"I'd like to ask the panel what changes they would make if they were Hitler?"
"Well, speaking personally, I would annex the Sudetenland."
--Monty Python
At our place of employment, we have what is known as "shared governance." Under this model, all constituency groups--faculty, staff, management, students--have a voice in decision-making. It's all very squishy and northern Californian. Arguably, though, a college--or any academic institution--provides the worst possible setting for any such utopian, consensus-based model. After all, colleges are staffed by--not to put too fine a point on it--college professors.
You may have heard the old semi-joke, "Two Jews, three opinions"; Jews have nothing on college personnel. (Don't even get us started on Jewish college personnel, present Solipsist included.) Every issue, from the trivial to the mundane (which covers fully 95% of the issues debated on college campuses), calls for a lengthy discussion process, including the examination of every possible permutation of every conceivable (and many inconceivable) decisions, and often features an indeterminate comment period during which old grievances are aired and scores may be settled.
At times, we yearn for a little benevolent tyrrany. We love democracy as much as the next American (and hope to see an American democracy in our lifetime). Sometimes, though, much more could be accomplished by a simple mandate from on high that a group of well-meaning, intelligent people could implement. Of course, we'd end up arguing over implementation strategies, but at least we'd be able to start a little further along in the process.
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