The Peter Principle

Back from Portland, visiting family, now I can deal with the recent challenge from Peter the Great for me to record Chancellor Wendler's answer to a specific question about his part in denying tenure to deserving profs. (I'm a little concerned about bothering him with it because Peter has the cost of his desk so wrong: he says $24k, but it really cost only $1800. If he can be so wrong on that, then what else? But I assume that PG was using rhetorical exaggeration. So I will take a chance and ask the question anyway.)

There could be something to what Peter is saying, though (about Walter being a bad manager) if the classic "Peter Principle" applies. Most readers of this blog are too young to know about Laurence Peter's book The Peter Principle (Why things always go wrong) which has the premise "in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence."

In his blog, Peter was belatedly responding to a comment I made a week or so ago, to a post of his:

. . . When I spoke with him on Friday, Chancellor Wendler had not actually read your blog, but he was informed of some of what you said by someone else (not me). He thinks you're a smart guy, entitled to your opinion. But he's probably wondering why you don't follow the Golden Rule (which Walter explains in a brief sound clip in my blog.

Following that lead, you could schedule an appointment with the Chancellor and attempt to set him straight. Maybe bring two or three people with you (from outside academe). It would take you an hour, and he will either "get it" or not. If not, at least you tried. Maybe you will learn some things yourself?

Call me a facilitator, but I wish you would try to communicate to HIM in a direct and helpful manner. Make an appointment with his secretary to meet in his office, or go out to lunch with him. He is most likely unfamiliar with your ideas, and I think he deserves the benefit of your advice.

Perhaps I should have been more clear that WVW was speaking at length with WJPF's Tom Miller about the allegation of plagiarism by his accusers -- and not about Carbondale's Business and SIU pundit. The sound byte I posted to Peter is from that longer conversation with Miller on the subject of "the p-word," and Walter was referring either to Prof. Joan Friedenberg, or to President Glenn Poshard, the two main players behind the scenes in that drama. Poshard appointed a committee to look into it, after Friedenberg published the charges in the Higher Education Chronicles.

Well, campus politics is fascinating, but currently I'm more interested in tomorrow's World Can't Wait demonstrations.

In Portland, some dude handed me a crude flyer and a CD called 911 Eyewitness, which I haven't viewed yet. But I did receive a lengthy email message from a local hero, who dismisses evidence of collusion in favor of "comic book stupidity" by the U.S. defense forces.

In other words (sez he) the events of 9/11 were caused by the Peter Principle.