Case Study #1: Bennington College
Mark Edmundson’s New York Times piece, Bennington Means Business, provides an alumnus’ narration of the overhaul of Bennington College in 1994. The piece also provides an ideal model of an organization in change, which elucidates the undercurrents of educational leadership theory that commonly materialize in more nuanced and less pronounced ways. First, attention will be paid to the symbolism of Bennington College, particularly as chronicled by Edmundson. Then, the natural selection view of organizations will be discussed in relation to Bennington’s decline. The intercession of Liz Coleman highlights themes of the political frame, organizational structure, and leadership styles to be analyzed further and
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The challenge to an institution or leader operating in the symbolic frame, though, is to create meaning, and this is where Bennington College has struggled. Edmundson (1994) admits that “it is mainly…for trying to sustain [its ideals] that the college has come to grief.” Even Liz Coleman, the president of Bennington College (with whom Edmundson often seems to disagree), acknowledges the importance of symbolism to her institution. “‘Bennington,’ Coleman said, ‘has got to do something that no one else is doing,’” or, in other words, Bennington needs an image, it needs direction, and it needs symbolism (Edmundson, 1994). Although different individuals have different ideas about what that “something” ought to be, there seems to be consensus around the idea symbols lend value, foster an image, and bolster organizational mission. In short, symbols matter to institutions. Symbols, however, do not always suffice to keep organizations afloat. In 1993, Bennington College’s Board of Trustees began an organizational remodeling referred to as the Symposium Process. The energetic, artistic, and creative student body that had symbolized the Bennington culture for so long was in decline. According to Liz Coleman, Bennington “‘became mediocre over time,’” especially as other colleges and universities adopted the symbols that had previously brought Bennington such success (Edmundson, 1994). Edmundson (1994) makes clear, however, that it is not just
Symbolism is a characteristic that stands out in a person or thing. People usually use symbolism for something that means to them or represents to them. The symbols are used for many things, for example the apple on the iphone, laptop or iPod symbolizes the brand. Symbols are also used in churches, for example the cross symbolizes Jesus Christ. It symbolizes how he was crucified, put to death on a cross. The colors symbolize something’s to for example the colors white, red and blue symbolize freedom in the United States, it also represents the United States flag. Symbols are also used in movies like the hunger games catching fire; their symbol is a mocking bird with an arrow on it.
The new president of Weston University, Dr. Diana Ball, took over in late 1995, succeeding Dr. Harold Powers. Dr. Powers led the prestigious private university for fifteen years from a human resource frame to tailor the organization to individuals (Bolman & Deal, 2013, p. 16). Moreover, during Dr. Power's tenure, the reputation of once-leading private university in the Midwest diminished. Dr. Power's reputation as a scholar gained him the presidency; however, his leadership abilities fell short in dealing with the faculty. Weston's board outlined the skills needed, which included both academic standing and business acumen, for their new president to restore Weston University's reputation and lead the
A California native, Courtney traded in Sacramento’s sunshine for Boston’s heavy snowfall for the past four years as an undergraduate at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business concentrating in marketing, information systems, and law. She is also a member of the Kilachand Honor’s College where she takes additional classes in diverse subjects. On her first day she walked into her lecture scared and lost, but she has grown during the past four years. She is confident, aware of her beliefs, and formed lasting friendships with people from diverse cultures. She does many activities and has to balance her commitments, including being senate chair in BU Student Government, and a member of Delta Sigma Pi, a coed business fraternity along with her classes, but her organizational skills and
In Mark Edmundson’s article Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here, published in the Oxford American on August 22, 2011, he talks about his college experience and what others need to do in college to be successful. Getting an education is hard because there are too many distractions, but find something you enjoy doing or else you’ll be bored and work hard to become that. There are a lot of paths to choose from in life and going to college is one of the best to choose. Edmundson must also agree with this since he is pushing kids to try harder in school. However, Edmundson points out some very key points as to what students need to do.
Mark Edmundson, the author of “On the Uses of a Liberal Education”, is an English teacher at the University of Virginia who expresses his concerns about the trajectory of the universities and colleges in America. Edmundson depicts how college students today have “little fire, little passion to be found,” towards their classes (4). In an effort to find the source of this lack of passion, Edmundson describes contacting other professors about this issue while refining his own ideas. Ultimately, Edmundson comes to a conclusion. He believes that the consumer mindset of college students has hindered American universities as a whole. My target audience is my professor, Professor Chezik. Looking closely at his wording, formation of sentences, and idea structure, one can see a recurring theme throughout Edmundson’s essay. Edmundson uses fragments, specifically at the beginning of his paragraphs, to start his point, pose counter arguments, and to have a poetic refrain.
