The board of
We don’t have all the details but we have enough to wonder whether Shimer will have much of a future after this board decision. Lindsay’s short-lived presidency (he took office in January 2009) was accompanied by significant increases in external support for the College. It seems likely that a fair portion of that increase was inspired by confidence in Tom Lindsay, and not a sudden enthusiasm on the part of the public for keeping the College the way it was.
Mr. Lindsay’s critics (some of whom have stated their views in comments on NAS articles) characterize their opposition as based on Lindsay’s disregard for the College’s traditions of shared governance. It is certainly true that as President Lindsay moved far more decisively than his predecessors and had limited patience for the College’s dysfunctional form of extreme democracy. Mr. Lindsay’s break with the practice of “consult-with-everybody-all-the-time-twice” made him vulnerable to those who believe that
The board appointed as Lindsay’s interim president a former board member named Ed Noonan. Mr. Noonan will begin his work with a faculty and student body triumphant in their victory. It is a victory, however, much as King Pyrrhus of Epirus celebrated over the Roman army at
Perhaps. Colleges don’t die easily. They often linger into a long twilight of declining standards, erratic bill-paying, partial lay-offs, and restless irrelevance before they finally go the way of
We are sorry to see
Update: Shimer College has released its official statement saying "Thomas K. Lindsay, will be stepping down effective immediately," and offering no explanation.