Backtracking Brandeis President: ‘I Screwed Up’
President Obama has given college presidents a management strategy for controversy: admit it when you screw up.
Jehuda Reinharz, president of Brandeis University, sent out an e-mail message to his campus Thursday that partially pulled back from the university’s plans to sell its art collection and shut down its art museum. “I take full responsibility for causing pain and embarrassment in both of these matters. To quote President Obama, ‘I screwed up,’ ” Reinharz’s e-mail message said.
In his e-mail, Reinharz stressed that while the university’s board had authorized a sale of the art, there was no requirement that the entire collection be sold, and that “other options will also be considered.” As for the museum itself, the president’s e-mail said that it “will remain open, but in accordance with the board’s vote, it will be more fully integrated into the university’s central educational mission. We will meet with all affected university constituencies to explore together how this can best be done.”...
Read entire article at Inside Higher Ed
Jehuda Reinharz, president of Brandeis University, sent out an e-mail message to his campus Thursday that partially pulled back from the university’s plans to sell its art collection and shut down its art museum. “I take full responsibility for causing pain and embarrassment in both of these matters. To quote President Obama, ‘I screwed up,’ ” Reinharz’s e-mail message said.
In his e-mail, Reinharz stressed that while the university’s board had authorized a sale of the art, there was no requirement that the entire collection be sold, and that “other options will also be considered.” As for the museum itself, the president’s e-mail said that it “will remain open, but in accordance with the board’s vote, it will be more fully integrated into the university’s central educational mission. We will meet with all affected university constituencies to explore together how this can best be done.”...