Symbolism is used in many ways and writers use symbolism to “enhance their writing.” It can give their work “more richness and color and can make the meaning of the work deeper.” In literary work the actions of the characters, words, action, place, or event has a deeper meaning in the context of the whole story. The reader needs to look see the little things like a dove symbolizes peace, or like the red rose stands for romance. Mostly everything can have a symbolism meaning to it. For instance the flag symbolizes freedom and the stars represent the states. Even some signs are symbols like when a beaker has a skull with a bones placed like an ‘x’ behind it symbolizes that it’s toxic or bad. When people see the red light when driving that’s
The University of California Santa Barbara is an organization revolving around students and faculty alike. Any organizations can reflect two contrasting perspectives, a Naturalist or Rationalist, which underlines and questions the ideas of structure and formality. Naturalist organizations convey informality due to the basis on the flow of the members’ behavior and relationships among others. But nonetheless, Rationalist organization is formal because the organization’s fluidity is based on the members’ limits and structure. Thus, I am going to argue that overall UCSB is a Rationalist organization, rather than Naturalist, because UCSB has created limits and structure for its students and faculty; but first, I will discuss Naturalists
Unfortunately, notwithstanding poet Louisa Fletcher's desire to start over, colleges and universities in the United States will not at any time soon access the Land of Beginning Again. Those institutions must enact meaningful change transitions from where they exist today, and there is much change that is needed. To wit, innovator and strategic management consultant Fred Buining asserts that higher education is in the "eye of the hurricane," which means that leaders, scholars, and educators are not doing enough to meet the challenges they face. Buining suggests that there is "no critical mass" in terms of the changes that are needed in higher education. Moreover, he believes that while today's student in colleges and universities are getting younger the professors and instructors are getting older, issues like cultural diversity and commercialization threaten institutions of higher learning. This paper reviews and critiques scholarly sources that address issues of diversity and commercialization on college and university campuses. Thesis: colleges and universities are in many respects becoming very much like corporations, and this is truly the wrong direction for higher education
In the movie “Dead Poets Society” they showed examples that appeal using logos.To start,they said “words and ideas can change the world”. This is shown when everyone finds out about the Dead Poets Society .The principal and the parents thought it was insane, but the students thought it was so cool because the idea that the members in the Dead Poets Society were so different than everyone else the adults were terrified because they didn’t know what to do.The idea of them being different than the other students was unacceptable to the adults so they changed the rules and the fired Mr.keating so that they couldn’t be different.To conclude,one idea can change a lot for themselves or the people around them.
This topic, of leadership appears in William James article, “The Social Value of the College-Bred,” which features a topic in which he expresses college students using their education and experience to seek out, ‘good’ leaders arguing that a college education teaches graduates to know good men when they seem them, which in turn allows them to help build a stronger democracy. James begins his article by expressing what people could gain from college and technical schools. He explains that student’s experiences in college institutions has the ability to teach a person how to tell when a human is valuable,
Salford concentrates on practical aspects of academic subjects as well as on underlying theory.”(Wayne State, 2016) This is also a fact about the academic success of Salford University. Wayne State students can easily infer that Salford is a rigorous school; having a rigorous school open to a student can challenge the thought process of a student. Which is one of the purposes of logos, to get the reader to think about the facts someone as writer is presented gets the reader to logically think about “why the school has a small student
“My premise is that the values of the market and the culture and organizational style of corporate life are changing the university”, (Steck, 68.) Further, he analogizes this
In the “New Vice President” case study, Mid-West University faced a hiring freeze and leadership dilemmas. With the change in executive positions, Jennifer Treeholm, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, acquired the new vice president role. At first glance, she was the perfect candidate. Jennifer dedicated her career to improve the overall culture and mission, and she was familiar with the vice president’s duties. Although Jennifer was highly qualified, her previous relations with the staff rendered her ability to lead and make decisions effectively. As a result the college faced stagnant progress from delayed solutions and preventative measures. Thus, the staff began to doubt her abilities as a leader, which caused the previous employee structure to weaken.
Los Angeles is known as a city five hundred miles wide and two inches deep. Whether that shallow reputation is earned or not is a matter of opinions, from the transplants to the tourists, from the locals of Watts and Sylmar to the residents of Beverly Hills and Bel-Air, from USC to UCLA the city’s diversity makes its character difficult for Angelinos to quantify. Especially considering how the demographics of the city have shifted over time, from one of the whitest metropolitan areas to a mecca of cultural diversity over the course of the twentieth century. The reputation of USC has followed a similar trek, from being known as the University of Spoiled Children to Professor Gustafson’s notion of USC as the University of Service to the Community. This change is exemplified in the groundbreaking of a new building, Wallis Annenberg Hall. With over 20 classrooms and encompassing 88,000 square feet, the building demonstrates USC’s progress. Although its detractors claim that Wallis Annenberg Hall was an extraneous and costly venture that reinforces the notion that USC stands for the University of Spoiled Children, in actuality, its aesthetic presentation represents the groundbreaking values that USC promotes and prides itself on.
Mark Edmundson’s essay, “On the Uses of a Liberal Education,” was published in Harper’s magazine in the fall of 1997. Edmundson begins the article by giving us a glimpse into his own experiences teaching. He speaks on how, he dreads evaluation day at the end of each term, he feels he is being reviewed more on his entertaining ability and less on if the student felt changed by his course. Near the end of the article, Edmundson states, “My overall point is this: It’s not that a left-wing professional coup has taken over the university. It’s that at American universities, left-liberal politics have collided with the ethos of consumerism. The consumer ethos is winning.” (pg. 48) This article is about how the younger generation has been raised with a consumer way of thinking. This way of thinking has invaded higher education. The author is suggesting that consumerism that runs American society has now crept its way into colleges, and not just onto the campuses, but also inside the classrooms. Edmundson writes with great conviction and throughout the essay ask questions to his reader, then answers them. Edmundson was effective in making his argument clear using pathos to rouse the reader’s emotions and asking rhetorical questions to make the reader think about what he is trying to say. Hopefully, the reader will take something away from this article that has been written by a highly