Dartblog

The Valley News seems to have gotten President Kim’s message:

It seems apparent to us that in confronting these [budget reduction] decisions, Kim has come to appreciate that his earlier conception of bringing all the college’s constituencies into sweet harmony with a shared vision of Dartmouth’s future is unrealistic. These groups have diametrically opposing views and competing interests, with the result that Kim appears to have decided that while continuing to consult widely, he ultimately will have to go ahead and do what he believes needs to be done.

As Dartblog has said before, at the end of the day real leaders are usually unpopular with some groups. That goes with the job. But progress depends on having the resolve to hold firm to a vision and see it through, even when some constituencies howl. As George Bernard Shaw wrote in ‘Maxims For Revolutionists’:

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

We should not judge President Kim on whether he is successful in making everyone happy. The metric should be the things that he does to make Dartmouth a better place for its students and faculty.