformed and would only consider their own wants and needs regarding the University. Having students and employees vote on the next president would only cause problems.
The reason for having a committee is so that they can objectively view each candidate to decide who is the most qualified person to lead this university. Frankly, all government institutions should be merit based, but that is a different conversation.