At the onset of the 2009-2010 academic year at the University of Redlands, the Johnston Community was struck with the news that the director of two years, Dr. Greg Salyer, had been removed from his position. The news came along with the sad news that Johnston’s beloved administrative assistant, Tabetha Johnson, an alum of the center, had been terminated as well. Less than a week before the new students were to arrive the community was devastated. The community was divided, and would continue to be divided, in their opinions of Salyer’s termination.
Enter Professor Emeritus William “Bill” McDonald. Along with the termination of Salyer and Johnson came the suggestion from the office of Dean Barbara Morris that McDonald, a 40-year veteran and founder of the center, be instated as Interim-Director of the center while a proper search for Salyer’s replacement could be conducted.
McDonald’s appointment was a well-crafted one, one of the few universally popular moves Morris and President Stewart Dorsey made in the process of removing Salyer from office. Bill was a figure many in the community held in great regard. Along with Professor Kevin O’Neill, Bill was one of two remaining of the Johnston founders, a physical representation of the mystical ideals that Johnston was founded on.
The respect that McDonald commanded allowed for Johnston’s own Rally ‘Round The Flag Syndrome, a concept used in political science and international relations to explain increased short run popular support of the President of the United States during periods of crisis or war, to take hold. The Johnston community stayed united because Bill demanded of the community that it stay united.
It’s a technique used often to develop communities in times of crisis. We see it in the case of Antioch College where Arthur Morgan successfully used the ideals of founder Horace Mann to unite the campus community and help it rise out of near obscurity into an era of prosperity. We also see it at Deep Springs College, where a copy of the letter founder L.L. Nunn sent to the college’s first class is sent to every successive incoming student to the college. Strong leadership is important in all communities, even egalitarian ones. A human incarnation of the ideals of an institution is necessary to give a community something to rally around in moments of crisis; otherwise it fails.
Jake, there are a few issues you raise here that interest me. The first is how communities manage to weather crises. You correctly note that in the short term, it is sometimes possible for the forces that might otherwise tear people asunder to be marshaled for good, as was the case in the aftermath of Greg Salyer's departure. I also appreciate that you find parallels in Antioch and Deep Springs. But what happens once the immediacy of the crisis is past? Do you believe that communities, even egalitarian ones still need strong leadership? Strong but subtle leadership? In some of the profiles we've read (Black Mountain most obviously), reliance/dependence upon strong leadership created difficulties when the charismatic leader's flaws overwhelmed his gifts. Is it a contradiction in terms to have an egalitarian community the requires a strong leader in the day to day?
ReplyDeleteSecond, you reference that the community would continue to be divided. In some communities, continued division is corrosive. It doesn't sound like you believe that to be the case here. How did those divisions coexist with a willingness to keep the importance of the whole in the forefront?
Finally, what happens when, as is the case for Antioch and several other places, the norm is crisis? Can a community grow if its self-definition is so dramatic?
Thanks for starting us off on the blog. I look forward to your and others' posts. Patricia