Jay- If this story
is true, I hope that all the people who were antagonistic to Olson and the
direction of NIU are now satisfied. Not that I expect that they will be,
but they got their wish. Congrats, guys...you forced a man out of his
job. Nice going!
David O- Yes, a few
internet miscreants steer the ship of a whole university. If that's
the case, they have bigger problems than the ones their critics have been
alleging.
GregH- If it was
not the rabid bloggers that made the difference, what did make the difference?
So let them pat themselves on the back for a while. They won a battle though I
don't think there is much evidence they are winning the war.
Such is the nonsense being spewed at SI of late. Do these guys really think that a couple of bloggers really brought down Matt Olson? Really? You guys don’t think very highly of the current board members by such foolish statements. You make the board out to be some kind of marionette puppets with the bloggers pulling the strings behind the scenes. No NIU board of director ever contacted this blogger and I haven’t contact any board member. As a matter of fact, I don’t even know who is on the board of directors. The above listed commentators are only fooling themselves with such nonsensical keyboard ranting. Instead they are trying to shift the blame about the departure of Matt Olson from NIU. Obviously, Matt Olson caused his own departure…that we do know. Why the board dismissed Matt Olson…that remains the unknown and it is foolish to try to state facts when none are known at this time.
To be
quite honest in reply, right now no one knows exactly why the board
released Matt Olson at their April 25th meeting and made his
departure effective May 11th; a rather short time by most anyone’s
standards. What does this mean? We don’t know and at this point in time with
all the dust still up in the air we won’t know for a while. We do know that
much of what Matt Olson instituted is still at this time operative, but we don’t
know if those things will continue long term. We do know that when a new
president is announced a sense of the direction which the board is desirous of
taking will be made known.
It will
be difficult for the institution to remain a viable place of education
regardless of the direction, whether continuing on its present course initiated
by Matt Olson, but under the helm of another or if they seek to return to their
former course. To remain on their current course but with a new president still
has the challenge of gathering a new clientele of churches for the student
population. If a return is sought to their former course, they are confronted
with credibility, integrity issues in trying to regain that former clientele of
churches, not to mention the faculty and staff necessary to put them back on
their former footing.
No, the
future of NIU is, I believe, tottering, like an inverted triangle trying to balance
itself on a corner. Either of the two scenarios I give knock the structure
over, possibly collapsing it irreparably. The equilateral triangle is one of
the most stable geometric designs…when placed on a side, but is also one of the
most unstable when trying to balance on a corner. NIU shifted off its base and
has been tottering on a corner. The outcome doesn’t look pretty and that is a
tragedy, for I do not take joy or find any sense of satisfaction should NIU
cease to exist. Like other institutions which have left their solid foundation,
it forms yet another sad chapter in history.
