The problem with some of the posts on this topic is that they ignore what would
appear to be an obvious point: the structure of an institution conditions the
behavior of the people operating within it. And if they are in it long enough,
the structure's demands makes them into people who fit the structure. Being a
dept. head in a small college isn't the same as being a provost in a major and
elite university. And all sorts of persons can be decent in particular
circumstances, but this doesn't address the issue of how they must act in
certain other circumstances that the structure demands. I could give you scores
of examples. Also, on its face, comparing a plumber (assuming the plumber is a
wage worker) to the provost of Columbia is absurd. And as I said before, we
have to wait and see how the new provost acts. Although, unless you are a
Columbia professor, you won't know. One last point. If I knew a person forty
years ago, but haven't seen him since or kept in contact with him, of what
relevance is my knowing him so long ago to any discussion today. Someone told
me the other day that they knew Boulder, CO. Then they said that they had last
been there in the mid-1960s!
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